Digestive Support

Herbs and Essential Oils for Digestive Support

Tummy ache waiting to happen

Digestion complaints are all too common, ranging from bloating and indigestion to gas and a nervous stomach. Digestion discomfort is something we all have to deal with from time to time. Thankfully, many herbs and essential oils can help support you through those discomforts, or even prevent them.

Herbs That Support Healthy Digestion

These herbs can be used in teas, tinctures, infused oils, or added to food. Each one brings its own set of digestive benefits. This is not an exhaustive list, just a sampler to get your juices flowing:

• Thyme (Thymus vulgaris): Warming and stimulating, thyme helps when digestion feels sluggish or cold. It encourages appetite and can relieve gas. It’s especially helpful after antibiotic use, when the gut needs extra care.

  
  

• Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia): Lavender gets the digestive system moving while relaxing frayed nerves, making it especially helpful for those whose anxiety or stress contributes to indigestion and bloating. A gentle choice for children and adults.

  
  

• Marshmallow Root (Althea officinalis): Moistening and anti-inflammatory; a great choice for those with digestive dryness, constipation, GERD, heartburn, ulcers. A cold infusion can soothe discomfort from celiac disease or food allergies.

  
  

• Calendula (Calendula officinalis): This bright, vulnerary herb supports the lymphatic movement around the gut and helps calm inflammation.  It’s great for long-term irritation, like IBS. Combine with peppermint and fennel in a tea to have a complete GI remedy, or add to a bitters tincture.

  
  

• Ginger (Zingiber officinale): One of the most well-known herbs for supporting digestion. Ginger warms the body, gets the digestive system moving, relieves indigestion, gas, cramping, and many types of nausea. It has even been useful for stomach bugs and food poisoning.

  
  

• Chamomile (Matricaria recutita): Great for children and adults. Chamomile soothes digestive issues by reducing inflammation and stimulating digestive fluids, reducing gas and bloating, and calming the nervous system, making it particularly helpful for anxiety-related stomach problems. Also great for colicky children of all ages. Shorter steep times on tea provide gentle digestive support while longer steeps offer stronger antispasmodic benefits.

• Ceylon Cinnamon (Cinnamomum verum): Helps ease gas, bloating, indigestion, and digestive sluggishness, especially in those with poor appetite or slow digestion, and may even ease fatigue after meals. Try it in tea with ginger and peppermint to get things moving. Cinnamon milk is a cozy, nourishing option too.

  
  

• Rosemary (Salvia rosmarinus): Warming and aromatic, rosemary supports the liver, encourages bile flow, and helps ease gas, bloating, cramping, and sluggish digestion, especially after rich, fatty, or heavy meals. 

  
  

• Sweet Basil (Ocimum basilicum): A flavorful favorite culinary herb that also helps relieve gas and bloating, especially with heavy meals that tend to sit in the tummy like a brick. It is also antimicrobial and supports a healthy gut microbiome.

  
  

• Sage (Salvia officinalis): Supports the body’s ability to digest fats and encourages bile flow. It is often used in meals with meat (beef, pork, and lamb) for good reason; it helps prevent the bellyaches that come with rich meals.

  
  

• Fennel Seeds (Foeniculum vulgare): Supports liver and digestive function; a traditional favorite after meals to ease gas, bloating, and cramping. Excellent for digestion that feels cold, stagnant, or uncomfortable.

  

  fennel seeds

Essential Oils for Digestive Support

Essential oils can be used aromatically, topically (properly diluted), or in massage oils for occasional use. These oils are not meant to be taken internally unless under the guidance of a qualified practitioner. Always patch test diluted oils before use, and avoid use during pregnancy or while nursing unless approved by your healthcare provider. This is not an exhaustive list, just a few suggestions to get you feeling inspired:

• Ginger (Zingiber officinale): Warming and settling, ginger essential oil helps ease nausea, gas, bloating, or constipation. Inhale using a personal aromatherapy inhaler alone or blended with orange and peppermint. Apply over the abdomen in a lotion or carrier oil to ease nausea or diarrhea, blend with Roman chamomile and mandarin.

• Roman Chamomile (Chamaemelum nobile): A gentle option for stress-induced digestive complaints; often used in massage oils, baths, or compresses for digestive cramping, gas, and tension, or before meals as a preventative. Inhaling the oil via inhaler or diffuser can reduce digestive complaints and digestive-related headaches.

• Peppermint (Mentha x piperita): A classic choice for nausea, upset stomach, cramps and spasms, colic, indigestion, abdominal cramps, and IBS. The menthol in peppermint has a cooling, antispasmodic effect. Blend well with mandarin or orange, and ginger in a carrier for abdominal application. Great in cool compresses for nausea, headaches, and travel sickness. Diffuse peppermint before meals to promote digestive ease.

• Sweet Orange (Citrus sinensis): Just the scent of orange can get the digestive process started by stimulating saliva and gastric secretions. Supports peristalsis (movement of the intestines), eases constipation, nausea, abdominal cramps and spasms, IBS, and is often included in blends for digestive sluggishness.

• Mandarin (Citrus reticulata): A mild, child-friendly oil. Helps ease nausea associated with stomach cramping, gas, even when the nausea comes from food poisoning, overeating, or stomach flu.

• Patchouli (Pogostemon cablin): Helps support the body’s elimination pathways, reducing constipation, gas, nausea, and GI inflammation. Blends well with orange and mandarin for abdominal massage. Blend with peppermint and orange for a diffuser blend to support digestion.

• Cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum): A warming digestive oil that is great for nausea, heartburn, abdominal cramping, gas, diarrhea, or indigestion. Useful in belly rub blends and pairs well with ginger or sweet orange. Inhale via inhaler or diffuser a blend of cardamom, ginger, and peppermint to reduce nausea. Blend cardamom with Roman chamomile, and ginger or cardamom and orange in an unscented lotion for abdominal massage blend to reduce digestive woes.

warm ginger-lemon tea

Simple Ways to Use These Remedies

• Tea: One of the easiest ways to benefit from digestive herbs. Try combining ginger, chamomile, and fennel for a gentle after-meal tea

• Digestive Massage: Dilute essential oils like ginger, peppermint, or orange in a carrier oil or unscented lotion and massage gently over the abdomen in a clockwise direction

• Diffusion or Personal Inhaler: When tension or nerves affect digestion, try diffusing calming oils like lavender, Roman chamomile, or sweet orange

• Compress: Add a couple of drops of essential oil (diluted in a carrier oil) to a clean cloth. Soak in warm or cool water, or in a strong cup of peppermint tea, and place over the belly to calm cramping or sluggishness

Easy Recipes for Digestive Support

You do not need fancy tools or ingredients to make something that helps. These are simple, effective, and family-friendly.

Comforting Digestive Tea

• 3 parts calendula

• 1 part cinnamon chips

• 1 part dried ginger

• 1 part dried orange peel

Blend herbs and store in a labeled, air-tight glass jar. Steep 1 Tbsp, covered in 1 cup of hot water for 15-30 minutes. Strain and sip warm or cold after meals or as needed.

Belly Rub Oil (2% dilution)

Use this oil blend to gently massage the stomach when bloated or uncomfortable.

• 1 oz carrier oil (like jojoba, sweet almond, or castor)

• 5 drops sweet orange or mandarin essential oil

• 4 drops Roman chamomile essential oil

• 1 drop cardamom or ginger essential oil

Combine oils in a bottle, shake well to blend. Apply a small amount to the belly and gently massage in clockwise circles.

Supportive Diffuser Blend

A simple way to support digestion and help calm the body after meals. Add this blend to your diffuser.

• 3 drops mandarin essential oil

• 3 drops ginger essential oil

• 1 drop patchouli essential oil

Cool Compress For Digestive/Nausea Headaches

• 1-2 tsp carrier oil (jojoba or sweet almond)

• 1 drop peppermint essential oil

• 1 drop Roman chamomile

• 1 cup of cool water

Mix the essential oil drops into the carrier oil, then add to the cool water. Soak a clean cloth in the water, wring it out, place it on the back of the neck or over the abdomen to bring comfort.

Stomach Ease Inhaler

• 5 drops ginger essential oil

• 5 drops orange essential oil

• 3 drops peppermint essential oil

• Aromatherapy blank inhaler

Add drops of essential oils to the cotton wick, place in the inhaler, and snap in the cap. Unscrew the cover to inhale as needed for digestive comfort.

Final Thoughts

Digestive discomfort happens to all of us from time to time, but you do not have to suffer through it. Herbs and essential oils offer gentle, effective support to help your body do what it is already trying to do; digest well and feel good. Whether it is a simple cup of tea or a comforting belly rub oil, small actions can help you feel like yourself again.

While these natural remedies can be wonderfully supportive, it is important to know when to consult a healthcare provider. Seek medical attention if you experience persistent digestive issues, severe pain, blood in the stool, unexplained weight loss, or symptoms that interfere with daily life.