Drinking This Healing Tonic Daily Helped Tame My Inflammation & Leaky Gut

Within a single week back in 2014, I'd lost then gained 10 pounds. Cystic acne spread over every inch of my face, and I was so exhausted that standing to get a glass of water felt like climbing Everest. My body was so puffy that my rings no longer fit on my fingers, and it took me 10 minutes to get out of bed in the morning because it hurt too much to stand on my feet.

I was a fit 24-year-old trainer. Months later, after way too many doctors' visits, I was finally diagnosed with Hashimoto’s, an autoimmune disease affecting my thyroid and hormonal functions, accompanied by a wicked case of leaky gut. But at the time of this sudden onset of extreme symptoms? It just felt like my body had betrayed me. The severe inflammation made me feel as if I was wearing a sumo wrestler costume on a body that no longer belonged to me.

I turned to golden milk for the curcumin in turmeric, what we now all know is a powerhouse for combating inflammation. But I was dismayed to discover that I couldn’t find a pre-made turmeric blend on the market that had the components needed to make turmeric properly bioavailable and effective. Turmeric is fat-soluble and needs the piperine compound in black-pepper to bind to become bioavailable; otherwise, it passes through your body too quickly to have any beneficial effect.

All these blends all had counterproductive inflammatory sugars built in (I don’t know about you, but I’d rather choose where I eat my sugars—hello, chocolate!), didn’t have the fats necessary for absorption, had fillers like guar gum, or were either missing or using the wrong kind of pepper like pink peppercorns that are an entirely different plant and don’t contain piperine.

One of my favorite tips is to use canned coconut milk rather than the boxed kind. Look at the ingredients on the label as they can vary from brand to brand, but canned coconut milk tends to just have coconut cream and water, whereas the boxed ones usually have carrageenan, guar gums, or xanthan gums.

This drink is the perfect nightcap, especially now that it’s autumn! It’s warm and cozy, yet sugar- and caffeine-free (unlike matcha or hot chocolate). Lately, I’ve been drinking it at night as I journal before bed. I recommend incorporating this into your daily routine for two to three weeks to experience the true benefits, as consistency matters more than amount consumed at once.

Makes one 8-ounce drink

*Optional: Use an immersion blender to create froth to have a golden latte feel.