December 26, 2011
After the indulgence of Christmas, most of us will choose losing weight as a New Year’s resolution. Did you know that drinking tea can help put you on the right track?
Tea has been widely recognised for its amazing health benefits such as:
o Boosting the immune system
o Decrease high blood pressure
o Reducing the risk of heart disease and lowering cholesterol
So how can drinking tea help me lose weight? Well, good quality loose leaf tea contains three components that work in conjunction with each other to increase metabolism and decrease your appetite. The components are:
1. Caffeine is a stimulant, making the heart beat faster and therefore helps you to burn more calories. The jittery effects of caffeine (associated with highly caffeinated drinks) doesn’t occur in tea as it is counteracted by the second component:
2. L-theanine is an amino acid that works to counteract the caffeine effects by promoting relaxation, improving
learning performance, heighten mental acuity and promoting concentration. Did you know for instance, that Buddhist Monks in China and Japan drink green tea because it helps them to keep mentally alert (caffeine), whilst the calming effect of the L-theanine is the perfect yin and yang: ideal for meditation.
3. Epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) is an antioxidant that stimulates your body’s metabolism which means you are actually burning fats as you are drinking tea! EGCG is said to lower the levels of triglycerides in the blood and inhibits the accumulation of fatty acids in the fat cells, thus making it a significant anti-obesity agent. Tea is high in antioxidants which help to protect your body from free radicals. Free radical damage has been implicated in diseases such as cancer.
Okay enough with all the science, already. Here are a few tips to help you on the way as part of your weight management programme:
o Find teas that you like and drink them all day.
With loose leaf tea, did you know that you can use the tea leaves again and again? Use use filtered water if you live in a hard water area, use the correct temperature of water for your chosen tea and ensure that you steep the tea for the correct amount of time.
o If you find yourself reaching for the biscuit tin, reach for a tea instead.
There are so many teas that are bursting with floral sweet flavours that if you have a tea, you’ll forget about those naughty snacks. Remember that tea helps to suppress your appetite so why not try a Tie Guan Yin Oolong tea that has hints of orchid; or drop a few Jasmine Dragon Pearls into your cup. For a vegetal and nutty flavour, why not try a Japanese Genmaicha (popcorn tea).
o Try cooking with tea.
There are many recipes that use loose leaf tea, so why not try experimenting today? Recipes such as Green Tea Steamed Bass, Lapsang Souchong Gravalax and Oolong Boiled Shrimp is surely going to tickle your taste buds as they are very low in fat and low in calories.
Remember, drinking tea alone will not help you lose weight, but incorporate tea drinking (without milk or sugar) as part of your chosen weight management programme.
If you have any further questions then please do not hesitate to contact us on info@maykingtea.com
Not sure what tea to buy? Go to http://www.maykingtea.com for more details. Thank you.
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December 19, 2011
Beer is the most widely consumed alcoholic drink in the world. Tea is the most widely consumed drink in the world, second only to water. While beer does have some health benefits (some beer is a natural source of prebiotics), there are certain teas that will provide several digestive health benefits.
Tea was first used in Thailand, Burma, Assam, and China and eventually was introduced to Europeans during their East Asia trading that took place in the seventeenth century. In fact, the first book written all about the cultivation, preparation, and consumption of tea was by a Chinaman named Lu Yum in the year 780.
There’s a bit of a tea revolution happening in the United States now and leading this charge is green tea because of it’s associated health benefits. This trend will grow and there are already other beverage products advertising great calorie-burning benefits which incidentally are deriving the key ingredients from green tea.
Green tea benefits
Although there are many studies still being done on green tea, some have been substantiated by western scions, even thought in Asia they’ve used it for medicinal purposes for thousands of years. daily green tea consumption has already shown to protect against heart attacks and strokes, and obesity. This is great news considering how much trans fats we still get from many processed foods.
From acne to weight loss
Green tea helps to stimulate cleansing of your cells and can rejuvenate skin cells that are dying. There are products available claiming it can heal acne.
As a weight loss product it can speed up your metabolism and acts as an appetite suppressant as well. These are legitimate weight loss benefits since increasing metabolic rate and reducing hunger cravings are two of the most common thugs we see included in many weight loss products on the market, both in the pharmaceutical drug and natural supplement variety.
Green tea can also help detox your body of the many dangerous toxins, chemicals, and other pollutants that enter the body through food and the air.
It can help digestion and has been used for years to relief certain types of minor gastrointestinal disorders. It’s antioxidants are believed to help fight cancer and help decrease inflammation inside the body which is a symptom of obesity.
Is it only green tea?
If you want to widen your choices for digestive health tea try yerba mate tea as well. This is similar in some ways as far as it’s health benefits. Yerba mate also stimulates cells, but of the fat variety. It’s also an excellent appetite suppressant and can increase your natural energy without the jitters and nervousness some people get with coffee.
Drink tea for increased digestive health benefits and don’t forget to add the necessary digestive enzymes and dietary fibers that are also important – learn how it’s done, all natural too at http://www.Natural-Digestion.com for information based on independent, and thorough research on one of our most important subjects; digestive health.
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December 12, 2011
Tea is very popular all over the world, from China, across America to the shores of Britain, there are people drinking tea. The beauty of tea, much like coffee, is the plethora of flavors that one has to choose from when wanting to have some iced tea or hot tea. In this article, we will look into and discover the many varieties of tea that are available year-round and some that are seasonal!
There are many common types of tea that you have probably heard of once or twice in your lifetime. These range from chamomile to orange pekoe to plain black tea. These types of teas get more and more specific the more that they are mixed with each other and other flavors and leaves. Chamomile, known for its medicinal attributes, is actually a mixture of small daisy-like plants that are turned into tea bags. Mixed with honey and/or lemon, chamomile is great for helping you fall asleep.
This is not true for English breakfast blend teas, however. Primarily a strong blend that delivers a lot of caffeine to your system, English breakfast tea, a blend of leaves from Asia and Africa, helps you wake up in the morning. Other breakfast blends, such as Irish breakfast, have a similar composition and effect.
Christmas tea is the last tea we have room to talk about in this article. Christmas tea is certainly very different from the chamomile you have before bed or the earl grey you drink to get that early morning kick start. Usually Christmas tea is made from a variety of stock cloves and ingredients that mix together to taste like many holiday treats like gingerbread (a lot of holiday teas have ginger in them). For instance, some Christmas teas will use cloves, spices and orange and lemon zest to create a rich blend of tummy warming tea for sipping in front of the Christmas tree at night. A lot of Christmas teas mix in hints of chocolate and an overwhelming number feature mint as a defining taste for the blend.
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December 7, 2011
For a large number of years, the Chinese as well as Japanese have long been drinking green tea. It continues to be attributed for helping fight off different forms of illnesses in addition to helping weight loss, and this brew has also been linked to fighting cancer.
Only recently, green tea started to be introduced to the west. And, people love them. A lot of people say that they never felt healthier in their entire lives, and health buffs even said that this tea is really a miracle drink. Ever since then, the whole world is currently drinking green tea for a regular daily basis.
So, is green tea really that wonderful? Does it really fight off cancer?
For starters, green tea has numerous benefits. The primary good thing about this brew is that it has antioxidants which can be recognized as a knight to fight off disease/cancer cells. So, to answer the issue on whether green tea can prevent cancer, the answer is yes. It eliminates free radicals from one’s body which leaves it free from toxins that will cause cancer.
This brew is filled with the antioxidant called epigallocatechin-3 gallat or what exactly is more often known as EGCG. Unlike black tea, green tea is absolutely not fermented, which preserves EGCG. For this reason, this brew is even more beneficial than black tea and includes more positive effect in fighting diseases, especially cancer.
So, what is free radicals? Body processes need oxygen. This element is abundantly found inside the air and with proper intake, it burns the glucose and fat present within the body to provide the needed heat and energy. So you can understand, oxygen is a very important element required by our body but anything in excess is harmful and too much oxygen can even have negative effects we previously do not aware of.
The byproducts of oxidation are free radicals. Sometimes, other molecules interact with the free radicals and so these molecules are also changed into free radicals which often can disrupt the normal functioning of the cell molecules. If this keeps on happening, it may lead to tissue damage and eventually cell destruction, causing degenerative disease.
One can extrapolate that sometimes the abnormal functioning molecules can cause certain degenerative diseases for example Alzheimer’s disease, rheumatoid arthritis, artherosclerosis, cancer, heart diseases, and Parkinson’s disease. Humans are quite fortunate because their bodies are pre-loaded with the right defenses in order to prevent the free radical’s harmful effects. How about if you are the unfortunate one? If your immune system gets sick? You may get diseases and even cancer.
It’s important to keep in mind that when free radicals enter our body, it will eventually have an impact to our cells. If this happens, it can make abnormal cells, which may end up in cancerous cells that could reproduce throughout your body creating tumors.
Apart from spontaneous production from our body metabolic process. Free radicals can enter your body in several different ways as well. It may be as a result of exposure to cigarette smoke, pollution, and it could possibly even be a consequence of exposure to excessive sunlight.
It’s important that we must always eradicate free radicals from our body so that you can keep your body healthy and cancer free. Although a number of food we eat contains antioxidant, you need to understand that it’s not likely enough to fight off the total amount of free radicals that enter our body. So how to counter free radicals? This is by taking in more antioxidants into your body. This really is where green tea comes in.
Because green tea has a superior concentration of antioxidants, it can fight off free radicals more effectively. With just three to four cups per day, you are able to ensure that you can probably keep your body healthy and cancer free.
Actually, green tea is so effective that even the National Cancer Institute conducted studies on this so-called miracle brew and located that it does assist in preventing cancer. Today, scientists have become investigating green tea as being a key part of making cure for cancer. In time, as a result of this century-old brew, we are going to see a cancer cure for the very first time.
One study even found the fact that antioxidants present in green tea was capable of shrinking tumors and prevented it from reproducing more cancerous cells and growing.
As you can see, green tea does help in preventing cancer. Considering the scientific studies being done with green tea today, it is just a matter of time that we we can see a cure for cancer.
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