Green Tea and All Its Glory!

“Fancy a cup of tea poppet?“

Here a little informative post for you guys (because ya’ll might be getting sick of looking at thinspiration photos).  So today I will share to my readers some interesting facts about TEA! *yeay*

For some of you who may not know this, but back in 2005 I went to China and lived till early 2009, and during my stay there I learned about the joys of drinking tea and its health benefits.

So where did tea originate from??? CHINA! Well the usage of tea was first recorded in China around 10th Century BC. During the Qin Dynasty is was already very much common and then it boomed popularity during the Tang Dynasty. Tea soon reached the shores of Japan (Chinese trade) and also became a wide spread drink there! Even Emperor Shomu invited 100 friggin monks to his crib to down some tea! (For real! He was down like that FO-SHIZZLE!) <– forgive the bad humor. 😦

Okay! Moving on! Tea (green tea) has many many benefits. I can list down a few from memory.

1. It helps greatly in preventing cancer
2. Its a great supplement to weight loss program
3. The caffeine in Tea does not have side effects unlike the caffeine in coffee or other products.
4. It gives you energy with ZERO calories (if drank plain).

Okay so I only know 4 benefits. But this is where Wikipedia comes in and I quote:

“Tea leaves contain more than 700 chemicals, among which the compounds closely related to human health are flavanoides, amino acids, vitamins (C, E and K), caffeine and polysaccharides. Moreover, tea drinking has recently proven to be associated with cell-mediated immune function of the human body. Tea plays an important role in improving beneficial intestinal microflora, as well as providing immunity against intestinal disorders and in protecting cell membranes from oxidative damage. Tea also prevents dental caries due to the presence of fluorine. The role of tea is well established in normalizing blood pressure, lipid depressing activity, prevention of coronary heart diseases and diabetes by reducing the blood-glucose activity. Tea also possesses germicidal and germistatic activities against various gram-positive and gram negative human pathogenic bacteria. Both green and black tea infusions contain a number of antioxidants, mainly catechins that have anti-carcinogenic, anti-mutagenic and anti-tumoric properties.“

**whew** that was quite a mouth full. And yes that dizzy looking guy is exaclty how I felt when I read this entire thing out load. But kudos to those from wikipedia and the people who wrote the article about Tea. 😛

There is one more thing. I took this portion of an article from freedieting.com

Green Tea for Weight Loss

“There is no such thing as a ‘miracle’ weight loss food or drug – however there are many indications that Green Tea brings a number of benefits to those trying lose weight:

Studies have also shown green tea extracts are capable of reducing fat digestion by inhibiting digestive enzymes. Others have shown thermogenic properties of green tea (probably brought on by the interaction between its caffeine content, and catechin polyphenols)¹. Thermogenesis is the process of the body burning fuel (fat) without making chemical energy (the calories are released as heat).

However, if you are overweight or obese – and change nothing else in your life except to start drinking green tea – you are not going to have an instant weight loss miracle – but you will be giving yourself an edge.

Combined with other weight loss techniques, Green Tea (drink or extract) is an excellent addition to your diet.”

SO there you have people! I know green tea has a bitter taste but it is an acquired thing as well. I used to not like tea but in time I have grown to LOVE it. So GO and grab that cup of tea! Replace your coffee with Green Tea! And try to drink it as often as you can anywhere!

CHEERS!
Krystle Lane!