I have blogged before that coffee has not been proven to be bad for you, and that is still the case. Even though that is the case, if you are under a lot of stress, you might want to consider the better health benefits of green tea over coffee and reduce the caffeine level that comes with the coffee habit. Coffee has approximately 80 to 100 mgs of caffeine for every cup to green teas 30 to 40 mgs. Caffeine increases cortisol, an adrenal hormone associated with the fight and flight response that stress triggers. When this happens, your blood sugar goes up and unless you are expending a lot of energy as you would in a fight or flight response, that sugar will be stored as body fat and will be stored primarily as belly fat. Green tea not only has less caffeine, but it also has phytonutrients that block the effect of stimulating the cortisol production and increases the burning of fats, from fat storage deposits. Green tea has many other health benefits that make it one of the healthiest things you can do on a daily basis. It contains the amino acid L-theanine, found almost exclusively in the tea plant, which actively alters the attention networks of the brain, according to results of human trials announced in September 2007. John Foxe, Ph.D., professor of neuroscience, biology and psychology at City College of the City University of New York, found that theanine is absorbed by the small intestine and crosses the blood-brain barrier, where it affects the brain's neurotransmitters and increases alpha brain-wave activity. The result is a calmer, yet more alert, state of mind.
Some of you have tried green tea and have found it to taste grassy and unexciting. Good quality green tea tastes much better and even the more oxidized black tea has more health benefits than does coffee.
Green tea is the least processed and thus provides the most antioxidant polyphenols, notably a catechin called epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), which is believed to be responsible for most of the health benefits linked to green tea. Green tea is made by briefly steaming the just harvested leaves, rendering them soft and pliable and preventing them from fermenting or changing color. After steaming, the leaves are rolled, then spread out and “fired” (dried with hot air or pan-fried in a wok) until they are crisp. The resulting greenish-yellow tea has a green, slightly astringent flavor close to the taste of the fresh leaf.
In black tea production, the leaves are first spread on withering racks and air-blown, which removes about one-third of their moisture and renders them soft and pliable. Next, they are rolled to break their cell walls, releasing the juices essential to fermentation. Once again, they are spread out and kept under high humidity to promote fermentation, which turns the leaves a dark coppery color and develops black tea’s authoritative flavor. Finally, the leaves are “fired,” producing a brownish black tea whose immersion in hot water gives a reddish-brown brew with a stronger flavor than green or oolong teas.
Why not try oolong which is green tea that is a little more oxidized and has a fuller flavor, or jasmine tea, which is a mixture of either green tea or oolong with jasmine flowers. These are the teas you typically find in Chinese restaurants. They are just as good as plain green tea, but taste even better.
The most important thing to remember is that by replacing green teas for coffee, you can have a thinner waist and be more healthy as well as less stressed, even while enjoying the pickup of a little caffeine when you want it throughout the day.
Getting younger everyday...
cw
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The Case For Cutting Back...
For years, you may have been relying on coffee to wake you in the morning, keep you awake in the afternoon, and even, when the occasion required, stave off a night’s sleep. But it may be time to cut back on the caffeine, and, if you cannot imagine giving up the comfort factor that warm, fragrant coffee provides, at least switch to decaf. Why?
If you needed coffee to keep you going for any extended period, there’s a good chance your life was stressful when you did. And when you are under stress, you body produces a hormone called cortisol, which, as part of the stress response, raises your blood pressure and, more or less, keeps your body in a perpetual flight-or-fight state of readiness.
Caffeine increases the body’s cortisol production, exaggerating its stress response. Even decaf coffee stimulates cortisol release, implying that the caffeine in coffee is not the only culprit. Because stress has been identified as a great aging accelerators, decreasing coffee consumption may help you start feeling younger.
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New Research on the Health Benefits of Green Tea...
In laboratories around the globe, green tea is sparking tremendous excitement as new health applications keep being discovered.The most active green tea constituent is called epigallocatechin gallate. This unique flavonoid favorably alters pathways underlying pathological processes such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity, and Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases. All of this points to green tea as a broad-spectrum nutrient that may promote long life. Green tea is consumed routinely in Asian populations, who have greater longevity and lower mortality rates for diseases that are prevalent in Western society.Given the huge scientific literature supporting the positive role of green tea in preventing neurodegenerative diseases, not to mention its benefits in helping to prevent cancer and other diseases, as well as its lack of toxicity, there is ample reason for consuming green tea poly-phenols on a regular basis.In this article, we have interviewed international scientists on their current research into the myriad life-extending and life-enhancing benefits of green tea.
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Christopher Wiechert's Healthblogger is for educational or informational purposes only, and is not intended to diagnose or provide treatment for any condition. If you have any concerns about your own health, you should always consult with a health care professional. If you decide to use this information on your own, it's your constitutional right, but I assume no responsibility. The views expressed on this website are those of the health professionals & scientists I list or my own opinions and are not intended to replace any medical advice you may require. The contents have not been approved by the Pharmaceutical Association, the American Medical Association, or the Food and Drug Administration. This website may present views diametrically opposed to the views of such organizations.
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