Benefits of green tea

For fortune-tellers, gazing into tea leaves reveals the future. For tea-drinkers, the leaves of certain teas may be harbingers of a healthier future. Aside from herbal or fruit-infused teas, most teas come from the leaves of the same tea bush, Camellia sinensis. The benefit of each kind of tea from the Camellia sinensis depends upon when and where the leaves are harvested and how their properties are brewed or extracted. To get to the truth about tea, we need to gaze into the leaves a bit, too. Is any other food or drink reported to have as many health benefits as green tea? The Chinese have known about the medicinal benefits of green tea since ancient times, using it to treat everything from headaches to depression. In her book Green Tea: The Natural Secret for a Healthier Life, Nadine Taylor states that green tea has been used as a medicine in China for at least 4,000 years. Since old times, Chinese are using green tea health benefits as medicine to treat everything from simple headaches to depression. Today, many scientific researches have provided enough evidence for the health benefits of the green tea drinking. To sum up, here are just a few medical conditions in which drinking green tea is reputed to be helpful:

• cancer
• rheumatoid arthritis
• high cholesterol levels
• cariovascular disease
• infection
• impaired immune function

Read the leaves: Green tea reigns as the current health superstar of teas. Young leaves of the Camellia sinensis bush are harvested to make green tea, then steamed, dried, and rolled. When brewed, the leaves yield a delicate, grassy flavour. Tons of varieties exist, infused with different flavours, like fruit or toasted rice. Some kinds are handled differently, as with the "gunpowder" variety, in which the leaves are rolled into balls that look like gunpowder pellets used in cannons.

Harvest the benefits: Tea from the Camellia sinensis family contain catechins, a type of antioxidant that can protect cells in the body from oxidative damage that may lead to cancers. Because it goes through less processing than other tea types, green tea contains a higher amount of a certain kind of catechin called EGCG.

EGCG is at the heart of numerous scientific studies researching green tea's potential medical uses and health benefits. Some of its suspected uses include:

• helping to maintain healthy weight
• slowing the growth of some cancers and lowering risks of others
• reducing inflammation associated with rheumatoid arthritis and Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis
• reducing the risk of death from cardiovascular disease

Is all this a tempest in a teacup? Can green tea live up to all of its hype? Most people don't drink enough to get the kinds of results seen in research studies, in which highly dense extracts of green tea may be used. Still, risks of cardiovascular disease and prostate cancer were found to be drastically reduced when people drank 5 cups per day (one cup of green tea provides 20-35 mg of EGCG). Drinking 5 cups of green tea each day may work for some, but even one or two a day may give you some of the green tea benefits.

What makes green tea so special?

The secret of green tea lies in the fact it is rich in catechin polyphenols, particularly epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG). EGCG is a powerful anti-oxidant: besides inhibiting the growth of cancer cells, it kills cancer cells without harming healthy tissue. It has also been effective in lowering LDL cholesterol levels, and inhibiting the abnormal formation of blood clots. The latter takes on added importance when you consider that thrombosis (the formation of abnormal blood clots) is the leading cause of heart attacks and stroke.

Let these ideas steep

Keep the following in mind as you decide whether to add some tea to your days:

• Tea may contain less caffeine than coffee, but it is caffeine nonetheless. Caffeine has been linked to high blood pressure and can trigger symptoms of conditions, including heartburn and headaches.
• The tannins in tea may interfere with or decrease the effectiveness of some medications. Ask your doctor or pharmacist whether your medications can mix with green tea.
• The tannins may also hinder iron absorption.
• Women who are pregnant should not drink large amounts of green tea. EGCG can interfere with neural tube development.
• Mixing tea with citrus may up its antioxidant strength.
• To get the most of tea's benefits, drink it freshly brewed, rather than bottled. Let tea steep for a few minutes to release the catechins.

Green Iced Tea diet - is it so helpful?

Tea is the most commonly consumed beverage in the world after water. Green Tea, in particular. If you need to grab a drink when you're out, Green Ice Tea of any brand is the most convenient option. But there are some problem.

There's good evidence that Green Tea can be good for your health, but a bottle of iced tea is just another soft drink. Iced tea isn’t as healthy as it’s sometimes cracked up to be. First of all, ready-made Green Tea contains much lower levels of flavonoids than freshly brewed tea because it’s made from Green Tea extract, not from fresh brewed Green Tea. For example Lipton Ice Tea Green (made from Green Tea extract) contains 170mg of flavonoids per 500ml bottle and you'd get about 700mg of flavonoids from the same quantity of freshly brewed Green Tea. So you can’t get the same health benefits from iced tea diet as from a traditional cuppa.

The second problem is the plenty of sugar most brands do contain. All the brands of bottled Green Tea are heavily sweetened with either sugar or artificial sweeteners. It ranges from 7 to 11 or even more teaspoons of sugar per 500ml bottle. It’s not useful for your teeth and specially for your weight. If that's not enough some brands offer a diet Green Tea version sweetened with aspartame and ace-k. So you don’t enjoy pure Green Tea because of enjoying the very subtle flavor.But Green Tea is very good without sweetener of any kind and if you get real good tea (imported from China or Japan) you don't need to put anything else in it to make it taste better.

Is green tea good for loosing weight

As you know,  flour products make fat, and butter as well. And if you eat burgers full of fat on a daily basis it is not going to make you slim. Nothing beats a bit of exercise and a balanced diet (fruit, vegetable, some meat and Green Tea of course). But I think the problem is the term "diet". It must be lifestyle. A person has to live a lifestyle that is healthy. It may take awhile to change lifestyles but it is worth it. Sometimes, one of thing make us to change. That was Green Tea for me.

I drink Green Tea every day prefering  the diet lipton Green Tea with citrus flavors. Lipton Green Tea “Naturally contains protective antioxidants,” says the box. This is important because antioxidants can help the body protect itself against free radicals-molecules that can damage cells, I’ve been wrote about it early. I’ve something to add to benefits of Green Tea. Drinking this beverage, helps cleanse your digestive system. Green Tea, also helps lower your cholesterol levels, and helps lower the amount of fat absorbed by your stomache.
So Green Tea is good for weight loss. But how many cups would you need to drink a day to help you lose weight? It depends on your physic and the nature of your body. Start it with two per day one in the morning and one in evening… It would work.

Green Tea Sorbet (dessert lipton Green Tea recipe)
- 2 cups boiling water
- 8 Lipton Green Tea Tea bags
- 2 cups water
- 1-1/4 cups sugar
- 1/4 cup dark corn syrup
- 2 Tbsp. lemon juice

In Teapot, pour boiling water over Tea bags. Cover and brew 5 minutes. Remove Tea bags and squeeze. In medium saucepan, bring 2 cups water and sugar to a boil and boil 1 minute. Remove from heat. Stir in Tea, corn syrup and lemon juice. Pour into metal bowl; cover and refrigerate until well chilled, about 1 hour.  Process in ice cream machine according to manufacturer's directions. Makes 1 quart.

Benefit of Green Tea

The most important thing to learn about green tea is why it has become so popular. It seems everywhere we look we see brand after brand cashing in on the phenomena. In the cooler of every corner store there's at least three or four brands from which to choose. Ask yourself this question: Why? Green tea as a beverage has been available for over five thousand years in the orient. The flavor is definitely good, but has our collective taste changed THAT much in the last five years? I think not. Let's not forget that garlic and several other spices migrated into western culture from the orient.

I think that the west is learning what has been known for a very long time. It's good for you!

Here's a short list of what Green Tea has been credited with:

 

• Weight Loss
• Stopping Alzheimer's
• Treating cancer
• Treating multiple sclerosis
• Reducing bad cholesterol count

I could go on, but even if none of these claims are right, it is a very mild, good-tasting, and refreshing drink. Personally, I drink over 20oz a of it a day just because it suits me. We know that it has been around for thousands of years and we can see how popular it's becoming in the increased public awareness of nutritionally responsible foods, why not give it a try? Any brand!