Coffee, Tea or Me?

Thank you, I'll take the tea please! One of the things I like about Dr. Mao's "Secrets of Longevity" is that he studied centenarians around the world for over twenty years before compiling all of his research on the science of longevity. Of course, diet and nutrition were a major component of his findings. Everything we all know is in his book - drink lots of water, eat a rainbow of colors, limit fat, limit alcohol, love blueberries, and so on and so forth! I won't be boring you with all the obvious facts (but a gentle reminder here or there may be needed - for both of us!).

I always knew that tea was good for you, but I've never been a tea-aholic. Boy, is that going to change! Dr. Mao has found that the number one beverage most commonly enjoyed by centenarians around the globe is tea. "The free radical-inhibiting property of tea is more potent than that of vitamin E, and tea is a proven preventative and treatment for atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries).  The polyphenols in tea are powerful antioxidents that help ward off diabetes and cancer." (Excerpt from "Secrets of Longevity")

So, I did my own investigating and anything and everything I read about tea was encouraging. Aging, allergies, arthritis, bone strength, cancer, cholesterol, heart disease and weight loss, drink 3-4 cups of tea a day or more, and all of these categories are affected in a positive way. Prevention Magazine states that 1 cup of  tea has more anti-oxident power than a serving of brocolli, carrots or spinach!  Black, oolong, and green tea all come from the same tea plant, the camellia sinensis, and most current research concludes that all three types of tea are equally beneficial to your health.

Also, one thing that I had never come across in any prior readings, you MUST brew your tea for at least 3 -5 minutes in order to bring out the beneficial polyphenols..I'm an instant gratification girl and doubt that I've ever let my tea brew that long. I'll also be purchasing organically grown tea (I just watched the movie "Food, Inc."  - I'd consider myself 25% organic in the past, oh, wait this is for another post!)

With this said, I'll start drinking tea - every day and all day. No more decaf coffee after lunch or dinner it's tea all the way. By the way, tea has one-half the caffeine as coffee and findings have shown that taking the caffeine out of tea doesn't diminish the benefits in any way.  Cheerio!

Camellia Sinenis

Beautiful, this has GOT to be healthy!

Elinluv.blogspot.com

Terrific Recipe for Green Tea Ice Cream

Closet Cooking Blog

Green Tea Cake

Taste of Home.com

Green Tea Chicken Teriyaki

Mighty Leaf Tea

I've had this and it's delicious!

Tea leaves are less processed than tea bags.

No excuses...tea lattes, now at Starbucks!