Drink Tea for your health

We know there’s often talk in the scientific community that keeps getting louder about the health benefits of tea, but is it loud enough? Usually they are talking about green tea, that’s the tea consumed more in the East. We Westerners, however, picked up our tea habits in colonial times. I assure you this topic relates to black, oolong and white as well; and goes back a little further than 1875 when England was introduced to black tea.

Now I know most of us are savvy shoppers and if you’ve picked up a box of tea lately you’ll find it offers potassium. Potassium? Yes, potassium, and no calories, fat, sodium or carbs. I’m sitting here reading the nutrition label as shocked as you might be. So what are these health benefits?

Obviously these health benefits are too numerous to mention really and that could be why most companies don’t share that information on the box. I care enough to disagree. Here’s the short list (I promise to get back to these another day if you would like):

• Fights cardiovascular disease
• Fights cancer
• Assists in weight loss
• Assists in a detoxification or cleanse process
• Protects brain from chemicals in the blood
• Fights periodontal disease

I kid you not about the benefits. Scientific findings in recent years are quite impressive. Tea has so much more to offer us than the nutritional info on the box informs us of. I know the value of potassium and I don’t discount that; but what about the other compounds of tea. What is frustrating is the industry is tied to advertising the benefits as “may be” beneficial for your diet or “may be” beneficial to weight loss. Their hands are tied; they haven’t won any battles like Mr. Oatmeal that allows a healthy heart on the box yet.

So, how do you know if you should buy into the marketing of a tea touting weight loss benefits? I’ll tell you five things about the value of the tea plant.

1. I already said it but, it’s a plant. It is a plant no different than anything else you’ll find in produce. Well, not exactly, okay move on to find out more.
2. The high levels of antioxidants in the tea plant are not susceptible to the same affects as other plant foods when stored long-term or when cooked. Now that sounds important. We can eat our produce fresh to get the best results, but our tea is perfect anytime.
3. Catechins, caffeine and theanine. These flavonoids, chemical compounds, and amino acids work together to promote weight loss and a myriad of other health promoting duties in your body.
4. While we are concerned with adverse reactions to caffeine in tea it is not as bad as caffeine in other sources. It works together with the amino acid theanine to boost your brain power as well as help with weight loss. After all, it’s good to have a clear mind to read nutrition labels before you go shopping. Now it’s nice to know I’ll have something working on the inside, while I do all the hard work on the outside with exercise and all.

Violette DeSantis is a work-at-home mom, wife and freelance writer. Learn more about her latest projects at ViDesantis.WritelyApplied.com. If you need a writer, fiction or non-fiction, creative or not, she’ll work with you until it’s writely applied.

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