Green Tea-Forms of Green Tea

 

Forms of Green Tea

Green tea and other teas are popular beverages in America, and in fact due to the rising popularity of tea in the United States, Americans have invented new ways to consume this refreshing beverage. The United States played a big part in the developing market for tea such as inventing the tea bag, and methodizing iced tea both in 1904. In modern times the United States even leads the world market in ready- to-drink tea in bottles, usually served chilled. However this is not thought of the best way to enjoy green tea considering the bottled beverage industry has added sugar and other additives.  Here are some of the different ways to brew your green tea so that you might find one the fits your lifestyle.
Tea bag
One of the easier ways to brew your green tea, Tea bags were invented in the United States in 1904 and are easily found in any grocery store or coffee/tea specialty store. This method is as simple as pouring a hot cup of water into a mug containing your bag of tea leaves and waiting for the beverage to steep, then enjoy. Just keep an eye out for teas with added sugar and preservatives. Another plus to drinking green tea using tea bags is that most tea bags these days are 99.99% biodegradable and much better for the environment than say bottled green teas.
Loose leaf
So, you think green tea brewed from the bag, is good enough for you? Well tea connoisseurs would insist you try green tea brewed from loose leaf tea leaves. While this may take more time and some extra equipment, it is well worth it. High quality green tea will have much more complex flavors along with a larger flavor profile that most mass produced brand tea bags just won’t have. So, as surprising as it is, there is a specific way to brew green tea apart from other teas.
First, you must find your preferred tea, any tea specialty shop will have loose leaf tea and it should come sealed in an airtight baggie for freshness. Second, you will need the correct pot and cup, there are pots designed for how green tea is supposed to be steeped.  Here comes the complicated part, next bring some purified water (water with little taste is recommended) to a boil on the stove, once the water is at a boil remove from the heat and pour into the teapot. Never brew green tea with boiling water.

Finally, after the water has cooled for about a minute pour the water into the cups that you will be serving and discard any excess water. This will warm the cups, cool the water and measure out the perfect amount of tea for the group. After about a minute pour the water back into the pot and brew your premeasured loose leaf tea for about another 2-2 ½ minutes. Enjoy.
Extracts    
Many in the fitness community have seen or heard about the now popular green tea extract pills, essentially what this is, is a concentrated version of the properties of what is found in a cup of green tea.  On average, one pill of the extract can contain an equal amount of nutrients as 5 cups of green tea. While green tea extracts have been studied and overall are good for you, it is important to remember that moderation is the key. It is a fact that you can overdose on these extracts and they have been known to cause acute liver failure in some cases. 
Finally, the important thing to remember is that no matter how fit green tea into your life at least you get to benefit from what the beverage has to offer. Find your favorite way to enjoy this wonderful tea and incorporate it into your routine.  

Green Tea-Green Tea for Weight Loss

 

Green Tea for Weight Loss

Green tea has become a highly popular beverage because of all the health advantages associated with it. It is packed full of antioxidants, minerals and vitamins that keeps your body healthy. Some research shows that it can reduce the chance of developing cancer because the antioxidants destroy free radicals. Free radicals are known to kill healthy cells which make it easier for your body to develop cancer. Another great benefit to drinking green tea or taking green tea supplements is that it helps with weight loss.

Below are a few ways green tea supplements and green tea beverages can help aid in weight loss:

1. Less Calories -- Green tea can easily replace drinks such as coffee, soda and fruit juices. Replacing these drinks with green tea that is lightly sweetened with honey can save an abundance of calories. Loose leaf green tea on its own, has zero calories but if you add about a teaspoon of honey to your tea you are only getting about 21 calories per cup. This is significantly less calories than sodas, juices, and coffees that are full of sugar and cream. You can easily dress up green tea with a squirt of lemon juice that is next to no calories.
2. Metabolism Boost -- A powerful antioxidant called epigallocatechin gallate or EGCG for short is abundantly found in loose leaf green tea. This substance in known to boost the metabolism and allow people burn 3 to 4 percent more calories each day. EGCG also blocks the break down a hormone called norepinephrine. Norepinephrine helps fat cells break down.
3. Stimulant -- Green tea has about 24mg of caffeine in it per cup. This amount of caffeine provides just enough energy to improve exercise performance and low doses of caffeine are known to aid in fat burning.
4. Appetite Reduction -- Green tea can also help with weight loss because it reduces your appetite. This means you will naturally consume fewer calories than you usually do. When you consume and burn fewer calories than you take in, you will lose weight.


It’s important to point out that green tea will not produce weight loss results alone. It must be combined with a proper diet and a daily exercise routine. Adding green tea to your diet along with an exercise program will produce better results than exercise and diet alone.

In the end, green tea aids in weight loss because it provides zero calories compared to other drinks. The antioxidants in green tea boost metabolism and break down fat cells. Also, the low dose of caffeine is just enough to improve overall performance at the gym and it reduces the appetite which means fewer calories will be consumed.

If you have hit a plateau in your weight loss add in about two cups of green tea to your diet every day and don’t forget to throw out those high caloric beverages. Not only will you lose a couple extra pounds but you will also reap all the other benefits associated with green tea consumption.

Green Tea-Green Tea Vs Coffee

 

Green Tea Vs Coffee

Monday morning, 6 a.m. and you couldn’t sleep, most of America will reach for a hot cup of coffee either from their kitchen or from the local coffee shop on the way to work. In 2014, the National Coffee Association did a study that showed 34% of Americans consumed gourmet coffee drinks daily. If you do some rough calculations based on the population in 2014 that comes out to about 108 million people getting gourmet coffee beverages every day. But is coffee really the best we can do for ourselves every morning? What if there is a morning beverage that can do what coffee can and more?
Green tea has been proven scientifically to be one of the top health drinks for your body due to its high content of antioxidants and nutrients known to improve brain function, reduce health risks and improve metabolism function. Some of you might be saying “Well, I need the extra caffeine from the coffee”, it is true that green tea has less caffeine than a cup of black coffee however, green tea has more to offer in that department than coffee. Green tea, in addition to a good dose of caffeine, has amino acid L-theanine which can cross the blood-brain barrier and works in conjunction with caffeine to overall improve brain function.  All in all many people reported having a less jittery feeling with tea as well as feeling like they had a more stable feeling of energy and productiveness.
For those who are looking to lose weight, green tea still has more to offer the human body over coffee. But do not misunderstand, green tea will not make you drop 10 pounds in a few weeks nor will anything else for that matter. Green tea has shown in several randomized and controlled trials that the beverage essentially encourages the body to burn fat slightly more effectively when subjects were eating a controlled diet and a controlled amount of physical activity. The subjects that were drinking green tea every day lost on average 6 to 11 pounds more than the placebo counterparts.
After your first or second cup of coffee how many of you worry about the dreaded coffee breath? Or if you are a regular coffee drinker how often do have to whiten your teeth to get rid of unsightly coffee stains? Once again, green tea to the rescue. Green tea contains these molecules called Catechins; this component of the tea is known to inhibit the growth of harmful bacteria called Streptococcus mutans. This bacterium is the primary cause of plaque as well as the main contributor to cavities and tooth decay. Not to mention that Green tea can reduce bad breath according to some studies.
It is really incredible that such a simple, heathy beverage has gone relatively unnoticed compared to coffee and other teas such as black tea. Especially considering popular consumption has been documented in China as early as 600 AD. However, according to the Tea association consumption of green tea is on the rise, as much as 60% volume over the last ten years. If you are looking for a better alternative to your daily cup of java, give green tea a try and let the benefits speak for themselves.

Green Tea-How to Add Green Tea to Your Day

 

How to Add Green Tea to Your Day
Green tea has been used for thousands of years in Asia and other parts of the world. It’s known for its healing EGCGs (epigallocatechin gallate), antioxidants, antibiotic properties, and healthful minerals. Plus, it’s hydrating, has less caffeine than coffee, and it tastes good too.
* Have it at Breakfast – Start your day right with green tea instead of blended coffee drinks that are full of sugar and artificial ingredients and so high in caffeine that you’ll experience an afternoon crash. Plus you’ll save money as even in coffee shops green tea is less expensive than other choices.
* Add Fruit – Just like fruit infused water is good for you, so is fruit infused green tea. Try adding lemon, orange, and even mint to your green tea and you’ll get a flavor explosion that makes you look even more forward to having your tea.
* Rehydrate with Green Tea – Get a personal fruit infuser dispenser to keep cold green tea with fruit in it so that you can enjoy green tea after your work out or while you’re on a long walk.
* Put Green Tea in Your Smoothies – You can brew some strong green tea to add to smoothies or you can use green tea powder like Kenko Matcha Green Tea Powder. You can add this to smoothies easily and boost the goodness of your smoothies as it has over 100 times more EGCG in it.
* Use Green Tea in Recipes – Did you know that you can brew green tea and use it in place of other liquids in recipes. For example you can use the liquid to make dressings, add to soup, use as liquid to rice, quinoa, oatmeal and more.
* Brew it Yourself – To get the most flavor and nutrition out of green tea it’s important to learn how to brew your own. There are also many different types of loose green teas that you can buy. They have also shown in studies that prepackaged green teas have more lead in them than loose tea varieties.
* Protect Yourself – Drink green tea before you go out to a party. Green tea has been shown to help improve liver function so you can feel better about enjoying that extra glass of spiked punch at the party.
* Drink it Cold – Studies have shown that drinking green tea cold actually increases the good effects of green tea from the EGCG and the other vitamins and minerals in the green tea.
* Drink Green Tea to Prevent a Cold – Green tea, due to the antioxidants and the EGCG antibacterial effects can help you get over a cold faster and even prevent a cold.
* Drink Before Bed – If you want to get extra benefits of green tea, drink some about an hour before bed. On a side note, green tea’s antibacterial properties have been shown to prevent cavities so drink it without sugar or fruit at night for added benefits.
Drinking green tea every day, even several times a day can be good for you and help you get more hydrated, and get the benefits that green tea has to offer you. Even if you just do one of these a day, you’ll reap all the benefits.

Green Tea-5 Reasons to Include Green Tea in Your Daily Diet

 

5 Reasons to Include Green Tea in Your Daily Diet

Green tea is a drink that provides a great amount of health benefits. To produce green tea, the leaves of a Camelllia Sinensis plant are dried in the sun light and then pan fried to prevent oxidation and to get the most flavor of the leaf. Lately, there has been study after study proving that green tea provides high amounts of antioxidants that can provide medicinal benefits from reducing cholesterol to preventing heart disease.

Below are five reasons why you should be adding green tea to your daily routine.

1. Detox —Green tea can and will flush out all those toxins you have been ingesting from the air, food and other beverages. The properties of green tea will fight off bad bacteria built up in the system to prevent illness.
2. Immunity Boost — Green tea contains a large amount of antioxidants that will reboot your immune system. Make sure you pick organic loose leaf green tea to get those most antioxidants you can get. Honey and lemon can be adding to green tea to give it a little sweater taste but avoid adding any milk because the antioxidants will stick to the proteins and will not digest properly in your system. This will help you avoid allergy and cold symptoms.
3. Digestion Improvement — EGCG a polyphenol catechin found in green tea reduces inflammation throughout the body including the gastrointestinal tract. Antioxidants found in green tea may also hinder bacteria in the stomach that causes stomach ulcers. These powerful compounds work together in different ways to keep the digestive system moving.
4. Destroy Free Radicals — Free radicals are created in your body when you are exposed to toxic chemicals from pesticides, smoke and other pollutants that can be found in water, food and air. These free radicals can destroy healthy cells that can lead to major health problems such as cardiovascular disease or cancer. Green tea provides a large dose of antioxidants that fight off these free radicals.
5. Significantly less calories — Loose leaf green tea that is not pre brewed or packaged in a bottle is a good option when you want to switch out your beverages. That is because green tea is lower in calories than coffee and significantly lower in calories than soda. It also does not contain any artificial sugars. One cup of black coffee contains two calories, one cup of soda contains 182 calories and one cup of loose leaf green tea contains zero calories. Although the calorie different between coffee and green tea is not significant most people add tons of sugar and cream to their coffee that easily raises the caloric level. Avoid the artificial sugars and calories by drinking green tea.

As you can see, adding green tea to your daily routine or diet can really improve your overall health. It will flush out toxins that you are exposed to everyday, boost your immunity to avoid getting the cold and improve your digestion by reducing inflammation. Green tea has a powerful punch of antioxidants that destroy free radicals which prevents cardiovascular disease. You get all these benefits without any added calories too! With all these benefits there is no reason why you shouldn’t have a cup or two of green tea every day.

Green Tea

 

How to Pick Safe Green Tea

Green tea is a beverage that is made by boiling the leaves of a Camellia Sinensis plant in some water. Green tea is usually a pale green, yellow or brown color and has a slight bitter taste. This taste can be altered by adding sweeteners like honey or adding in fruit like lemon. Green tea provides many health benefits because it is packed full of antioxidants. To get the best use of these antioxidants you need to take caution when choosing a green tea. There are a bunch of green tea brands out there loaded with GMOs and pesticides.

When choosing a brand of green tea there are a few rules you should follow to make sure you are getting the healthiest are the market.

1. Read Ingredient labels— Always read the ingredient labels to avoid genetically modified organisms or GMOs. The most popular ingredients made by GMOs are soy lecithin and corn starch. Other ingredients you want to avoid are natural colors and artificial flavorings. The word natural might sound safe because it makes you think it’s an ingredient that can easily be found in nature and isn’t modified. This isn’t the case though in fact a “natural” ingredient is only derived from natural sources that are modified or enhanced and then added back into a food or drink.
2. Pick Organic— The reason why you want to pick an organic green tea is because non organic tea is made from synthetic fertilizers, and full of herbicides and pesticides. Pesticides are extremely dangerous for the body because it causes a boat load of health problems such as birth defects. The pesticides also decrease the quality of the tea because it is designed to produce more tea than what would natural grow. This means when you pick organic the tea will probably taste better. 
3. Avoid bottled or sweetened green teas — This rules goes back to the first one. Most of the already brewed bottled teas are full of ingredients that you should not be digesting. This includes GMOs, artificial flavorings and artificial sweeteners such as aspartame. Aspartame is said to increase the risk of cancer and cause obesity. Not only that, these bottled teas will be higher in unneeded calories.
4. Pay special attention to packaging — When buying a Green Tea is important to look at the packaging. In fact, it’s better to avoid packaging all together and brew teas using toxic-free tea makers. Tea bags are either made from paper or plastic and those have a lot of chemicals. When adding these tea bags to a pot of boiling water, these chemicals are then leaked throughout your tea.
5. Choose loose leaf green tea — The best option is to buy loose leaf green tea. Loose leaf green tea produces the highest amount of antioxidants compared to other packaged teas. Loose leaf green tea also produces the highest quality of flavors and you will avoid added ingredients.

In the end, you want to be able to reap all the benefits of green tea. The high antioxidants in green tea fights off bacteria, increases the immune system, lowers your risk of cardiovascular disease and so much more! Don’t ruin this by buying non organic teas that are ridden with pesticides, GMOs and artificial sweeteners by following the rules above.