The Benefits of Green Tea: Why It's Good For You

For thousands of years, the Chinese have been drinking green tea that has long been attributed for its medicinal properties, which the Chinese believe to be responsible for treating different kinds of illness, and it is also linked to longevity where the Chinese have the highest rate for people over the age of a hundred. However, although the Chinese have been drinking this kind of tea for centuries, it was only recently that green tea has been introduced and became popular throughout the planet.

Scientists and nutritionists have found that this wonderful brew does indeed have medicinal properties that can help in preventing several types of illnesses, which even includes cancer. In fact, there are even doctors who recommend green tea and even endorses that this particular tea plays a great role in maintaining good health.

Health professionals all over the world recommend that people should drink 3 to 4 cups of green tea a day in order to help in protecting the body against various ailments.

So, just what are the benefits of this so called miracle brew that it even baffled health professionals from all over the world?

First of all, this tea contains high levels of antioxidants, which are called polyphenols or flavonoids.

What are antioxidants you may ask?

First of all, you need to understand that the body does millions of processes occurring at all times. Even when you are asleep, the brain is active and will require oxygen in order to function properly. However, the oxygen that we breathe in can create harmful side effects, or what most people know as oxidants. These oxidants or commonly known as free radicals are introduced to our system through external sources, such as pollution, stress, smoking, diet, and even exposure to the sun.

And, these free radicals are known to be one of the main contributors in the growth of cancer cells.

So, in order to counteract the effect of oxidants or free radicals, we will need to introduce antioxidants in our body. And, green tea has a lot of them. Although some foods do have antioxidants, you will see that green tea has a lot more.

In fact, the antioxidants found on green tea are much higher than that found in grape juice and red wine. This explains why there are a lot of scientists who are studying the benefits of green tea.

Besides antioxidants, this brew also contains vitamins, such as vitamin B6, which plays a vital role in the metabolism of the body, as well as vitamins B1 and B2, which are essential for releasing energy from food.

Another great thing about this tea is that it has key minerals and contains magnesium, which is essential for bone growth and body development as well as potassium, which helps in keeping the heart pumping normally and maintain the body's fluid levels.

All in all, green tea can provide great benefits to the body. It can inhibit the growth of cancer cells, it discourages diabetes from developing, and it also is a very good treatment for bad breath.

And that's not all; there are some studies that found that green tea can also fight acne, Alzheimer's disease, and fights of bad cholesterol which are the sole contributors for heart diseases and stroke.

Today, there are also some scientists that claims to find that green tea may contain the key ingredient for finding a cure to HIV as it helps boosts the body's immune system.

These are just some of the great benefits of green tea. So, the next time you feel like drinking tea or coffee, you might want to go for green tea. With this brew, you can be sure that you will be able to enjoy a refreshing drink as well as a healthier body.

Identifying the Different Kinds of Green Tea

Green tea is categorized in many forms. Aroma and flavor is based on the cultivation and processing of green tea. Below are the different kinds of green tea to give you further information.

Hoji-cha – using a high temperature, over-sized leaves are roasted. Upon roasting, Hoji0cha has a very distinct small that is recognizable even from afar. Leaves are darkish brown, after brewing, the liquid looks similar to black draft beer. Preparation of Hoji-cha is crucial to keep the aroma even after brewing. A large earthenware pot is used with large numbers of tea leaves inside it.

Konacha – also known as powdered tea, Konacha is considered as the most delicious and delicate green tea. With its reasonable price, anyone can enjoy its marvelous taste and enticing aroma. Agari is another term given to Konacha which is drank with Sushi and is very much popular in Kanto District.

For preparation, use cloth or paper tea bags or a tea strainer for making Konacha. To thoroughly enjoy Konacha, boiling water must be poured into the pot very quickly.

Gyokuro – leaves of Gyokuro are picked or cultivated from trees that are under shade. Once shooting leaves begin, you’ll notice an entire field covered with reed shade. Because spread straws cover the field, cultivators had the capacity to control photosynthesis to a level that maximizes vitamins to the desired quality. These are done to add up to the nutrition aspects of the tea. With high amino acid level, Gyokuro has richer taste; lesser tannin makes it taste more refined and a bit milder.

Sencha – deriving its name from the way it is drunk, Sencha is steamed first. Then, it is hand-rubbed and afterwards, dried. Sencha is considered as the most popular green tea that comprises about 80 percent of tea production in all of Japan. The tree, wherein leaves are taken from, are not covered to accumulate an increased level of caffeine, amino acids, vitamins and tannin. Leaves of Sencha are beautifully thin shaped and have a glowing shade of green. Rubbing is the secret in Sencha’s true taste. Upon pouring, Sencha has a distinct yellow color that has an aroma that is refreshing and light with a slight taste of bitterness and sweetness going together in harmony.

Maccha – this came from Gyokuro shaded leaves. Although, the process of hand rubbing isn’t included in the preparation. Leaves are only dried and steamed. Deep green and foamy thick appearance would let you think of how bitter the taste would be but that wouldn’t be the case because Maccha has subtle bitterness and mellow sweetness. Maccha flavor is deepened because of its preparation that is stone-ground resulting to a powdered state that contains all vitamins and nutrition needed by the body.

Yanagi – also know as river willow, Yanagi is a product of fallen rubbing products which came out flat and turned into numerous folds. Because of their appearance that looks like a willow leaves after rubbing, that is where Yanagi derived its name. it has a less lingering and lighter taste compared to Sencha. And also compared to Sencha, Yanagi leaves are naturally longer.

These assorted kinds of green tea are drank preferably that is basically based on the nutritional content that drinkers can benefit from or sometimes, just because of the aroma and taste.

Green tea to Cure HIV

For thousands of years, green tea has been widely used by the Chinese not only for its taste but also because of its medicinal properties. Today green tea is a very popular drink among all ages the world over because of its proven efficacy on minor and even major health problems, and because of its proven medicinal properties, complimented by growing numbers of testimonies and therapeutic claims, scientists now see green tea to be a promising cure for HIV.

HIV is a major issue on health nowadays because lots of people have been diagnosed of having this deadly disease.  And the search for the cure against HIV and including AIDS has proven to be very difficult.

Researchers from Purdue University had its study on the nature, property and health benefits of green tea. They have succeeded on identifying epigallocatechin gallate (EGCg) a compound found on green tea which inhibits the growth of cancer cells. University of Tokyo had made a separate study on green tea and the result of their research is that, EGCg binds with CD4 cells which action is to prevent HIV binding processes and later destroys the cell. The studies suggest that green tea have substances like EGCg that could help open new frontiers on the battle against HIV and even cancer.

It also proved that drinking 4 to 5 cups of green tea a day can help slow down the pathogenesis of HIV because of the potent content of EGCg. Scientists also revealed that the results could lead them to the development of an HIV cure. However they also revealed that the concentration of EGCg present on 4 to 5 cups of green tea is not enough to totally destroy cancer cells.

People often ask if other types of tea have the same benefits as green tea. The fact is green tea has more health benefits compared to other types of tea. Although all tea comes from a single source which is Camellia sinesis plant, all tea have their own characteristics when it comes to taste, color, smell, and even benefits. Green tea leaves are processed differently. Leaves are steamed then dried allowing the components not to be oxidized in the process. These makes green tea ten times more potent and effective remedy against illness compared to other tea.

Green tea is proven to be helpful on the following medical conditions:

• Rheumatoid arthritis

• Helps to lower cholesterol level of the body

• Helps maintains a normal blood pressure preventing hypertension

• Cardiovascular disease and stroke

• Helps fight against infection due to bacteria and viruses

• Helps improve impaired immune response

• Destroys free radicals

• Helps maintain healthy fluid and electrolytes balance

• It helps prevent tooth decay by killing bacteria that causes dental plaque

• Helps relieve stress and fatigue

• Toxin prevention in the liver

• Stops thrombosis which is the leading cause of heart attack

• Green tea also has fat burning benefits

• It helps burn fat and makes the body feel more energetic

• Green tea is also used to calm the mind

Presently scientists are still making rigorous studies on green tea hoping to find some headway on how to determine the exact mechanism of EGCg binding with CD4, with positive results people can now stand a chance against a deadly disease through enjoying the relaxing, soothing and delicious taste of your favorite green tea.

Green Tea Fat Burning Benefits

More and more people are getting hooked up with green tea. Especially those that belongs to the category that is a bit larger than life. Green tea has been proven to loosen that weight gaining body. Overweight is becoming a problem in major growing countries. As a person grows heavier and bigger, their risk for acquiring a disease is incredibly higher. But because of the impressive effects of green tea, gaining weight can no longer be a health threat.

Measure of gaining weight

There are a lot of reasons why people exhibits unwanted weight gain. First, because of their lifestyle. With someone who has the capacity to buy every single food on earth, gaining weight is easy. A person’s lifestyle can definitely predict how healthy a person is. If the person’s lifestyle is rich, he will have all the money in the world to engage in bad eating habits like increased consumption of alcohol, junk foods and fatty foods.

Another reason for gaining weight is lack of exercise. 
Without physical using up of excess fats in your body, there is a great possibility for them to be stored and not to be used up ever again. Exercise is very crucial for people, especially bigger ones. Exercise can lower the risk of a lot of diseases thus, keeping your body  fit and at the same time working healthy.

Mental problem is another factor researchers are looking into why people suddenly gain weight. One very good example is depression. When a person is depressed, instead of crying her heart out, she gobbles up everything inside the fridge. Which can be very unhealthy.

Modern solution to chubbiness

Today, for someone to get slimmer, a lot of people are resulting to surgery. Surgical procedures that costs a lot are oftentimes the last resort of really big people who wanted to be small in an instant. Liposuction is one type of surgical procedure that answers to fat reduction.

Green tea to the rescue

Yes, the above stated solution can be very effective but people go into the risk of having major or minor side effects. There is a better way to eliminate those fats naturally. And the answer is, green tea. This is a different kind of tea which have numerous benefits aside from being a reliable fat burner. By incorporating green tea to every meal, a person taking it will experience soothing effects. There are three things that fat burning green tea can do:

1. Increase Calorie Burning

Usage of green tea can accelerate the metabolism of calories inside the human body. This processing is called as thermogenesis. What green tea does is that it increases the heat inside the body thus, increasing metabolism and resulting to calorie burn-up.

2. Diminishing Appetite

Green tea aids in controlling one’s appetite. When a person’s appetite is controlled, the result will be, not wanting to eat. Nutrients that compose green tea signals to the brain and stomach that makes a person lose his appetite thus resulting in lesser food intake.

3. Energy levels are elevated

Green tea can shoot positive signals to the mind that enables the improvement of positive mental attitude. Because green tea compounds act on almost all systems in a human’s body, it tends to put the mind in a relaxed and positive state that make the body feel more balanced and in sync.

Green Tea Can Loosen Weight

Green tea – a product of brewing from the leaves of a plant named Camellia Sinensis. This kind of tea is said to have multiple health benefits that is very advantageous to the human body. One of the many benefits of green tea is that it can enable to enhance metabolism inside the body, thus, burning fat faster than usual. With daily consumption, there is a hundred percent possibility of losing weight in no time. So you can eat all you want without feeling guilty on gaining additional adipose tissues because with just one cup of green tea, it washes away your worries.

But wait, there's more.

The beauty about green tea is that is not fermented unlike other teas. Which is a good thing because it doesn’t take away the most important elements that is essential for keeping the body healthy. That would include the fat burning compounds.

There are three steps in the processing of green tea namely heating, then rubbing and lastly, drying. There are also different kinds of tea like: baked green tea, dried green tea, fried green tea and steamed green tea.

Nowadays, green tea is becoming more popular in coffee shops or in grocery stores because of its major benefits that consumers are discovering. Even coffee shops are including a wide variety of natural green tea flavors in their menu for greater choice. Green tea has become an alternative to orange pokoe. Why all the changes and consideration in favor of green tea? Because you’re pouring the way for a healthier longer life.

Green tea is one of the active ingredients that is used in numerous weight loss products. According to researches, thermogenesis, fat oxidation and increased energy expenditure are just some of the result of what green tea can do to your body as an effective product for weightloss.

What’s in a tea?

Green tea possesses anti-oxidation effects which are  highly effective. This antioxidant is called as epigallacatechin gallate which is a compound that is also know as EGCG. EGCG is from polyphenol that has the capacity to burn fat effectively. According to a research from Switzerland, drinking at least three cups of green tea regularly can cause 80 percent of calories burned without even increasing the rate of heart activity and ruling out the caffeine content.

Antioxidants?

If you still have no idea what an antioxidant is, read on. An antioxidant is a kind of “good” chemical that can be found in plants. Antioxidants are kinds of substances that can protect a person’s body from free radicals. Free radicals are fragments of special molecules that damage the body in its cellular level. Hurting the body through the cellular level will have great negative effects by making the body more vulnerable to diseases that are degenerative like heart diseases and cancer. Antioxidants work by deactivating free radicals thus, minimizing the amount of damage that it can do to the body.

For centuries now, green tea has become the pride of China because of the many benefits it can contribute. No wonder the Chinese take pride in their tea. It is now considered as one of the most popular medicinal beverage that the world has recognized.

Green tea can refresh, enlighten, soothe, promote inner happiness, calmness, stimulate and more importantly, promote a healthy lifestyle.

Greatness on a Cup of Green Tea

For starters, all tea came from the same botanical source and that is camellia sinesis, but the difference is on the processing of the tea leaves, giving each and every type of tea its distinctive aroma, taste and even color, and also its properties. Green tea is steamed and dried thus maintaining its color, chemical properties and natural taste while other types of tea are fermented. Studies proved that green tea had a lighter flavor and aroma compared to that of black tea, which makes all the beneficial chemicals intact, putting greatness to your enjoyable cup of green tea.

How to make a cup of green tea

• Brewing green tea is similar with other tea. Whether it is bagged or loose green tea. It is important to remember not to use boiling water. Brewing with water that’s just about to reach its boiling point is the right temperature; this is for the reason that green tea is more delicate than other tea.

• The best tasting green tea is brewed under one minute and let it steep for a short period of time, it is recommended not to prepare it with boiling water and longer time of steeping because it will make the tea bitter to the taste.

• However increased level of polyphenols in green tea is directly proportional with water temperature and time of steeping. It means that the longer time it was brewed under boiling water and the longer it is steeped means a greater concentration of polyphenols on every cup of green tea making it more potent than that of shorter time to brew and steeped. Polyphenols are the anti oxidants found in green tea which contributes to the green teas’ medicinal properties.

Suggestions on how to boost antioxidant concentration of your green tea:

• Temperature- studies proved that with the use of boiling water more of the polyphenols, the anti oxidants on green tea is extracted from the tea leaves. The higher the temperature used for brewing tea leaves the greater is the concentration of polyphenols to be found, thus making a more effective tea against diseases and illness.

• Steeping time- in order to attain more of the goodness in a cup of tea, longer steeping time is advised. Longer steeping time allows more polyphenol presence. Tea should be steeped 2 to 5 minutes to allow more polyphenol to emerge. Shorter steeping time means less or the polyphenol and greater caffeine content in your tea.

• Size of tea leaves- the smaller the leaf is, the better, even in size, green tea has proven the power of small things to create wonder. Studies have shown that small loose green tea leaves infuses quickly compared to that of tightly curled and large tea leaf which requires more or longer infusion time.

• Loose leaf versus Tea bags- it is more preferable to use leaves compared to tea bags. By simply allowing the green tea leaves to float on the water more of the polyphenol are being extracted while in order for tea bags to produce this anti oxidant, the tea bags must be continuously dunked in the tea pot.

To this day, green tea has already proved to help cure and protect people against a lot of health problems. In order to attain optimum protection against illness proper nutrition, healthy lifestyle plus a cup of your favorite green tea will do the job.  

Lose Weight - How Green Tea Can Help You

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Today, you will see a lot of overweight people. It may be because of how we live our comfortable lives today, and it may also be because of the numerous amounts of junk food that we eat today. From your fast food joint, to your bag of potato chips, it's really not that surprising why people are becoming fat. So, if you want to lose weight, you can try getting a little help from a wonderful brew called green tea.

First of all, green tea has been used by the Chinese and Japanese for centuries. It was described as a miracle drink that is able to cure or even prevent different kinds of illnesses. Today, you can even still see green tea as one of the medicines being offered by traditional Chinese herbal pharmacists.

It has been known to prevent diabetes, cancer, as well as a cure for bad breath. However, did you know that this tea can also help in weight loss?

For those people who want to shed off those extra pounds, then you will see that this tea can do wonders. Because being overweight is linked to low metabolism rate, green tea will be perfect for you. It has certain minerals and vitamins that help in stabilizing your metabolism rate, which will help in extracting energy from food faster and also burns more fats faster.

By increasing the metabolism rate and increasing the amount of energy from food, you will also feel more active or energetic. This means that you will definitely want to use the energy that this tea can provide you. It also means that you will not get tired easily and will definitely look for physical activities to use some of that extra energy.

Another key benefit of green tea is that it is an appetite suppressant which helps in weight loss. By drinking this tea instead of munching on those potato chips that you love so much, you will see that after drinking the tea, you will have no more appetite in munching up on those bag of potato chips.

Also, by drinking this before dinner, you will be able to suppress your appetite and avoid overeating during dinner.

That is why green tea is also known as a slimming tea by the Chinese. It's no surprise that the Japanese and the Chinese don’t have a lot of overweight people. This is because of green tea and the proper diet.

You have to consider that drinking this brew is also healthier than following some of the diet fads that hit the market. That low carbohydrate high protein diet is not only ineffective, but is also very unhealthy. Diets like this are hard on your kidneys and liver and can also disrupt your metabolism rate. You have to remember that our body needs carbohydrate for energy. And, people get fat because their body doesn’t really use the energy that the carbohydrate provides. Low metabolism is also a contributing factor for low energy.

If you have this, then green tea will be able to help. It will be able to make use of the energy provided by carbohydrate more efficiently and increases your metabolism rate.

As you can see, green tea can help in weight loss. It has been proven effective and have helped a lot of overweight people get a healthier and slimmer body.

Green Tea - Caffeine Connection

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How true is it that one disadvantage of green tea is insomnia because of its caffeine content? You may put it as a “disadvantage” but people who works on a night shift will disagree. True, green tea contains caffeine but compared to coffee and other tea, it has a lesser level but has a very incredible amount of antioxidants.

What is caffeine?
It is a kind of drug that acts as a stimuli that basically stimulates the central nervous system and the heart. A person having caffeine in his system can instantly increase his blood pressure but not having any evidence of definitive long-term effects in the blood pressure itself. Long term increase of blood pressure are still taking excessive amounts of green tea.

Caffeine content in green tea stays unless it is decaffeinated. According to studies, green tea is more likely to be higher than coffee but with preparation, a person can greatly reduce the caffeine that the body takes in. how? Through the infusion length of hot water and how many times you have used the leaves.

Surprisingly, caffeine in green tea is more beneficial than the caffeine taken from coffee. It works through the body in a slighter difference than coffee. Aside from caffeine, green tea has other constituents that work perfectly with caffeine namely vitamins, oils and tannin.

Caffeine difference
As mentioned, compared to coffee, the caffeine content in green tea can have a different approach in the human body. By its own substance, it doesn’t have to trigger increase heart rate and blood pressure unlike what caffeine can instantly do. Typically, green tea is more applicable to drink for those who wanted to lose weight but are caffeine sensitive.

Lose weight with caffeine
Base on studies, caffeine has the capacity to increase metabolism inside the body which results to helping out the body in burning excess calories. Caffeine content in green tea is undoubtedly more prominent than other beverages but you can lessen it based on the kind of green tea that you have chosen to drink. Contrary to what other people know, oxidation doesn’t have the capacity to raise the caffeine content in the body. Truth is, some studies were made and is found out that the longer the oxidation is, the lower the content of caffeine will be present.

Green tea without caffeine
For medicinal purposes, green tea is sometimes made caffeine free. Green tea that is decaffeinated has a more pleasant taste and has an impressive antioxidant activity. It is very effective in the prevention and even treatment of cancer, decreasing cholesterol levels, collagen formation, decreasing triglyceride levels and preventing arteriosclerosis.

Therefore, with caffeine present in green tea, it can decrease the metabolic processes going significantly inside our body but not having any effect on blood pressure and heart rate.

Caffeine content
Compared to the caffeine found in black tea, green tea is only composed by the half of it. And compared to coffee, green tea only has quarter amounts thus, making it the perfect beverage you can include in your meals. But there are precautions that should be followed. One which is the moderate amount of green tea that should be consumed within a day. It should only be at least 4 cups. More than that will generate negative reactions that is felt inside the body.

The introduction of decaffeinated supplementary green tea, benefits were further provided ruling out any unwanted effects.