Food For Thought: Tea Is A Satisfying Part Of A Healthy Diet
News Canada

(NC)Tea news continues to stir the pot in Canada. Records show we drink as many as 7 billion cups of tea each year and those who study it as a dietary factor are now telling us not to put on the brakes. Both black tea and green tea contain antioxidant plant compounds called flavonoids, which are thought to be important cancer fighting agents. This, combined with its potential benefits against heart disease plus zero calories and comparatively low levels of caffeine is a sound reason to treat oneself to one or more cups of tea every day.

And while those who drink the 7 billion cups don’t seem to need advice, still connoisseurs insist on preparation precision to make the “tea treat” even better. Here, courtesy of the Tea Association of Canada, is a 5-step process for the perfect cup of tea:

Make A Perfect Cup of Tea

1. Start with fresh-drawn cold water and bring it to a rolling boil.

2. Warm the teapot to help keep your tea hot longer.

3. Use one teabag for each two cups of tea desired. Be sure to choose a quality blend.

4. When the water has boiled, take the warmed teapot to the kettle and pour over the teabags. Stir, cover and let steep for 3 to 5 minutes.

5. Remove teabags and pour.

And don’t forget, you can get a perfect cup of tea when on the run too. In a restaurant, ask for your pot of boiling water with the “tea bag in”. Always allow your tea, no matter where you are, to steep for at least three to five minutes. Indeed, continuously dunking the tea bag may increase the flavonoid content as much as five times.

Remember, in addition to antioxidant properties, tea is an all-natural beverage with no additives, artificial flavourings or colours. It has no calories when enjoyed without milk, sugar or honey. Here are a few innovative ways to include tea in your daily meals:

At breakfast, discover how delicious a bran muffin can be with your favourite blend like Orange Pekoe, Earl Grey and English Breakfast and many more.

At lunch, use tea to flavour dressings on fruit, green, and pasta salads.

At dinner, use brewed tea as a marinade for chicken or fish and also to stir-fry vegetables. Try ice cream flavoured with a splash of tea.

At snack time, discover how green tea is an ideal refresher.

More information is available online at www.tea.ca.

– News Canada

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While they look and taste different, both black and green teas come from the same plant. The only difference among all true teas is how they are processed. For example, black tea is allowed to ferment, and it’s the fermentation process that gives it its color. Organic green tree is harvested and then dried before fermentation can occur.

One thing that surprises a lot of people is that many jurisdictions have no legal requirements for the use of the term ‘organic’. That means you could be buying something that isn’t organic at all, even though it is labeled as ‘organic green tea’. It’s possible that you are getting regular tea that was grown with the use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers. Unfortunately, some manufacturers use the word ‘organic’ so they can charge more.

Your best bet is to only purchase organic green tea from trusted sources. Another thing that helps is to read anything the company has to support its claim of being organic. You want tea that hasn’t been treated with chemicals. The problem is that there can be trace amounts of these chemicals left on the tea leaves. You wouldn’t want to drink a cup of pesticides, so why take chances having any on your tea?

Organic green tea has the benefit of not being overly processed, and that traps in more of the leaves’ nutrients. Many people also find the aroma and taste to be more pleasing than black tea, which is sharper. That being said, all tea is good for you in some way, so it is often just a matter of preference. However, there are some things to consider before choosing which type you want to drink.

It just so happens that there are many health benefits to drinking green tea. Inhibiting the growth of cancer cells, burning fat, reducing cholesterol, regulating blood sugar levels, boosting metabolism, improved blot clotting and strengthening the immune system are just some of the health benefits that have been attributed to drinking green tea.

You may have to skip drinking tea if you are sensitive to caffeine, or have a health condition that prevents you from drinking it. Other than that, green tea is generally recognized as safe and is consumed by people all around the world. It has also been enjoyed for centuries, and is engrained in the cultures of many countries.

As long as you are drinking tea, it may as well be organic green tea. After all, you wouldn’t want to take any chances of making your health worse by consuming unknown chemicals. Drinking tea the way nature intended makes the most sense, and will give you all of the benefits Mother Nature intended.

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You may also know the Mayo Clinic 3 Day Diet as the Grapefruit Diet. This diet is all about eating certain foods at particular times each day. Each meal will include half a grapefruit which is where it gets the name ‘grapefruit diet’. Although the diet is not actually endorsed by the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, the name of the Mayo Clinic 3 Day Diet still lives on.

Let’s take a look at the three main meals of the Mayo Clinic 3 day diet.

Breakfast – For breakfast each morning you will have a black tea or coffee, half a grapefruit and bread with some protein. For the bread and protein you could have toast with egg, toast with cheese or toast with peanut butter.

Lunch – lunch will also include protein and bread. Some examples of lunch could be toast with a boiled egg, toast with 1/2 cup of tuna or cottage cheese on crackers. You can also have a black tea or coffee with lunch.

Dinner – dinner is the most substantial meal of the day with this diet. Day 1 dinner includes 3 oz lean turkey, 1 cup of carrots, 1 cup of green beans, 1 apple and 1 cup of vanilla ice-cream. Day 2 dinner consists of 2 beef franks, 1 cup of cabbage or broccoli, 1/2 cup of carrots, 1/2 a banana and 1/2 cup of vanilla ice-cream. Day 3 dinner includes 1 cup of tuna, 1 cup of cauliflower, 1 cup of carrots, 1 cup of melon and 1/2 cup of ice-cream.

Every meal should include 1/2 a grapefruit or 4 oz. of grapefruit juice.

The key to success with this diet plan is that you must drink at least 32 ounces of water a day.

There are a lot of people that swear by this diet and have said you can lose 6 points in the three days of the diet. Here are some of the reasons why this diet is so effective.

1. The number of calories consumed is extremely restricted. Even though the diet includes ice-cream every day you are still only eating around 1200 calories a day.

2. This diet helps to flush out your system and help you to lose a lot of water weight.

3. This is not a permanent weight loss. This is a fast weight loss and if you go right back to your usual eating habits as soon as you finish the 3 days then you will put the weight back on.

So what is the point of dieting for 3 days if you are just going to put it back on? This diet is great if you have an event coming up that you want to lose a few pounds for. If you have a wedding, school reunion or want to fit into your skinny jeans to go to a concert, then this diet can help you to do that.

Although grapefruit is a vital part of the Mayo Clinic 3 day diet, there is no proof that it has any magical weight loss qualities. Not everyone likes grapefruit and some people will substitute it for orange during the diet.

Grapefruit does however have 6 grams of fiber in half a grapefruit so when you are eating 3 servings of it a day then you are getting 18 out of the 25 grams of recommended daily fiber. Diets that are high in fiber will help to flush out the system and assist with weight loss. Grapefruit juice though does not have any fiber.

The Mayo Clinic 3 day diet can also be useful to kick-start a diet and give you a fast weight loss to begin your weight loss journey and when you finish the 3 days on this diet you can then move onto a healthy eating plan to lose more weight in a slower time period. The kick-start at the beginning of the diet can help motivate you to continue to eat healthy and lose more weight.

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If you haven’t yet heard, green tea offers a wide variety of health benefits. One of the reasons that green tea is generally better than black tea is the way it’s processed. Both types come from the same plant, but black tea is fermented, while green tea is simply dried. This allows it to retain a lot more of its naturally occurring compounds. Then there is organic green tea, which doesn’t use chemical fertilizers or pesticides. In theory, that makes it even better for you, and people who drink it say it has a more fresh and aromatic quality than the regular kind.

While the use of strictly organic green tea goes back before written history (everything was organic then, right?), it may go back over one hundred thousand years. There is no doubt that the medicinal effects of the plant have been well-known by people in China long before scientists and medical researchers started looking into it. One of the earliest known uses of tea–apart from being a beverage–was to treat wounds and control bleeding.

These ancient cultures didn’t understand the chemistry of tea leaves, but they were still able to see the positive effects it had on their health. Today, scientists know a lot more about what makes tea tick. Among the main compounds found in green tea are catechin polyphenols, an antioxidant that packs a wallop. It has been shown to reduce the formation of blood clots, kill or inhibit some cancer cells and lower bad cholesterol. Drinking green tea is like opening up a medicine chest provide by Mother Nature herself.

But what is it about green tea that makes it so good for you? After all, there are many different varieties of tea, and all of them come from the same plant. That’s our first clue as to what makes green tea special. All tea may be derived from the same plant, but what makes each kind different is how it’s processed. Black tea, for example, is fermented before it reaches the consumer. This allows some of the beneficial nutrients to leech out during processing. Green tea, on the other hand is simply dried. Then you pour hot water over the tea leaves and that’s all there is to it. This minimal use of processing keeps many more of the healthy nutrients intact.

You have already read some of what organic green tea can do, but there are even more things it does: cavity prevention, boosts immunity, lowers blood pressure, helps bone density and aids indigestion. The other big thing it does is help with weight loss. It does this by reducing how much cholesterol and fat the body absorbs, helps you feel fuller and increases metabolism. Green tea contains some caffeine, so keep that in mind if you are sensitive to it. That being said, with all it has going for it, green tea is one thing just about everybody should add to their daily routine.

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