The Health Benefits of Green Tea (Time to Pour Another Cup!)

If you read a great deal about health and nutrition, you’re familiar with phrases such as  “…..could help reduce….,”  “….has the potential to….,”  “…might decrease your risk for…”  Writers and researchers have to pull out fence-riding words to protect themselves as well as their readers.

I perfectly understand that.  I keep a bag of fence-riding words by my desk.

Being familiar with the terminology makes me pay extra attention to the words used in health reports.  When a particular research produces data with clear cut facts, I sit up and take notice.

You may already know that my drinks of choice are coffee and tea. I drink at least 6 glasses of iced tea daily (a delicious assortment of raspberry, raspberry-peach, black, green tea..) as well as a mug of hot tea in the evening.

I believe strongly in the benefits of tea, so I feel even better about being such a fanatic.

I really love it when my love of health and nutritional information collides with my love for green tea.  And if you’ll notice in the information that follows, the words DO NOT ride a fence.

Green tea is known for being loaded with antioxidants and, of course, antioxidants are (in turn) are known for being loaded with many health benefits….

• Lower your risk of heart disease
• Help you lose fat
• Protection against cancer
• Improve your brain health

Green Tea Lowers Your Risk of Heart Disease

In an issue of the European Journal of Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation, researchers reported that people who drink green tea have better blood vessel function just 30 minutes later. Inside of an hour, your heart is already enjoying benefits.

For the study, researchers gave either green tea, hot water, or a beverage containing the same caffeine as green tea to a group of volunteers. The researchers measured the volunteer’s blood flow 30, 90, and 120 minutes after drinking their beverages.

After drinking green tea, the volunteers experienced significantly increased artery widening. The widening was evident after just 30 minutes. The other beverages (the caffeinated beverage and hot water did not produce any significant changes in the same individuals).

Read more about the health benefits of green tea on WebMD.

If you haven’t, yet, fallen in love with green tea, please give it another shot.

A Few Ideas to Help You Fall in Love with Green Tea:

• Brew it yourself, then sweeten it with honey and lemon.
• Add a little unsweetened fruit juice.
• My favorite way to fix green tea: Combine your green tea bag(s) with bags of raspberry, peach, strawberry, or other berry teas. This combo is outstanding: Green tea, raspberry tea, AND peach tee. Trust me… it’s addictive.
• Two words: Flavored Syrups (read about some of the absolute best flavored syrups for tea here)
• Use the best bags of green tea – experiment until you find one you love (which means you’ll drink it!). My personal favorite is Tazo (Amazon link).

While on the subject of healthy eating (it couldn’t be more vital, you know), I’d like to share a few links with you:

• How Much Protein Do You  Actually Need Per Day?
• A GREAT New Favorite Healthy Snack
• Top 10 Benefits of Green Tea