Can Green Tea Make you Happy?

I heard somewhere that green tea can help with depression or it just can make you happier when you drink it. What does green tea do you your body?

A recent study from Japan finds that elderly people who sip on several cups of green tea daily may be less likely to have the blues, or symptoms of depression.

Dr. Kaijun Niu, at Tohoku University Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering in Sendai, and colleagues found both men and women aged 70 and beyond who drank four or more, versus one or less, cups of green tea a day were 44 percent less likely to have symptoms of depression. That's a big shift.

Several preceding studies have also linked green tea consumption to reduced levels of psychological distress. This led Niu and colleagues to look at links between drinking green tea and symptoms of depression in 1,058 relatively healthy elderly men and women.

About 34 percent of the men and 39 percent of the women had symptoms of depression, according to a report in the December issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. These symptoms were acute in approximately 20 percent of the men and in about 24 percent of the women.

Overall, 488 participants stated they drank four or more cups of green tea daily during the study. Another 284 said they consumed two to three cups a day. And, the other 286 reported having one or fewer cups a day.

According to the investigators, the noticeable defensive effects of greater "green" consumption on symptoms of depression did not weaken after they factored in social and economic status, gender, diet, history of health problems, use of antidepressant medications, smoking, and physical activity.

A green tea element, the amino acid theanine, which is believed to have a tranquilizing effect on the brain, which may explain the "potentially beneficial effect" revealed in the current study, Niu stated recently.

However, additional studies are needed to confirm whether greater green tea intake in fact has antidepressant effects. Therefore, Niu shied away from recommending greater green tea intake to lessen depression among the elderly.

Keep in mind that the medical community seldom recommends herbal or natural health alternatives. Since these are not FDA regulated and are more challenging to prove than traditional drug trials, absolute statements about their worthiness are often side stepped.

But, I'd say what do you have to loose? You'll only know once you try it out.

Enjoy Taste of GREEN TEA In Many Ways

"Enjoy the true taste of Green Tea by sipping it slowly."

There are many different ways of brewing Green Tea. The choice will depend on your own personal preference.

(1) Ceramic Cup

Simply put 3 grams (approximately one teaspoon) of loose Green Tea into a ceramic cup (6 ounces to 8 ounces) or inside the ceramic filter of the cup if there is one. Then pour freshly boiling water (for best results please use water at the temperature of 80 degrees Celsius or 170 degree Fahrenheit) into your ceramic cup. Put a cover on top of the cup, and let it sit for 3 minutes.

Appreciation of Green Tea is not limited to the taste of drinking. You can use your other senses as well. When you open the cover of the cup, smell the tea first to enjoy its pleasant aroma. Then take a look at the bright green color of the tea and you will find the leaves gently unfolding in your cup. Allow yourself to relax and slowly sip your first taste of the tea. Let it roll down your tongue and savor the subtle scent of the sweet grass. Slowly, you will enjoy every sip of your Green Tea.

When one third of the tea is all that is left in the cup, you can add more hot water. You can repeat the above procedure with the same loose Green Tea leaves up to three times or more.

(2) Ceramic Tea Pot

Preheat your teapot by rinsing it with hot water. Then add the loose tea leaves according to the size of your teapot (for example, 2 teaspoons for 6 teacups of boiling water). Next, pour the freshly boiling, distilled water (80 degrees Celsius or 170 degrees Fahrenheit) into your ceramic teapot. Cover the teapot for five minutes.

Serve the tea to yourself and your guests in teacups and slowly enjoy every sip of your tea.

You may repeat the process twice using the same tea leaves.

(3) Coffee maker

You might consider trying this fast and easy method to see whether it's convenient for you and fits your personal taste. It is important to make sure that your coffee maker does not carry any leftover coffee taste which will affect the aroma of the Green Tea. Some people simply use the coffeemaker strictly for tea brewing. Treat the loose Green Tea as if it were ground coffee by putting it in a filter paper. Proper proportion is 1 teaspoon of tea leaves for three teacups of spring water. Follow the same procedure as you would if you were brewing coffee. Water boiled through the coffee maker has the same temperature required for brewing the Green Tea.

Enjoy drinking it in the morning to give you vigor and vitality all day long.

You may repeat the same process twice.

(4) Iced Green Tea

You should never brew Green Tea with hot water and then cool it to prepare cold, or iced tea. Instead, please double the amount of the Green Tea leaves used to brew it in cold water in a sealed container. This way you keep the aroma, the natural color and the medicinal health benefits of the Green Tea. The reason this way is better, is that you avoid oxidation that can occur if the tea is left open to the air in an attempt to cool it after hot brewing. The brewing time is actually very short. For example, 10-15 cups of tea can be brewed in a jar in the ice box in just 30-45 minutes. Please note that you can refill the jar with water to brew more tea when the level reaches one third full. You may repeat the same procedure up to 3 times using the same Xianju Green Tea leaves. It is better than drinking water for walkers, runners, cycling, mountain climbing or any athletic sport in general that demands replenishment of body fluids.

What Is Green Tea Good For?

Green tea has been credited with helping everything from weight loss to cancer prevention. People who live in the eastern hemisphere of the world have known for some time green tea is good for killing bacteria. Green tea is also known to deter plaque and also food poisoning. New studies point to its ability to help to alleviate damage from "bad cholesterol" (LDL cholesterol). Bad cholesterol is a major indicator for heart disease. Another use we in the west are discovering that green tea is good for. Research has shown that compounds in it help reduce the amount of cholesterol absorbed by one's body. This Increases the amount of cholesterol excreted from the body. Studies have shown this is good for preventing so much cholesterol from being stored in the liver.

What else is green tea good for? It is a great source for powerful antioxidants. Green tea contains catechins. These are polyphenolic antioxidant plant metabolites. Theses catechins contain many times more antioxidants than what is found in vitamins E and C, as much as 25 to 100 times more. Free radicals are toxins found in our bodies. They cause disease, cause us to age, and generally shorten our life. It's good for fighting free radicals found in our bodies.

Why is green tea good for weight loss? Studies in Europe have shown that green tea tends to speed up oxidation of fat and raises one's metabolic rate. Evidence has also shown EGCG (polyphenols) contained in it assists in depressing leptin. This is a protein created by fats that play a significant part as to how the body will direct storage of fat through brain signals. It is not a miracle cure for weight loss. It is however a much better choice than high calorie soft drinks or coffee. "Green tea" is good for suppressing your appetite which will aid with weight loss. It also boosts the metabolic rate. It also helps regulate blood sugar.

Green tea is a great alternative for soft drinks. Not many weight loss supplements on the market today can benefit your overall health. It is good for so many aspects of one's heath besides just weight loss. It only makes sense to consume something safe and natural. Green tea is good for your health!

Facts about Green Tea Pills

Green tea being associated with high nutritional benefits and medicinal benefits has become immensely popular. To tap its popularity, companies emerged with a new invariant of green tea called green tea pills.

Through medical research it has been proved that green helps in burning calories at a faster rate. When calories are burned, you loose excessive fats accumulated in your body. The fats get burned through a process which is known as thermogenesis. When a person don’t intake green tea, the rate of fat burning in only 10%, but once a person drinks "green tea", the rate of natural process of burning of fats gets a boost of around 40 percent and same results can be achieved in less time. In other way, green tea helps in reducing weight or is excellent means of weight loss. Due to this reason green tea pills have been instant success.

Green tea helps in reducing the rate of absorption of fats and regulate glucose metabolism. Thus, green tea pills not only help in burning the accumulated fats but also in reducing new accumulation of fats as it slows down the rate of increase of blood sugar levels after the intake the food.

In green tea pills, the green tea leaves are crushed and a powder is made from crushed leaves and filled into pills. But here lies the problems! To make quick money, many companies fill normal tea filled with other powders to make its odor, taste and color similar to original green tea leaves. The main reason for this is as green tea is not grown all over the world. Only few countries like china and Japan are producers of green tea. Thus many people among us are not aware about the know-how of green tea and these companies take advantage of this fact

It is not the case that original green tea pills are not available in the market. The truth is it is available but the need is to carry out a little bit research of your own. The countries which grow green tea export them. You need to track down the authentic distributors. Once you have located them, you can easily get original green tea pills and can reap all the benefits of green tea offers.

Also it is advisable to choose the best variant among hoards of green tea pills available in the market at present. The criterion for choosing the best green tea pill should be EGCG. You should choose that particular green tea pill which has large amounts of EGCG as it increases the rate of your metabolism and also enhances your ability to burn calories as it has antioxidant capabilities.

If you are serious about your weight loss program, then incorporate green tea pills in them as they will help you to attain your goals in an effective manner and you don’t have to care about the side effects as green tea pills have very little side effects associated with them.

How to Infuse Green Tea

Have you been wondering how to properly infuse green tea? Green tea is a very healthy tea and should be consumed daily. Drink the highest quality organic green tea that you can afford. Sencha green tea is the best in the world. Steep it for three minutes and use the tea bag or infuser for up to four cups of tea

Things You'll Need:

• Stainless steel infuser or tea ball.
• Loose tea or green tea bags.

Instructions:

1. Loose Green Tea
   
   Buy the highest quality loose green tea that you can afford. Sencha Green tea is the best qaulity green tea available on the market today. Sencha tea may be four times the price as traditional green tea, but it is also four times the quality and can make four times the amount of tea.

2. Tea Infuser, Tea Ball or Tea Bag
   
   Buy a stainless steel tea infuser or tea ball for optimum tea. It is best to buy stainless steel because plasic and rubber can cause chemicals or smells to leach into your tea. Which can be possibly dangerous or just annoying.
   
   You can also purchase green tea in bags for ease of use. If you are using tea bags, they have the added benefit of keeping all of your tea in the bag. You will not find any loose leaves in your tea cup if you use tea bags.

3. Hot Water
   
   Boil water in a stainless steel pot or teapot. It is important to cook in stainless steel to protect your food from the dangers of teflon or aluminum.
   
   For the best tasting cup of tea, bring your water to a full boil before pouring it over your tea ball, tea infuser or tea bag in your tea cup.

4. Steep
   
   Steep your tea for three minutes. You can use your tea infuser, tea bag or tea ball for up to four cups of tea if you are using Green Sencha Tea. Other types of tea can only make one cup per tea bag.

5. Cool Slightly
   
   Cool your green tea just slightly so that you can drink it without it burning your mouth.
   
   Drinking green tea has many health benefits. Green tea is packed with antioxidants that help protect your body from diseases such as cancer. Free radicals known to cause cancer are blocked by antioxidants.
   
   Drink at least five cups of green tea per day. Longevity doctors recommend that you drink at least ten cups per day to extend your life and keep your body healthy into your golden years.

Have"green tea" :)

The Green Tea Diet

The Fountain of Youth, delaying Alzheimer’s disease, fighting the flu, and helping with weight loss are all some of the claimed benefits of the Green Tea Diet.

The "Green Tea Diet" has been around for thousands of years in China. There are many people who have heard about the Green Tea Diet but don’t know much about it.
How the Diet Works

Incorporating just 3 to 4 cups of green tea daily into a balanced healthy diet of your choice along with regular daily exercise can add numerous medical benefits. There is no “green tea diet” per se. Just add green tea as the beverage choice for each meal.

It is best to drink the tea when it is freshly brewed. This helps to preserve all the antioxidants and nutritional value of the tea. The bottled variety of green tea gives you very little of its natural healing properties.

Also, black tea is not the same as green tea. Even though it comes from the same plant, black tea is processed differently so it loses almost all of its healthful attributes.

Benefits of The Green Tea Diet

The healthy benefits of the Green Tea Diet are enormous. Not only does the green tea taste good, but it’s good for our bodies.

* Green tea helps to reduce the incidences of colon, bladder, esophageal, pancreas, rectal and stomach cancer by up to 60%. The antioxidant epigallocatechin gallate in green tea is very effective in fighting these forms of cancers.
* Green tea helps to lower bad cholesterol (LDL) and increase the ratio of good cholesterol (HDL).
* Green tea helps to stop the development of blood clots which lead to strokes and heart attacks.
* Green tea helps to reduce high blood pressure.
* Green tea helps to lower blood sugar levels and prevents Type 2 diabetes.
* Green tea helps to protect the liver against toxins.
* Green tea helps to promote oral health by destroying the bacteria that forms plaque.
* Green tea helps destroys free radicals.
* Green tea helps to boost the immune system.
* Green tea has antibacterial and antiviral properties.
* Green tea helps to maintain a healthy fluid balance which helps to relieve stress and fatigue.
* Green tea helps to stimulate your metabolism which helps with weight loss.

Side Effects

Green tea does have some side effects but most come from the caffeine. One 6 oz. cup of green tea contains approximately 30 mg. of caffeine. People who are caffeine sensitive should take green tea supplements instead of brewing their own tea.

More than 6 cups of green tea daily can cause sleeplessness, irregular heart beat, diarrhea, vomiting, dizziness, headaches, and loss of appetite.

People with heart conditions, anxiety, panic attacks, kidney disease and sensitive stomachs should be cautioned about ingesting green tea.

For people who want the benefits of green tea but don’t like the taste, green tea supplements are available. The dietary supplements normally come in 500 mg capsules which are to be taken two to three times daily.
Results

Green tea has many properties than can help to enhance the quality of life for most people. Besides the normal cancer fighting, protector of the liver, destroyer of the free radicals properties that green tea possess, it also tastes delicious! So drink green tea for your health, for your liver and for your body.

Black Tea, Green Tea Good for Diabetes

In Rats, Black and Green Tea Lower Blood Sugar, Prevent Cataracts

Both black tea and "green tea" are good for diabetes, a rat study shows. They also prevent diabetic animals from developing cataracts.

The findings appear in the May 4 issue of the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

"Black and green tea represent a potentially inexpensive, nontoxic, and, in fact, pleasurable [blood-sugar-lowering] agent," the researchers write. "Tea may be a simple, inexpensive means of preventing or retarding human diabetes and the ensuing complications."

In the study, the researchers gave green and black teas to diabetic rats for three months.

They found both kinds of tea inhibited diabetic cataracts. The teas also had a blood-sugar-lowering effect.

To get the same dose of tea given to the rats, a 143-pound person would have to drink 4.5 8-ounce cups of tea every day.

The researchers recommend that tea -- black and green -- should be studied for an antidiabetes effect in humans.