Food is Remedy, Food is Medicine

A cup of tea a day keeps the doctor away. Yes, I borrowed an old saying but the message is literal. It takes that little amount of tea, drinking sustained for a long time, to bring you health benefits.

I am a coffee lover, by the way. But I now drink more tea after knowing the benefits I am going to write about here. I am STILL a coffee lover; I loooooove the taste of all kinds of coffee. Blue Mountain is my personal favorite. A coffee lover who drinks more tea, I am a living testimony that no matter whom you are, it should not get in the way of your health.

Make tea a part of your healthy lifestyle. Much of the negativity surrounding tea owes to its caffeine content. Just like honey, which has health benefits, it has a negative side because of its ‘sugar’. Make tea a simple and available ADDITION. An addition to the other healthy habits you are already practicing. Having said that you just need a cup a day, you need as much as four cups daily to get the risk of cancer significantly reduced.

The family of catechin flavonoids in tea, Epigallocatechin galate, is said to be a more powerful and effective antioxidants than vitamins E and C. This was revealed in a test tube research. In green tea, a laboratory test revealed that it is twenty times more powerful as an antioxidant than vitamin C. In short, the catechins in tea:

• Thwarts cell mutation.
• Neutralizes some carcinogens.
• Reduces the growth of cancerous cells.
• Hampers the growth of blood vessels that tumors need thrive.
• Lowers the especially damaging LDL (bad) cholesterol in animal studies.

As for the caffeine, there is evidence that it has antimutagenic properties linked to having an anticancer effect. It also aids in hampering the development of Parkinson’s disease. People who are sensitive to caffeine can limit tea to early in the day. Alternatively, drink green tea which is generally lower in caffeine. Boiling hot tea or those heavily salted (as in some cultures) can actually encourage cancer.

For those who exercise, boost up your antioxidant before you exercise in the morning by drinking green or black (normal) tea. In about 30 minutes, the favonoids will appear in your blood giving you that boost.

What I like about tea, is its availability. Some people aren’t too bothered with taking specialized health products, organic food and the sort. It takes too much of their time, money and effort. But tea, well, how much time, energy and money does it take to get and drink some. I am not finished with tea yet. More glad tidings in my next revelation.