Wu Yi Tea And Dieting

Diabetic Diet Plan

2008-06-09T13:18:00.001-07:00

Diabetic diet plan is very important for a person with diabetes This is a type of diet that makes sure that the person is under control as for this sugar levels in the body is concerned

Diabetic diet plan is very important for a person with diabetes. This is a type of diet that makes sure that the person is under control as for this sugar levels in the body is concerned. Diabetes diet is very helpful in maintaining glucose levels in the body.

Diabetes is a common disease. Most people across the globe are suffering from this disease. If not given proper attention and care, especially on the diet one takes, this disease can prove to be really dangerous.

Since diabetes is a chronic disease, it does not have any permanent cure. However, with proper care and treatment, one can expect to live a long and happy life with this disease.

It is very necessary for a person to follow diabetes diet in order to maintain a healthy body. Most experts believe that there are certain specific nutrition guidelines one needs to follow with diabetes.

A) Here are some guidelines on the primary elements you require to include in a diabetes diet:

a) Proteins

Proteins are important to supply amino acids. Amino acids are really important for the process of tissue repair and also to maintain the levels of glucose during the process of absorption. These contain less amount of calories as compared to the fats.

b) Carbohydrates
These are very important to prevent ketosis.

c) Fats
One must focus on foods rich in saturated fats. Cholesterol should be completely avoided.

d) Fiber
It is important to reduce the glucose absorption rate. Fiber works towards facilitating urinary glucose excretion, stomach emptyfying process, reduction of blood sugar rise and delay in the intestinal passage time.

B) Remember that your diabetes diet should be completely devoid of the following food elements:

a) Potatoes, Sweet potatoes

b) Sugar, Glucose, Jams

c) Jaggery, Honey, Sweets

d) Fried foods

e) Mango, Banana, Chickoo, Custard apple

f) A lot of oil or fat

Try to include a lot of fresh leafy green vegetables and salads in your food.

C) Following a diabetic diet has a lot of benefits. Here are some of the benefits you can enjoy via following a diabetic diet religiously:

a) Benefit 1

It keeps a stable blood glucose level.

b) Benefit 2

It reduces the amount of insulin required in the body. Carbohydrates and lean meals will help you in this process.

c) Benefit 3

Better feeling of well being is another primary benefit of following a diabetic diet. Most people who do not strict to this diet tend to over eat and eat the wrong kind of food. This raises their blood sugar level and result in fatigue and general feeling of being unwell. A diabetic diet helps you feel unhealthy.

d) Benefit 4

Following a strict diabetic diet will not allow you to overeat and eating food that can make you gain weight. This results in keeping your body weight under control. This also reduces the risk of developing other health problems such as stroke and heart disease.

Following a diabetic diet has a lot of benefits than just controlling your blood sugar levels. Experts suggest that you should focus on a lot of exercises and have an active life in order to get benefited in the right way.

Good Diet, Fitness And Good Health

2008-05-12T15:55:00.000-07:00

When it comes to diet fitness health these three have plenty in common because when you combine good diet with fitness you get good health.

Of course when it comes to diet fitness health the opposite could be true as well. Poor diet plus poor fitness will mean poor health. And it''s all in your hands. Do you want to be strong and healthy and feel great or do you want to be sickly and feel horrible.

Whether you are 9 or 90 you can control your diet fitness health outcome. There are some very simple things you can do. Diet changes can be as simple as adding more fruits and vegetables to your diet. Fresh is always a good choice providing you with the most nutritional value. You might also decide to reduce your saturated fast and eliminate Trans fats from your diet making your heart that much healthier.''

Diet is important to your overall health but if you are looking to loose a few pounds don''t make the mistake of cutting your calorie intake too much because what you will do is put your body into panic mode otherwise known as starvation mode which will then store those calories as fat. You want to reduce your calorie intake by no more than 500 calories to ensure that you are going to have an impact on your diet fitness health formula.

When you decide that a diet change is in order you must remember that it''s a two part formula diet fitness health. When you take care of the diet your next task is to take care of the fitness. Too many people get their workout from the television remote and too many people don''t realize just how easy it is to increase your fitness.

Diet fitness health is a three part formula. Once you improve your diet and decide to add a little fitness into your routine you''ll be on your way to health and all it takes is for you to get 30 minutes of walking in at a quick pace. That''s enough to get a good cardio workout for your heart and to burn a few extra calories ? what a nice added bonus.

Now speaking of burning calories if you''ve got a few extra pounds that you want to get rid of turn up the heat just a little. Speed up on your walk, extend the period of time, or add some resistance exercise. The key here is burn more calories than you take in and when you consider the formula diet fitness health you can see how it plays into both elements.

The diet fitness health formula isn''t a new idea but what has happened is that our overall health is getting a lot more attention than it use to. Suddenly we don''t want to be overweight couch potatoes anymore. Rather we are much more interested in healthy diets and exercise which leads to fitness.

So what does it all mean? The diet fitness health formula simply means you are ready to get fit from every aspect.

How I Plan To Deal With Being Obese

2008-05-10T15:28:00.000-07:00

This article is about dealing with obesity and the struggle and health issues that follow with being overweight. I am overweight, right now I'm a 150 pounds over what I should weigh. I am getting my life back on track for the first time and I would like to share with all of you how I have struggled with being overweight and how I am getting my weight under control and getting my health in better condition.

I have been overweight all my life. My entire family is obese. Obesity is a very serious condition. Eating the wrong foods or over eating can result in obesity. As we already know, drinking a lot of soda and eating ice cream can cause obesity too. There are a lot of things out there that can cause obesity when you do not take care of your body.

I have been on a diet for a week now, and yes I know it is hard to adapt to changing your lifestyle of eating and cutting all the foods out you used to eat. Believe me I am going through it right now. It is so hard. In order to get healthy, you have to make the decide whether you want to be a different person. In order to lose weight, you have to have the motivation to do so. If you do not have the motivation, you will not do anything. You will try it one day and realize how hard it is going to be to lose the weight and you will give up and not continue on the right path without motivation.

I have a wonderful husband who is supporting me in this lifestyle change. He walks with me and exercises with me so I do not feel like I am doing by myself. It is good to have someone to work out with you because it motivates you even more to achieve your goal. For me, my husband is my motivation. No, I am not losing weight for him or anybody, but myself. My husband supports me very well and I think that is what is keeping me going.

So I ordered Wu Yi Tea about 2 months ago. I'm happy to report my weight has dropped by 30 pounds, and I'm on my way. My husband is attracted to me again, and I feel good about myself. Hopefully I can keep it going.

Laura

What Are Cholesterol Blockers?

2008-05-09T10:13:00.002-07:00

Cholesterol is produced by the liver and is a fat-like waxy substance. Although cholesterol is usually thought of as a "bad thing", the truth is that cholesterol is important to your overall health and helps body function. Every one of your cells within your body is supported by good cholesterol. When cholesterol gets old or if it goes bad then level becomes elevated, it can be dangerous. The "good" cholesterol helps to get the bad cholesterol back down to safe levels. Whenever the bad (LDL & VLDL) cholesterol level climbs higher it becomes a serious situation. Untreated it can contribute to severe health problems including stroke, kidney damage, diabetes mellitus, and heart disease. People with uncontrolled "bad" cholesterol are three times more likely to have a heart attack, they are six times more susceptible to develop congestive hear failure, people with high cholesterol will be seven times more likely to have an ischemic stroke. People with high cholesterol may need to take cholesterol blockers to lower their cholesterol.

If you are into natural herbs and remedies, you can go to your favorite health food store and buy natural cholesterol blockers. Of course Green Tea* is a very good cholesterol blocker too? Green tea is rich in a class of polyphenols (polyphenols give the plant its color) known as catechins (pronounced kat-a-kins). The strongest catechin in green tea is known as epigallocatechin gallate. We''ll call it EGCG to make life easier. When your body wants to burn fat, it releases a substance known as norepinephrine. Norepinephrine is one of the sparks that lights the fat burning fire. However, norepinephrine has a limited lifespan in your body. That''s where EGCG helps. By keeping norepinephrine alive for longer, EGCG can help your body burn more fat, making it an excellent cholesterol blockers.

Lead researchers believe that caffeine and EGCG (both found in green tea) work together to prolong the life of norepinephrine. These researchers also believe that green tea extract, "has the ability to influence body weight and body composition via changes in both energy expenditure and substrate utilization." This is why green tea makes good cholesterol blockers. The green tea in this study provided 50mg of caffeine and 90mg of EGCG per serving. Subjects took three servings daily. Green Tea is also a superior antioxidant, antiviral and ulcer protective. Increases mental awareness, fights fatigue, helps diminish appetite and regulates blood sugar.

*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. Restricted caloric intake and a good exercise program is required to lose weight.

As with any type of health issue, make sure you speak with your doctor about taking any kind of medicine, even herbal cholesterol blockers. Certain vitamins and prescription drugs do not do well together and may cause serious damage to your system. You want to get better, not make things worse. Take care of your health and live happy.

2008-05-09T10:13:00.001-07:00

Sources Of Free Radicals

2008-05-07T09:12:00.001-07:00

Free radicals are atoms or groups of atoms that have at least one unpaired electron, which makes them highly reactive. Free radicals promote beneficial oxidation that produces energy and kills bacterial invaders. In excess, however, they produce harmful oxidation that can damage cell membranes and cell contents.

Where do Free Radicals Come From?

Endurance exercise can increase oxygen utilization from 10 to 20 times over the resting state. This greatly increases the generation of free radicals, prompting concern about enhanced damage to muscles and other tissues. So the question now is, how effectively can athletes defend against the increased free radicals resulting from exercise? Do athletes need to take extra antioxidants?

When an oxygen molecule (O2) becomes electrically charged or "radicalized" it tries to steal electrons from other molecules, causing damage to the DNA and other molecules. Over time, such damage may become irreversible and lead to disease including cancer. Antioxidants are often described as "mopping up" free radicals, meaning they neutralize the electrical charge and prevent the free radical from taking electrons from other molecules.

Several interesting concepts have emerged from these types of experimental studies. Regular physical exercise enhances the antioxidant defense system and protects against exercise induced free radical damage. This is an important finding because it shows how smart the body is about adapting to the demands of exercise. These changes occur slowly over time and appear to parallel other adaptations to exercise.

What do Antioxidants Do?

Antioxidants play the housekeeper''s role, "mopping up" free radicals before they get a chance to do harm in your body. Researchers have postulated that antioxidants prevent the possible carcinogenic effects of oxidation. Despite numerous studies carried out on the role of antioxidants in cancer and heart disease prevention, the jury is still out as to which groups of people, if any, benefit from taking antioxidant supplements.

Considerable evidence now suggests that oxidants are involved in the development and clinical expression of coronary heart disease and that antioxidants may contribute to disease resistance.

We urge you to find out more about Antioxidants!

Weight Loss Should Be Easy

2008-05-05T09:26:00.000-07:00

Really, there''s not much point in losing weight and still not feeling well Today our bodies are being bombarded by stress and pollution from every side and we need to take action to protect them

Really, there''s not much point in losing weight and still not feeling well!

Today our bodies are being bombarded by stress and pollution from every side and we need to take action to protect them.

Antioxidant Supplements are the secret weapon for a healthy life.

Why do we need Antioxidants today when 20 years ago they weren''t even on the radar screen?

The biggest reason is that there is way more pollution, stress and radiation in our lives today than ever before... and it is damaging our bodies big time. Our modern environment is a stealth enemy... it is attacking us at a level we can''t see. It is critically damaging our cells and we don''t even know what''s wrong.

And losing weight can aggravate the situation as initially it puts additional stresses on our system.

Free radicals are a somewhat recent discovery. They are simply oxygen molecules that have lost an electron in the everyday metabolism of food. Throw in pollution, stress and radiation and the problem gets worse. We can?t afford to mess with Free Radicals. At the cellular level they are like sparks from a fire burning holes in our rug. Free radicals burn holes in our cell walls and damage our mitochondria where our energy is produced. Today?s medical scientists consider Free Radicals to be the source of DNA mutations which eventually lead to cancer.

Free Radicals are continuously destroying millions of cells in our bodies everyday.

Anti-oxidants can help! They supply electrons to the free radical oxygen molecules and render them neutral. Antioxidants are our mainline of defense. We need lots of them. Free radical production is on the rise as stress, pollution and radiation effects bombard our bodies.

It used to be you could get your anti-oxidants from your food. No more! Combine chemical fertilizers and pesticides with early harvesting to preserve shelf life and , and food just can?t do the job anymore. We need to used food supplements to get the anti-oxidants we need.

Taking quality supplement is key. They should use natural ingredients, be manufactured to Pharmaceutical Grade Manufacturing standards and what?s on the label should be in the bottle. There are only four manufacturers in North America who meet these standards and one of them is year over year voted Number One.

It?s all about the cells. We are made of cells. It all starts here. If our cells get sick, we get sick. Healthy cells are critical for a healthy body and a healthy life. Antioxidants can help to protect and repair your cells. You?ll have a healthier immune system and a more enjoyable life.

Synthetic supplements just don?t cut it. Sure they cost less but they really don?t work very well. The body can?t absorb them anywhere near as easily as a natural supplements made from natural ingredients and side effects are minimized.

But anti-oxidant supplements won?t do it all. You''ll still need to eat a healthy diet; non-processed foods are key but with the depleted condition of today?s soil, you just can?t get what you need from food, even organically grown food. You absolutely must supplement your diet if you want to maintain a healthy body. It?s estimated that today''s food has only 35% of the vitamins and minerals it had in 1950.

And don''t forget the fiber. Fiber is critical in speeding up the elimination of toxins from our system. Without enough fiber and fluids in our system the toxins get re-absorbed into our system during their slow passage through our intestines. Those toxins help to make you sick.

Make sure that you are eating right and doing all you can to lead a healthy lifestyle:

* Avoid highly processed foods and excessive sugars and carbohydrates.

* Add fiber to your diet.

* Supplement your diet with high quality antioxidants, vitamins and minerals.

* Drink lots of water.

* Do some exercise... walk for at least 20 minutes 3 or 4 times a week at least.

Any good diet plan should include the daily intake of antioxidant rich supplements and I recommend this wholeheartedly.

It?s really quite simple to lose weight rapidly without needing to struggle with hunger all the time. All you need to do is to get control of the carbohydrate craving and eliminate it quickly.

Antioxdants In Your Diet

2008-05-03T17:04:00.000-07:00

As researchers continue to study the profound impact our diets can have on our overall health, they uncover more and more evidence regarding the positive role of antioxidants in preventing everything from heart disease to cancer. Antioxidants have also been shown to greatly hinder the aging process and vastly improve immunity. The best news of all, however, is that natural antioxidants can be found in the foods we eat; the process of increasing our natural antioxidants can be as simple as making appropriate choices when food shopping.

When looking for those foods high in natural antioxidants, head straight for the produce section of your supermarket or directly to a nearby farmers market. Particular fruits and vegetables have been shown to deliver the highest levels of natural antioxidants. But it''s not as simple as picking up the nearest apple. Do your research in order to learn what specific fruits and vegetable will give you what you need so that you can be mindful of you choices.

When it comes to picking vegetables high in natural antioxidants think green. Leafy, dark green vegetables tend to pack a punch when it comes to natural antioxidants. Veggies such as spinach and kale are terrific sources of natural antioxidants; as are carrots, cabbage, onions, sweet potatoes, and cauliflower.

When choosing fruits for their natural antioxidants, stick with citrus fruits with high levels of Vitamin C. Berries of any kind are also wonderful sources of natural antioxidants. Blueberries have recently received quite a bit of attention regarding their ability to fight cancer.

This is only a short sampling of those foods that contain healthy levels of natural antioxidants. Be your own advocate and learn about all the foods that will have the most positive impact on your health and get down to integrating them into your daily life. Learning new recipes and experimenting with different ways to prepare these important foods will help you adopt new habits. And if all those fruits and vegetables are difficult to get down, reward yourself with some red wine and dark chocolate ? both of which deliver a significant amount of natural antioxidants!

What Is An Antioxidant?

2008-05-02T12:54:00.000-07:00

An antioxidant is a chemical that reduces the rate of particular oxidation reactions in a specific context, where oxidation reactions are chemical reactions that involve the transfer of electrons from a substance to an oxidising agent.

Antioxidants are particularly important in the context of organic chemistry and biology: all living cells contain complex systems of antioxidant chemicals and/or enzymes to prevent chemical damage to the cells'' components by oxidation. The importance and complexity of antioxidants in biology is reflected in a medical literature of more than 142,000 scholarly articles.

A diet containing antioxidants from plants are required for good health since plants are an important source of organic antioxidant chemicals. Antioxidants are widely used as ingredients in dietary supplements that are used for health purposes such as preventing cancer and heart disease. However, while many studies have suggested benefits for antioxidant supplements, several large clinical trials have failed to clearly demonstrate a benefit for the formulations tested, and excess supplementation may be harmful.

Antioxidants are chemicals that reduce oxidative damage to cells and biochemicals. Researchers have found high correlation between oxidative damage and the occurrence of disease. For example, LDL oxidation is associated with cardiovascular disease. The process leading to atherogenesis, artherosclerosis, and cardiovascular disease is complex, involving multiple chemical pathways and networks, but the precursor is LDL oxidation by free radicals, resulting in inflammation and formation of plaques.

Research suggests that consumption of antioxidant-rich foods reduces damage to cells and biochemicals from free radicals. This may slow down, prevent, or even reverse certain diseases that result from cellular damage, and perhaps even slow down the natural aging process.

Since the discovery of vitamins, it has been recognized that antioxidants in the diet are essential for healthful lives. More recently, a large body of evidence has accumulated that suggests supplementation of the diet with various kinds of antioxidants can improve health and extend life.

Many nutraceutical and health food companies now sell forms of antioxidants as dietary supplement. These supplements may include specific antioxidant chemicals, like resveratrol (from grape seeds), combinations of antioxidants, like the "ACES" products that contain beta carotene (provitamin A), vitamin C, vitamin E and Selenium, or specialty herbs that are known to contain antioxidants such as green tea and jiaogulan.

Antioxidants: the Free-Radical Antidote

2008-05-01T15:39:00.000-07:00

The new knowledge found by scientists connecting free radicals to a number of degenerative biologic functions, combined with the increase in the median age, has made interest in antioxidants skyrocket Because the population wants to enjoy life as much as possible and are willing to fight the effects of aging from all angles, antioxidants are becoming the choice weapon to do this

The new knowledge found by scientists connecting free radicals to a number of degenerative biologic functions, combined with the increase in the median age, has made interest in antioxidants skyrocket. Because the population wants to enjoy life as much as possible and are willing to fight the effects of aging from all angles, antioxidants are becoming the choice weapon to do this. Even though consumers are not always able to interpret the scientific jargon about antioxidants and how they work, they do have a feeling that they do work and are, in general, safe and an essential part of a proper diet.

Antioxidants are powerful compounds which are able to stop the rush of cellular damage that are caused by free-radicals. Oxidants can damage cells by starting chemical chain reactions, or even damaging DNA at the cellular level. Because DNA is the blueprint for our cells to reproduce, damage to it can cause serious problems. Thankfully, plants and animals have found a way to fight oxidative damage by manufacturing antioxidant compounds within the body. However, levels of these fighters decline along with age, causing ingestion of antioxidants more and more important.

The body creates glutathione peroxidase (GPx) as its own protective mechanism to target lipid hydroperoxide and hydrogen peroxide. By increasing fruit and vegetable intake, the production of GPx can be improved and supplemental selenium can also help this production as well. Superoxide dismutase (SOD) is also created in the body to target free radicals and break it down into hydrogen peroxide and oxygen. With SOD supplementation, you can protect DNA from oxidative damage and increase the blood antioxidant activity and improve health.

Far beyond internal defenses, nature has also provided us with thousands of antioxidants. Included in these are: vitamin C, which acts as a foil for oxidative stress relative to cardiovascular disease; vitamin E, which is helpful for healthy immune and cardiovascular function along with preventing cholesterol fractions from oxidizing into more harmful forms; and coenzyme Q10, which facilitates the energy process and works as an antioxidant by picking up free radical molecules and rendering them harmless.

By controlling free radical production before the chain reaction of damage can occur, oxidative stress and the human diseases associated with it can be avoided. Consumers are encouraged to take a comprehensive multivitamin/mineral product that are loaded with vitamin A, C, D and other substances that act as an antioxidant and fight free radical damage.

Because the brain has high levels of lipids, it is especially susceptible to oxidation, causing damage to cells, tissues, and genetic material. Unchecked oxidation can contribute to the development of illnesses including Alzheimer?s disease, Parkinson?s disease, and dementia. Several antioxidant compounds have been shown in studies to produce positive results including Carotenoids, vitamins A, C, and E, tocotrienol, alpha lipoic acid, melatonin, grape seed extract, and pomegranate.

The eyes let in UV light, which is a key contributor to oxidation, leaving the retina as an ideal environment for the generation of free radicals. Because of this, antioxidants serve a vital role in the eyes. Carotenoids are extremely important in the eyes, as lutein and Zeaxanthin are based in the macular pigment and supplementation of these can prevent retinal degeneration by protecting the eyes from damaging sunlight. Astaxanthin can also protect the eyes from lipid per oxidation. Some specific flavonoids that help protect the eyes against antioxidant damage include quercetin, EGCG (green tea), and bilberry.

Berries, especially cranberry and blueberry are extremely rich in antioxidant polyphenols. These, along with lycopene, are extremely useful to help prevent oxidative stress that can affect the heart. It is recommended by the American Health Association to consume a diet high in food sources of antioxidants and other heart-protecting nutrients including fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and nuts. A combination of vitamin supplements and good diet can help one live a longer healthier life.

Tea, The Miracle Drink

2008-04-30T09:41:00.000-07:00

In a study of over 40,000 Japanese adults enrolled in the Ohsaki National Health Insurance Cohort Study initiated in 1994, it was found that those who drank five or more cups of green tea a day had a death rate that was 26% lower than non tea drinkers at seven years into the study, and 16% at eleven years. Green tea was particularly effective in reducing the risk of heart disease, but did not apparently reduce the risk of cancer. (Green tea consumption and mortality due to cardiovascular disease, cancer and all causes in Japan. JAMA. 2006; 296:1255-1265). A study of 1003 Japanese men indicates that higher consumption of green tea is associated with a lower prevalence of cognitive impairment. Less benefit was found for black and oolong tea, and no benefit from coffee. (Green tea consumption and cognitive function: a cross-sectional study from the Tsurugaya Project. Am J Clin Nutr 2006; 83: 355-61). In a Chinese study, women who drank tea daily were found to have a significantly reduced risk of developing biliary stones or gallbladder cancer. Among men, who were more likely to be cigarette smokers, there was a slight non-significant reduction of risk. (Tea drinking and the risk of biliary tract cancers and biliary stones: a population-based case-control study in Shanghai, China. Int J Cancer 2006; 118: 3089-94).

Steps To Improve Your Metabolism

2008-04-28T10:17:00.000-07:00

Antioxidants found in Wu Yi Tea are known to increase metabolism, i.e., burn fat, resulting in safe, effective weight loss. While on the Wu Yi Tea diet, it makes sense, therefore, to help the tea, by taking additional steps to increase metabolism. Here are some tips.

There are several factors that affect the metabolism of a person, such as the amount of muscle tissue, the frequency of the meals one consumes, genetics, stress levels, personal diet and activity levels. Metabolism slows done due to the following: loss of muscle because of not enough physical activity, the tendency of the body to cannibalize its own tissue because there is not enough food energy to sustain it, and the decrease of physical activity that comes naturally with old age.

Here are several ways to rev up your metabolism. Build up on lean, mean body mass. It is only natural that metabolism decreases along with age, but it is possible to counter the effects. The amount of muscle a person has is a very strong determinant in the ability to burn calories and shed fat. So it goes without saying that exercise is essential. Build strength and resistance by working out at least twice a week, preferably with weights.

Do easy exercises in between workouts. Simple tasks such as walking the dog and using the stairs in place of the elevator can already take off calories. The key is to match the amount of eating to the amount of activity one has. Here are some guidelines in getting the right exercise:

For strength training

Increase the amount of repetitions of a particular exercise. Add the level of resistance. Utilize advance exercise techniques if possible. For cardiovascular training insert intervals between exercises, perform cross training and combine the exercises, add up on resistance and speed.

Eat breakfast. A lot of people are ignoring the fact that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Surprisingly, the ones who eat breakfast are thinner than the ones who do not. Metabolism can slow down considerably if breakfast is taken during mid-morning or if one waits until the afternoon to eat.

Avoid sugar. Sugar enables the body to store fat. It is recommended that a person consumes food that helps sustain an even level of blood sugar. Additionally, progressive execerise 2 to 3 times a week should be in order to stabilize blood sugar.

Eat spicy foods. Hot cuisine with peppers can increase metabolism.

Sleep more. According to research, it is riskier for people who do not get enough sleep to gain weight. Also, muscles are regenerated during the last couple of hours of slumber.

Increase water intake. Water flushes out toxins that are produced whenever the body burns fat. Majority of bodily functions involves water, and lack of water causes the body system's operations to decrease its speed, and produces unneeded stress as a result.

Eat smaller meals. It is advisable to consume 4 to 6 small meals that are timed 2 to 3 hours apart.

Never skip meals. People tend to skip meals in order to lose weight, which is a big mistake since it slows down metabolism.

Plan meals in detail. Always prepare the right amount of food to be consumed at the designated intervals. Do not commit the mistake of eating meals in sporadic patterns.

Ditch the stress! Stress, be it physical or emotional, triggers the release of a steroid called cortisol, which decreases metabolism. Also, people tend to eat excessively when stressed.

Guzzle up on green tea. It can be used as a substitute for coffee. Tea has the ability to stimulate metabolism, and unlike coffee, it has no undesirable side effects when too much is consumed.

Include more energy foods in the diet, such as fruits and vegetables, beans and whole grains.

Achieving the desired body weight is never impossible if one has the determination and patience needed to stabilize the metabolism level, which plays an important role in weight loss. A person needs to realize that eating right and working out is not just a passing fancy, but a way of life.

There are a lot of people who would give a lot to increase their metabolism. Having a high level of metabolism enables one to maintain burn fat and lose weight fast with the least amount of activity. Metabolism is the rate by which the body produces and consumes energy and calories to support life.

3 Tips For Weight Loss

2008-04-27T20:55:00.000-07:00

Wu Yi Tea is all the rage at present and it's popularity is likely to increase in the next few years. so why has it become so popular with people who are trying to lose weight naturally? Well, let's take a look and see why!

Years, and I mean years, of research proves that people who drink Wu Yi Tea are more likely to shed weight faster than those people who do not drink it. However, it is not only good for helping you get rid of fat as it has many other health benefits, so even if you do not need to lose pounds, you should be drinking it now!

So, here are 3 ways in which Wu Yi Tea will actually help you to lose weight. It has many more benefits as I mentioned, but for the sake of this article, I will stick with weight loss ok?

Firstly, it is a great appetite suppressant. The major problem for most people is feeling hungry when on a diet. Wu Yi Tea will help to stop those hunger pangs and prevent you from bingeing out on foods and throw you back to where you started. Studies prove that Wu Yi Tea is a great natural suppressant so drink while trying to get rid of fat.

It also gives you natural energy. Having more energy is important when trying to lose weight. you need to exercise more to shed those pounds and Green Tea can help to give you that extra boost you need to keep going. Drinking it on a regular basis will give you more energy overall.

It will help to stimulate your metabolism. It is of course your metabolism that burns calories and turns them into energy. Green Tea is a natural stimulate which means that by drinking it you will naturally burn more calories each day. The quicker you burn calories, the quicker you get rid of that fat.

Get A Lean Body With The Help Of Antioxidants

2008-04-25T08:11:00.000-07:00

You may know about all the exceptional benefits of eating foods rich with antioxidants, but there are some you may not know about. Antioxidant rich foods fight free radicals, which damage your body, keeping you looking and feeling exceptional by slowing the aging process, they also help prevent cancer, heart disease and a host of other chronic diseases. However, another benefit you may not know is they also help you to recover from exercise, which allows more muscles to develop and less body fat in the long term.

Antioxidants have an important role in recovery from exercise by neutralising the free radicals created during training. When we exercise these free radicals are produced and they begin to damage muscle tissue. By making sure we have a good supply of antioxidants to fight free radicals we can dramatically decrease the damage they can cause and improve the muscle recovery process. Eating a good source of antioxidants about an hour before training is a great strategy for improving the results of your program.

Some of the greatest sources of antioxidants are berries (blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, cranberries), cherries, acai fruit, different teas (green tea, oolong tea, white tea, black tea), nuts, seeds, red and black beans, purple potatoes, grapes, red wine, cinnamon, and dark chocolate or cocoa. Remember not to be fooled by expensive pills and supplements as real food is always preferred and much cheaper.

A pre exercise antioxidant rich snack like a piece of whole grain toast with almond butter, a small amount of blackberry jam, with a pile of fresh blueberries or sliced strawberries is something you might like to try. You could also try a glass of green tea sweetened with a small amount of honey. This will give you a surplus of antioxidants as the almond butter, blackberry, blueberries, raw honey, and the green tea are all loaded with different varieties of muscle protecting, anti aging antioxidants. This would be a exceptional meal to have about an hour before training. Try this for your self of you can come up with your own antioxidant rich combination to maximise your training.

Our bodies are constantly bombarded each day by free radicals (which creates oxidative stress) from training, air pollution, smoke, sun exposure, junk food, exposure to chemicals, etc. In order to experience the full benefits of antioxidants, try to make sure that every meal and snack you eat has at least one or two sources of antioxidant rich foods. This will give you a constant supply of antioxidants throughout each day, which can prevent damage from the free radicals you are constantly exposed to.

Antioxidants are just one of the many advantages a good diet that will give you the lean, muscular, youthful, and disease-free body that everyone wants.

Natural Antioxidants

2008-04-23T08:38:00.000-07:00

For years, humanity has been dependent on nature for the nutrients essential for health. We get most of our food and our medicines from plants, relying on them almost entirely for developing our bodies full potential and at the same time reducing the causes of degenerative diseases.

Recently, scientists have discovered the substance responsible for many of the health benefits we''ve been receiving from plants. Fruits and vegetables contain chemical substances that act on specific, harmful molecules inside our bodies to stop them from damaging our cells. Because these substances work on oxygen by-products called free radicals, they have come to be known as natural antioxidants.

Antioxidants protect the body against free radicals. One of the many functions of antioxidants is to work against the formation of cellular damage caused by free radicals. Free radicals are highly reactive chemical substances which are produced whenever our body undergoes the process of oxidation (breathing).

When free radicals are released, they immediately latch on to other molecules, stealing their electrons, in so doing, turning them into unstable molecules like themselves. The result is a rapid chain reaction which, when left unattended, can lead to various degenerative diseases, such as heart disease, stroke, cancer, Alzheimer''s disease, Parkinson''s disease, and memory loss.

Natural antioxidants are primarily derived from plants. The human body cannot produce its own supply of antioxidants. That is why we have to depend solely on our diet to get the amount of antioxidants our body needs.

Groups of well-known antioxidants include catechins, coumarins, indoles, and carotenoids. All these are complex compounds found in almost all plants. Carotenoids are the largest group of naturally occurring antioxidants, followed closely by indoles and coumarins. Catechins are the natural antioxidants found in the Camellia sinensis -- the plant from which we get green tea, oolong tea, and black tea.

In the carotenoid group, beta-carotene is the most common natural antioxidant. Another name for beta-carotene is vitamin A -- that essential vitamin that helps prevent eye damage. This natural antioxidant supports the immune system, might reduce the skin''s risk to sun and DNA damage, supports healthy cholesterol levels, and increases lung capacity. Some studies even show that Vitamin A supports a healthy heart.

Catechins are great weight-loss inducers. But more than that, the natural antioxidants they contain help promote health by boosting the immune system, which in turn reduces the risk of infection.

While aging is clearly a natural process, it is through nature that we can find our greatest weapons against aging. The natural antioxidants in the food we eat can fight, and in some cases even reverse, the effects of aging.

How To Keep Weight Loss Simple.

2008-04-22T15:50:00.001-07:00

An increasing trend over the last few years has been for diet books to make things complex.

I expect it's because each one vies with the other to come out with some brand new theory or other about why we gain weight and why their diet plan is the only one to help us lose it. And the low fat, low calorie stuff has already been covered!

My problem with this new trend is that the diets all involve more counting and while basic maths was never a problem at school I don't want to use it at the dinner table to know what I can eat. And while counting calories is one thing (most of us are probably walking encyclopaedias by now with how many calories our usual choices contain) the new diets are so much more complex.

With the new diets we need to know carbohydrate counts and fat grams, GI index and all sorts. And sometimes it's not enough to have a straight count we have to work out our percentage of carbohydrates, proteins and fat (yes, follow one particular diet and you have to balance these at EVERY meal).

Somehow I think food was not meant to be eaten like this. It was meant to be enjoyed. Most of us know what is healthy and what is not. Most of us know we'd be better with an apple than a cream cake. Most of us know we need a good variety of all types of food to feel great.

The new diets will not last. More complex stuff will come along and it's sad because we could all lose weight with a few SIMPLE changes.

1. Make healthy choices for most of the food you eat
2. Vary your choices
3. Occasionally enjoy a small portion of whatever it is you love even if it's high in fat or sugar or whatever
4. Eat only when you're physically hungry
5. Stop when you're just satisfied, not stuffed
6. Fill half your plate at lunch and dinner with vegetables or salad, quarter carbs and a quarter protein.

If everyone who wanted to lose weight just followed these simple guidelines there would be many more successful dieters around and a lot less hassle in losing weight.

Why not start today?

Where Diets Go Wrong

2008-04-21T09:28:00.000-07:00

When we discover that we are heavier than we want to be, we have a natural inclination to eat less food. We may skip lunch or eat only a tiny amount of our dinner in the hope that if we eat less our body will burn off some of its fat. But that is not necessarily true. Eating less actually makes it more difficult to lose weight.

Keep in mind that the human body took shape millions of years ago, and at that time there were diets. The only low-calorie event in people’s lives was starvation. Those who could cope with a temporary lack of food were the ones who survived. Our bodies, therefore, have developed this built-in mechanism to help us survive in the face of low food intake.

When researchers compare overweight and thin people, they find that they ear roughly the same number of calories. What makes overweight people different is the amount of fat that they eat. Thin people tend to eat less fat and more complex carbohydrates.

Losing weight is not something one can do overnight. A carefully planned weight loss program requires common sense and certain guidelines. Unfortunately, there’s a lot of misinformation floating around and lots of desperate people are easily duped and ripped off.

Every day one can open a magazine or newspaper and see advertisements touting some new product, pill or patch that will take excess weight off quickly. Everyone seems to be looking for that 'magic' weight loss pill. Millions of Americans are trying to lose weight, spending billions of dollars every year on diet programs and products. Often they do lose some weight. But, if you check with the same people five years later, you will find that nearly all have regained whatever weight they lost.

A survey was done recently to try and determine if any commercial diet program could prove long-term success. Not a single program could do so. So rampant has the so-called diet industry become with new products and false claims that the FDA has now stepped in and started clamping down.

Being seriously overweight and particularly obesity can develop into a number of diseases and serious health problems, and it is now a known fact that when caloric intake is excessive, some of the excess frequently is saturated fat.

The myth is that people get heavy by eating too many calories. Calories are a consideration it’s true, but overall they are not the cause of obesity in America today. Americans actually take in fewer calories each day than they did at the beginning of the century. If calories alone were the reason we become overweight, we should all be thin. But we are not. Collectively, we are heavier than ever. Partly, it is because we are more sedentary now. But equally, as important is the fact that the fat content of the American diet has changed dramatically.

People who diet without exercising often get fatter with time. Although your weight may initially drop while dieting, such weight loss consists mostly of water and muscle. When the weight returns, it comes back as fat. To avoid getting fatter over time, increase your metabolism by exercising regularly.

Select an exercise routine that you are comfortable with and remember that walking is one of the best and easiest exercises for strengthening your bones, controlling your weight and toning your muscles.

The Truth About Weight Loss

2008-04-20T11:49:00.000-07:00

Loss of body weight can occur due to various conditions ranging from under eating, eating disorders, to severe metabolic conditions including diabetes. Infant weight loss is often classed as failure to thrive. For inadequate growth without weight loss see poor growth. Any unexplained weight loss needs prompt professional medical advice for diagnosis and treatment.

Fasting demands the fat cells be used as fuel. As soon as the body needs calories the process or catabolism (tearing down) starts. Each pound of fat has approximately 3,500 calories, which becomes fuel for the body. As each day passes, you get thinner and thinner. Excess fat is nothing more than extra calories stored in the fat cells. The purpose of fat cells is to be fuel for times of famine. For North America, famine does not exist; instead, the North American diet is a continual indulgence of high-calorie foods, eaten in an attempt to fulfill emotional needs. The fat cells get bigger and the body gets pudgier.

Loss of body weight can occur due to various conditions ranging from under eating, eating disorders, to severe metabolic conditions including diabetes. Infant weight loss is often classed as failure to thrive. For inadequate growth without weight loss see poor growth. Any unexplained weight loss needs prompt professional medical advice for diagnosis and treatment.

Herbal Weight Loss

Experience the Fat Burning Properties of Green Tea: Known for its powerful antioxidants, thousands of people have also discovered that it can help boost metabolism and burn fat. As a weight loss supplement, green tea is not only fairly inexpensive, but also provides the body a host of other benefits from the antioxidants that it contains.

Health food stores can also distribute promotional literature from the manufacturer if the claims are limited to what''s known as structure and function claims (this supplement helps preserve joint maintenance) and not disease claims (it can''t cure arthritis). Consumers should also expect to see more "third party literature" -- reports about supplements authored by independent experts that don''t mention supplements by brand name, which are also permitted under DSHEA.

Hypnosis has always been a controversial procedure for any purpose, and for weight loss, it has generated little, if any, verified results. Without any kind of supplementation through scheduled diet and exercise, a trial where a small number of subjects were treated for 8 weeks, followed by 12 weeks of self hypnosis procedures, the group lost an average of 20.2 pounds. However, this study in 1985 is highly questionable, as the number of subjects was so small (only 45 people participated), and there was no control group against which they could be compared.

Ginger may reduce the risk of heart attack by preventing internal blood clots. Also used for motion sickness. To treat motion sickness, 30 minutes before departure take 2 or 3 500 milligram capsules. Tea: add 2 teaspoons of grated or powdered ginger per cup. Steep for 10 minutes. Drink up to 3 cups daily.

Chitosan, derived from shellfish, to bind to the fat and cholestrol in your food before your body has a chance to absorb it. Chitosan itself cannot be digested, and the body simply eliminates the Chitosan and the fat mass attached to it.

Stop Weight Related Health Issues So how do you protect yourself from weight related problems? Loose weight! The simple fact is, the more overweight you are, the more likely you are to have health problems. Herbal weight loss supplements can help you loose weight while reducing the harmful effects connected with being overweight.

What Is Tea Cupping And Why Is It Important?

2008-04-19T19:08:00.000-07:00

What is Tea Cupping?

Tea cupping is a process of tasting and evaluating the quality of loose leaf tea. Tea cupping is a process that includes a number steps and is a vitally important method because tea quality varies widely. Tea cupping is a combination of art and science that is used by tea lovers throughout the world to maintain tea quality and tea drinking satisfaction.

Even tea from the same shipment, tea garden and processing batch can differ in taste and tea cupping is an ideal way to ensure quality control. In addition, for many tea drinkers, the knowledge that a tea supplier properly cups its tea adds to the tea drinking experience.

The benefits of tea cupping enable the tea drinker to choose the best tea for their taste and wise tea drinkers buy tea from suppliers who cup each and every imported chest of tea.

Sample Steps of Tea Cupping- A Black Tea Example

The term cupping is used to describe the examination and tasting of different teas to determine quality, taste, aroma, briskness, body and color.

Cupping similar teas and comparing them against each other enables one to determine best value when making a purchase. Cupping a tea by itself will help you understand the characteristics of that particular tea.

Professional tasters use similar methods in cupping teas. Consistency is the most important part of cupping. If one begins to develop a certain way of cupping teas, it is important to maintain that method for all teas.

Before the tea is tasted however, a physical inspection of the leaves is performed and attention to the bouquet of the sample is also part of the process. In essence, proper cupping is based upon an understanding of the total presentation of the tea leaf.

Appearance and Smell of the Dried Leaf

First, examine the dried leaf. Black tea for example, should be dark (blackish-brown) and well twisted, which indicates good withering. An open, flat leaf infuses quickly; a closely twisted leaf takes longer to infuse and will give a better second cup. In general, the leaf should be small, hard, well rolled, and uniform in appearance.

The dry leaves can be squeezed to test the resilience of the leaf, which is an indication of young tea. This method of judging the quality of tea is only used for black teas. The appearance and smell of the dried leaf are not determining factors of quality in green and oolong teas.

Following the preliminary cupping steps, the tea is ready for the tasting part of the process. This involves steeping the tea.

Generally speaking, the same care involved with the examination of the unsteeped tea leaves must be maintained during the steeping process.

Pure Water is Required

Purified, oxygenated water is best when preparing your tea for tasting. Use water that has all minerals and other contaminants removed and oxygen added to ensure a fresh clean taste. Remove contaminants because even fresh, clean water contains minerals that affect the taste of tea.. Fill a tea kettle with water and bring to a boil.

Use the Proper Amount of Tea

Tea is measured per cup by weight not volume. Depending on the size of the tea and the extent the tea is processed teas of equal weight may vary in their volumes. To prepare your tea for cupping, pour two grams (approximately the same weight as a U.S. dime) into a six to eight ounce cup and pour the fresh boiling water directly onto the leaves.

Observe Steeping Time Limits ? Don''t Over Steep

The steeping process which releases the flavor from the tea leaves has a certain time limit. After five minutes of steeping, the acids in the leaf begin to steep into the cup creating a bitter taste.

Next, examine a weak infusion of tea. If black or oolong tea has not been fermented long enough, the infusion will be conspicuously bright in color and the leaf will have a green tint. A dark green infusion indicates insufficient withering and over-fermentation.

An infused tea with a green-yellow tint indicates pungency and a rich golden leaf signifies quality; a reddish leaf indicates full rich liquor, while a dark leaf will produce a low-grade common tea.

Perfect black tea will be full, rich, and thick looking in the cup, rich in color with a bright, sparkling appearance immediately after pouring. Oolong teas will turn cloudy or "cream down" as the tea cools.

A green tea that has a clear green-yellow of green-golden color in a weak infusion is a young, early picked leaf. A dull, lifeless dark yellow color denotes old or low-grade tea. The lighter the liquor, the younger the leaf and the better the tea is. Smell the weak infusion to get some indication of the character of the tea and to detect possible burning during firing.

Please note that some teas require a longer steeping time (seven minutes for Oolongs) and some teas require a shorter steeping time (three to four minutes for green teas and Darjeelings). At the end of the prescribed time, pour off the tea from the leaves to halt the steeping.

Specific Requirements for Different Types of Tea

As with any rule, there are exceptions. The instructions listed above will be used for nearly every black tea you taste. However, some teas require a different process to bring out the true flavor of the leaf.

Green and White Teas: Green and white teas do not require you to fully boil the water. Pour the water from the kettle just before the water comes to a rolling boil (175° to 185° F). Also these teas usually take less time to steep. Three to four minutes is sufficient.

Oolong Teas: Finer oolongs have a very large, unbroken leaf. As a result, they usually need more time in the hot water to fully release the flavonols or catechins, which give the tea its flavor.

One of the great things about tea is its ability to be something different to every one who tries it.

These suggestions for cupping teas are broad guidelines... No one way will ever be considered the only way to taste and cup teas. Experiment, with other types of teas with different amounts and different steeping times. The most important part of cupping teas is consistency. If there is one thing that is certain, it is that teas will change flavor when you change the brewing method and times.

Flavor Characteristics of the Drinking Infusion

The final step is to taste the flavor of the tea infusion. Cupped tea is described in three main ways. The first is the briskness, the second is the body, and the third is the aroma.

Briskness: Does your mouth pucker?
Body: Does the tea fill your mouth?
Aroma: Does the tea have a robust aroma?

Answering these questions will give an indication of the quality of the tea.

After cupping a number of tea samples you will learn a great deal about tea and tea quality. Cupping is an ongoing process that pays dividends if you enjoy high quality tea.

Always try to purchase tea from a supplier that cups every shipment of tea. Thos will ensure that you receive the highest quality product with the greatest amount of tea enjoyment.

Chinese Medicine For Weight Loss

2008-04-18T08:31:00.000-07:00

Weight problems are never categorized as a major health concern in Chinese medicine Chinese people rarely get fat or obese

Weight problems are never categorized as a major health concern in Chinese medicine. Chinese people rarely get fat or obese. But nevertheless, obesity is still one problem addressed by traditional Chinese medicine.

The weight gain problem is more apparent with the Western race. And if weight loss were to be tackled in the light of Chinese medicine, you''d see that there are a quite a number of ways to treat it. These medicines are normally over-the-counter medications that consist of natural herbs and decoctions.

To initiate weight loss with the use of Chinese medicine, pattern discrimination is the first step. In here, the person''s metabolism is analyzed through the bian zheng lun zhi process. This technique is effective and has a long-term effect. Once the actual reason why a person''s metabolism is slow gets determined, then the necessary treatment procedure would be carried out. And these procedures are moxibustion, acupuncture, and diet modifications through the aid of natural herbs.

In traditional Chinese medicine, weight problems are focused on the spleen. This is because of the fact that the spleen directly controls the flesh and the muscles, including the transformation of the body''s water fluids. The spleen is also the reason of the engenderment of phlegm. Once the spleen gets damaged because of eating too much fatty and sweet food the person gets fat. At that condition, the spleen won''t be able to function and move water fluids all over the body and transform them into nutrients along the way.

Water fluids that aren''t processed accordingly collect and gather in the different parts of the body. These are what transform into fatty, bulgy deposits in the waist, arms, legs, and other parts of the body.

In Chinese medicine, the primary treatment for obesity is also exercise. So there''s really no going around it. If you want to lose weight, you have to start eating less and exercising more. Western or Chinese medicine, it is all the same. The only difference between the two techniques is the use of Chinese herbs and the most common Chinese method of healing, acupuncture.

The herbs used for losing weight are Shan Za, Zhi Ke, Sheng Jiang, Zi Su Ye, Huoxiang, Chenpi, and Laifuzi, among many others. Most of the time, these herbs are mixed in special proportions and are taken in two to three times in a day. These herbs are normally sold in capsules for easy administration.

Here are some examples:

Diet With Bo Jen Mi Tea

Yes, you can curb your eating pleasures with the use of this tea. Just take Bo Jen Mi tea for a month. You will surely lose substantial weight along the way. This diet tea is composed of half tea and half herbs. Take two to three cups per day, preferably before every meal. That should keep your diet on the sound side.

Herbal Diet with Wu Wei Zi

Wu Wei Zi is the food or herb that is considered as a complete meal as far as Chinese medicine is concerned. It is a prized food product because it contains all the five tastes of the Chinese diet. Basically, if you eat this herb, your body has all the nutrition it needs. And so, you need not eat more. Fructus Schizandrae or Schizandra is the pharmaceutical name of Wu Wei Zi.

Go on a Diet with He Ye and Fu Ling

These herbs are two of the best ones to counter the effects of gaining weight. These herbs, when taken orally, mixed with food, or drank as a tea, can produce impressive effects on an obese person. The other herbs that can be mixed with these two are Huang Qi, Zi Cie, and Da Huang, among others. Chinese medicine also recommends cucumber as the best food item for dieters.

However, there are also diet powders that can help initiate weight loss. These diet powders contain Ji Geng, Qiang Huo, Chai Hu, Shu Di Huang, Sheng Ma. To use it, the powder should be dissolved in a tablespoon of warm water and taken half an hour before mealtime.

The author is the owner of The Chinese Herbal Remedies Guide. For more information about Chinese medicine for Weight Loss visit the website.

Drinking Tea

2008-04-17T12:46:00.001-07:00

The second most consumed beverage behind water is tea. Interestingly enough the 3,200,000 tones of tea produced worldwide come from only one plant species, named "camellia sinensis." But how a plant becomes a beverage? Tea is made by steeping processed leaves, buds, or twigs of the tea bush in hot water for a few minutes, a great variety of tea tastes, aromas and colors can excite even the more skeptical drinker. If you do like tea drinking, but simply never had the opportunity to learn more about it beyond the fact that you enjoy it, you should know that there are thousands of kinds of tea offered on today''s market. Shades in flavor derive from the region of cultivation and the method of processing the tea leaves. It is the processing techniques that produce the four simple tea categories are considered the art of tea making. In its most basic form, processing is the taking of the raw green leaves and deciding whether or not, and how much oxidation (or fermentation) should take place before drying them out. Oxidation is the reaction of the enzymes contained in tea leaves when they are broken, bruised or crushed.

The first category is that of black tea. Black tea is nothing more than the leaves of the camellia sinensis after being exposed to 8-24 hours of open air. After the leaves are picked up they are spread out to let the water they contain evaporate. You have probably witnessed it happening to a flower that is left without being watered. The foliage curls up and begins to dry. After this part of the process, the tea leaves are balled into rolls that encourage oxidization. When fully oxidized, the leaves turn into a rich black color. Tea producers then put the tea leaves into the final drying period before sorting and packaging them.

Oolong tea is another tea category and is considered to be the most difficult of the four types of teas to process. The best way to describe oolong tea is that it is somewhere in between green and black tea. This is because the leaves are only partially oxidized during the processing. As with black tea, the leaves are spread out to dry for 8-24 hours, but after that, they are tossed about in a basket in order to create a bruising and partial exposure to the air. The final step involves steaming the leaves, which neutralizes the enzymes in the tea and prevents further oxidization.

Green teas, like white teas, are closer to tasting like fresh leaves of grass that the other two tea categories. This type of tea is also lower in caffeine and has higher antioxidant properties. The whole process of creating green tea revolves around preventing oxidization from taking place in the leaves. Though the tea leaves are sometimes laid out to dry for a few hours, then, in order to neutralize the enzymes and prevent further oxidation, the leaves are steamed or pan fried. It is this very technique which results in the preservation of the enzymes which have recently become the focus of medical research. After steaming, the leaves are rolled up, still quite green in color.

Finally, white tea has recently become a popular item in the west as it is the least processed tea and thus tastes the most like fresh leaves or grass. White tea is made of the little buds of the tea plant. Again like green tea, white tea is steamed or pan fried to prevent any kind of oxidization, and great care is taken to avoid bruising or crushing the tea. The dried buds have a silver-like appearance because the tiny white hairs of new growth are still present.

Recent Tea Travels: Intro To Chinese Tea

2008-04-16T13:01:00.000-07:00

The 8th International Tea Culture Seminar and the First Mengding Mountain International Tea Culture Festival took place in Ya'an in September 2004. My attendance was hosted by Dr. Lee Chaogui, general manager of the Sichuan Ya'an Tea factory, who owns beautiful tea gardens, a lovely four-star hotel in Ya'an, and is currently building a tea research plant within his company. The other guests were tea buyers from Russia and Tchetchenia.

The teas introduced in Ya'an were:

Mengding Sweet Dew: A special green tea with beautiful, straight, and dark green leaves that give an intensely colored green infusion with a very aromatic flowery flavor. The total output of this tea in this area was reported to be 60.000-tons. The original seven tea bushes were planted by farmer Wu Lizhen in 53 BC, and for more than 1,000 years these teas were reserved as a tribute to the reigning families.

Dark Teas: Ever since the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD), this tea has been grown and processed for export to Tibet. In former times, it was carried to Tibet by tea horse caravans, with each horse carrying a load of approximately 200-kg of compressed tea bricks. The "Tea Horse Road" leads out of Ya'an, via Kangding, Batang, Markam and into Lhasa, covering a distance of about 1,000-km and crossing high mountain passes.

In Dr. Lee's "Rainvalley Tea Garden" this type of Tibetan tea is picked twice a year--in Spring and Autumn--with a stated yield of 860-tons per year.

They tell me that they use mature leaves, since there are no buds in their way of growing. They steam the green tea and leave it to ferment naturally, which allows certain moulds to grow, namely aspergillus and penicillium. This very special (and secretive) enzymatic development makes this tea a precious and necessary element for the Tibetan people's diet. Because of this very special fermentation, this annual tea crop supply is considered a medical treatment. Tibetans will not go without it for more than a day. They believe it helps to digest the protein in their rich diet to lower blood pressure. Also, it makes your skin smooth and healthy, and can even replace fruits and vegetables, supplying necessary vitamins.

The Two Main Products: Kangzhuan and Jinjian

Kangzhuan is the premium quality, also considered the Good Health Bricks. Jinjian is made from a material that is more mature known as the Golden Tips due to the coarser texture and varied amount of twigs. Each of them has two quality grades, while the better ones are mainly for the temples and the important festivals.

In order to remain in good health, Tibetans understand that one has to consume at least 3.5-kg of tea per year, which is why most households always have a kettle on the stove, with some salt in a cup. On special occasions, people add some yak butter and grilled barley flour to make Tsampa. I was given a taste and was expecting to find it awful, but found it to be a surprisingly refreshing and tasty beverage.

In order to represent the current knowledge about these famous dark teas, director Luo Shaojun and her daughter, Dr. Lu Yi. have recently published a book entitled All about Dark Tea (Saiwaishobo, Tokyo, 2004). where they investigate the history, the processing and its reported effects on health.

Sichuan is credited to be the mare production area of trade with the people of Tibet. Mongolia and the Uyghur of Northwestern China. In order to make this product available to non-Tibetans, the company markets boxes with compressed dark tea "pills," which are properly sized (approximately 4-g) to take with one big teaglass. These can also infuse several times While some are just tea. others include shaddock flowers. Eucommia bark, chrysanthemum flowers and mulberry leaves, which are all traditional Chinese. healthy herbs The packaging is very attractive and makes for a lovely gift.

Another item worth mentioning is their innovative and original method of using tea bricks as a wall material. In Dr. Let's hotel there is a special, secluded place where the walls are fully lined with tea bricks, which have been in place for over 20 years. This provides a soothing smell, keeps out the noise and generates very beneficial vibrations for the people in the room. I was told that Dr. Lee' s patent for tea bricks received the first class award of National Award of Science and Technology Advancement in Spring 2005.

Another local feature is the very special way of serving the tea: in copper kettles with very long spouts (80-100-cm). While taking the most stunning postures, the tea is poured over their shoulder, after a pirouette, kneeling down, or holding the kettle above your head. It requires a lot of training to carry out such a "tea serving taichi--danse", and the performers are received well in demonstrations outside Sichuan.

Visiting Wuyi Shan (Fujian)

Upon our arrival, during the coldest winter in over twenty years, we were picked up by Mr. Zu Gengrong, the manager of the Fujian Wuyi Shan Tea Leaves Company. He took us to see the famous "RockTeas", where Oolong teas grow in a beautiful, scenic environment.

The four most famous varieties of these are "Da Hong Pao" (big red cape), "Bai Ji Guan" (white hen claw), "Suei Qing Gui" (water turtle), and "Tie Luohan" (iron Arhat). The history of these teas goes back several centuries, from when the wild tea bushes were spreading into the deep, humid rock gorges, along the Nine-Twist River. There, they pick only once a year and output approximately 2,000-kg per year. An important protected origin denomination applies distinguishing between "Ming Yan", the pure rock tea growing in this limited scenic area (approximately 500-kg per year) and the "Dan Fan", a more common, lower grade, located outside the scenic area.

The factory was inaugurated in 1938, covering an area of more than 330-ha, including the tea gardens. The company, which is state owned, employs about 1,700 people. The workers are all properly allocated nearby.

While visiting the factory, we were shown the former equipment, from the 1950's, that was ingeniously made of wood--since after the "revolution" no metal was available.

We also saw the tea garden of the Wuyishan Tea Research Institute (TRI), with more than 20 varieties of rock teas growing in rows. We were then asked to attend a performance at the Imperial Tea House. This area is the most beautiful environment that I have visited within my past five tea-related trips!

Lapsang Country

En route to the Lapsang Country, we bounced along and jumped in the car, as the road was partly under construction. At one point, the road became very muddy because of the snow. We entered the protected zone of Wuyi Shan Mountain Park (56,000-ha), where there had been some movement from a giant volcanic earth crust millions of years ago.

The tea bushes growing all over the slopes are mostly wild and picked only once a year. The output is reported to be about 250-kg/ha. It is organic and pesticide free. A big share of the tea is exported to Japan and U.K., just to name a few. The area has a German Bio Certification (BCS). They also have ISO 9001, CIQ--HACCP and of course other protected origin denomination certificates.

After the withering, rolling and fermentation process, the tea leaves are dried on the first floor of their 30 factory sheds, on huge bamboo mats while they are heated by firing stoves over pine fires, which gives them their tarry, smoky taste.

Besides experiencing the overall development, we also had several tasting sessions in the factory that warmed us up. My personal preference goes very much towards the fragrant green and oolong teas. Tasting these teas, fresh from the last crop, with the lovely clear water from the factory office was an enhancing experience--despite the fact that we were wearing coats, shawls and bonnets.

Tea Houses

There is an important revival of such establishments, which can usually accommodate several hundred people. You meet there with family and friends, and can spend the whole day for the price of a cup or pot of tea. These teas on the "card" are mostly of premium quality and can be really expensive, while the snacks and savouries are free, i.e. included in the price. Former chairman, Mao Zedong, had decided to eradicate these locations, which were considered places of idleness and luxury. However, some have remained untouched and others have been restored to their original purpose and function.

Using Tea To Reduce Cholesterol

2008-04-16T12:56:00.000-07:00

High cholesterol is a health concern for many Americans. High levels of LDL cholesterol are a leading contributor to heart disease. LDL cholesterol is what contributes to clogged arteries. Arteries become clogged and narrowed when LDL cholesterol circulating in the blood becomes oxidizes and hardens into plaque. The more LDL cholesterol you have circulating in your blood, the more plaque you''ll develop.

A second type of cholesterol, known as HDL cholesterol is what we refer to as "good cholesterol". This form of cholesterol carries away LDL cholesterol to the liver, where it can pass out of the body. This is why we should have high levels of HDL cholesterol. However, when our levels of LDL cholesterol are high, our HDL levels are typically low.

If you''re trying to lower your LDL cholesterol levels and raise your HDL cholesterol levels there are several things you can do.

The first is watching your diet. Avoiding foods high in saturated fat and cholesterol like butter, eggs and red meat can help you lower those LDL cholesterol levels. In addition, you can help raise your HDL levels by replacing those saturated fats in your diet with healthy fats like olive oil, canola oil, avocados and nuts. These fats raise our HDL levels and keep us healthy.

Secondly, to reduce LDL cholesterol levels, it''s important to exercise. Walking is a great way to help reduce your cholesterol levels, and it will help lower your blood pressure, as well.

If you''re overweight, losing weight will help you reduce cholesterol levels, as well. Making the dietary changes mentioned above and beginning to exercise should make dropping a few pounds easier. If you''re a smoker, you should stop. Smoking significantly increases your risk for heart disease.

Your cholesterol level is also affected by your heredity. Some people are prone to high cholesterol even if they exercise regularly and eat a healthy diet. If you fall into this category, you may require medication in addition to lifestyle changes in order to get your cholesterol under control.

Another way to help reduce LDL cholesterol levels is to drink tea. Wu Yi Tea has been shown in many studies to help prevent LDL cholesterol from oxidizing and turning into plaque. These studies have suggested that even if your LDL cholesterol level is high, drinking tea may prevent it from causing a problem.

However, it appears that drinking tea may actually have the power to lower your blood cholesterol levels, too. A study conducted by the University of Hong Kong studied various types of Chinese tea and their effect on cholesterol in rats. The rats were all fed a high cholesterol diet for a week before beginning the study. Then, the rats were divided into several groups. Each group was fed a different type of tea while continuing the high cholesterol diet for another eight weeks. A control group of rats received water instead of the tea.

The types of tea used for evaluation including Jasmine, Iron Buddha, Pu-erh, Black Tea (Wu Yi Tea and green tea. The reason that multiple types of tea were used was to evaluate whether fermented teas are as effective at reducing cholesterol as those that are not fermented. Wu Yi Tea is completely unfermented, Jasmine tea is mildly fermented, and Wu Yi Tea and Iron Buddha are semi-fermented. Pu-erh is a fully fermented tea.

In addition to measuring the cholesterol levels in the mice participating in the study, the weight and fattiness of the liver was also measured.

This study concluded that the teas that had been minimally fermented (Jasmine and green tea) had a significant effect on both the serum and liver levels of cholesterol. In addition, these teas reduced the weight and fat of the liver. These teas were able to significantly lower the cholesterol levels, while the fermented teas and the water did not. The levels of triglycerides and HDL cholesterol were not significantly different among the groups.

So, it appears that green tea may be a powerful way to help reduce your cholesterol level, particularly when combined with a healthy diet and exercise. If you combine the results of this study with those of past studies, you can come to the conclusion that consuming tea, particularly green tea may be able to help reduce the actual level of LDL cholesterol circulating in your blood and may also be able to prevent the cholesterol that is there from oxidizing and turning into plaque.

If you''re struggling to get your cholesterol level under control, green tea is definitely worth a try. It has no side effects, and is well tolerated by nearly everyone ? even those who are sensitive to caffeine. And, in addition to helping you lower your cholesterol, green tea may have other added benefits.

Green tea may be able to help you lose weight and may prevent heart disease, diabetes and cancer. Wu Yi Tea just might be the one supplement to your diet that can help with many of the health problems plaguing Americans today.

Da Hong Pao

2008-04-15T18:36:00.000-07:00

Dà Hóng Páo (大红袍) is a very important Wuyi Oolong tea. Legend has it that the mother of a Tang Dynasty emperor was cured of an illness by a certain tea, and that emperor sent great red robes to clothe the four bushes from which that tea originated. These original bushes, growing on a rock on Mount Wuyi, still survive today and are highly venerated. Less than one kilogram of tea is harvested from these plants each year. This original and real Da Hong Pao can fetch millions of dollars per kilogram^[1]. Cuttings taken from the original plants have been used to produce similar grades of tea from genetically identical plants. Taste variations produced by processing, differences in the soil, and location of these later generation plants is used to grade the quality of various Da Hong Pao teas.

Xiao Hong Pao, or Small Red Robe refers to Da Hong Pao grown from third or more generation plants but the term is rarely used.

As it's of very high quality, the Da Hong Pao is usually reserved for honorable guests.

One Step Closer To Losing Weight

2008-04-14T09:13:00.000-07:00

Weight management programs should not be something that you plan, strictly follow, and end up feeling bad when you don’t keep up to it, it cannot be effective if this is your outlook. Healthy habits should be flexible and you should be comfortable with the plan to follow it with confidence.

This way the habits will work for you and not against you. Mechanically following weight loss tips are not going to help you in any way.We often follow diets for a few months, get happy with the weight loss, and go back to the old ways. Diets are widely seen as a short term orientation. It becomes a cycle after sometime -- go on a diet, reduce weight, be happy and eat well, put on weight and again get back to dieting. Instead of the tail chase, you should understand that inculcating healthy eating habits as a part of your lifestyle is more realistic then going on diets on and off.

It is necessary that you integrate and re-orient shot term diets in an extended lifestyle plan in a more realistic manner. Reducing weight slowly is not only safe and effective, but it is also the most realistic way. Short term goal setting is not too successful in this cause. Most people when they set short time goals and achieve it they revert back to the old lifestyle. This way you will only end up gaining more weight. If they don’t achieve it, they quit altogether. Instead plan out a long term goal, split it into short term goals, and take it one day at a time. If you splurge on a good meal, it’s alright. Make it up by eating low fat food for the rest of the day.

Take it one at a time and this will make it easier to achieve what you really want. This will also make you motivated to succeed in following a health conscious way of living which is the key to a fit and a healthily toned body. Remember that each time you achieve your short term goal; you are gaining on the bigger picture. Experiment cooking your favorite food in a healthy way, eat not just healthy but also tasty food. This will make your goal even easier to achieve. For example if you love pizzas, look up for a less fattening technique of preparation and follow that.

You will feel great if it works out. You can do this to all your favorite dishes and be overwhelmed at the results. Think up of new and interesting alternatives for all your high fat ingredients, so that you don’t compromise on the taste to stay healthy. This too will perk up your motivation.Success is what you are ultimately looking at. Remember that taking small steps toward it day by day, will bring you closer to it in no time. Your weight will reduce naturally in a short period of time and you will experience the change.