The Health Benefits of Tea | Midwest PRS: Hand & Plastic Surgery

Tea has a long and illustrious history. Still today, it is the most popular drink in the world (other than water!), and it has been the drink of emperors, monks, philosophers, and even regular old guys who want an afternoon ?pick me up.?

Even today, there is a high art involved in the cultivating and processing of tea leaves. And that doesn?t even begin to note the intricate ritual that is involved in preparing and savoring this drink. And of course, I could write several blog posts about the different types of tea and their subtleties and flavor.

Indeed, I could write volumes and volumes about all aspects of tea, but suffice it to say that it is one of those products of the Neolithic age which I think has been generally beneficial to humanity, and it also has many health benefits which make it an ideal drink to include in a low carbohydrate diet (even though it is so not Paleo?sorry?).

One of the main reasons that I like to drink tea is simply because of the taste. Whether it?s black, green, white, or herbal tea, I like the taste of tea and it definitely helped me do two things in terms of a low carbohydrate diet: (a) serve as a very healthy substitute and replacement probably diet sodas that I had been drinking (b) help curb my hunger pangs that would usually lead me to binge on sweet things and thereby, act as a very good ?snack.?

Tea, as I have noted, is very healthy on many levels. Tea is an excellent source of antioxidants which help you fight all sorts of things from cancer to Alzheimer?s dementia, and in fact, tea contains more antioxidants than most fruits and vegetables. Of course, I?m speculating here, but if you think about the general health and fitness of the people who live in the Himalayas/Tibet, I suspect that a lot of it has to do with consumption of tea.

As many of you know, I became a huge fan of Dave Asprey?s method of putting butter in my coffee. I had a chance to speak with Dave and he told me that making coffee this way was something that he was inspired to do after spending time with Tibetan monks and watching them drink tea with butter basically all day long.

As you can imagine, there aren?t a lot of fruits and vegetables up there past the tree line of the Himalayas. It?s a tough life at best, but those who live there seem to do pretty well a diet of dairy and tea ? a pretty damned Neolithic diet if there ever was one. In any case my point is, tea has a ton of antioxidants ? a lot more than you even suspect ? and so I think it?s a good idea to include it in your diet.

But tea has many other benefits as well. It?s a stimulant just like coffee, but in addition to having a caffeine like stimulant, tea also contains a substance called L-theanine, which seems to work in combination with caffeine to provide a more prolonged and steady level of alertness rather than the caffeine ?boost and drop? that is typically associated with coffee consumption.

In fact, Buddhist monks use it as an aid to meditation, and they?ve been doing it for a long time. There?s an old Japanese myth about the origins of tea and its power to keep people alert that goes like this:

Bodhidharma was a Buddhist monk who was responsible for bringing Buddhism from his native India to China and eventually to Japan.

The story goes that Bodhidharma had taken a vow to spend nine years staring at a wall in constant meditation. Five years into his meditation he experienced extreme tiredness.?One day he fell asleep during meditation. Angry on his failure he cut off his eyelids and threw them to the ground. The story goes on that where?Bodhidharma?s eyelids landed, the first tea plant grew. Committed never to fail again after this incident and thanks to the tea plant extract he had successfully completed the meditation.

Therefore, tea has long been an important part in Japanese Buddhism and drinking tea is an aid in staying awake and alert during lengthy meditations.?

And apparently, you won?t have difficulty falling asleep after having tea, as L-theanine has been shown to have positive effects in regards to sleep. Likewise, people who drink tea regularly have been shown to have lower cortisol levels than those who do not. In fact, a study was done at University College London which compared people who drink tea with those who drank a fake tea substitute, and those who are drink the tea had lower cortisol levels than those who drank the fake tea substitute.

There also fat burning qualities in tea, particularly green tea, which has a substance in it called EGCG, which is reported to help burn fat, in addition to having a ton of antioxidants. I personally love the taste of green tea. It has that nice earthy flavor that is very rich and satisfying.

Tea also has natural antibiotic and antiseptic properties. Of course, you boil water so you can steep the tea, and boiling it will kill a lot of bacteria, but tea itself kills a lot of bad bugs, and has been a remedy for stomach ailments for a long time. Tea might also be beneficial to promoting a healthy gut biota as well by killing off so-called bad bugs, and allowing the growth of good ones.

But my favorite tea is Earl Grey, which has a very distinct flavor that comes from a type of citrus fruit called bergamot. Bergamot in itself is one of those great antioxidant citrus fruits with a ton of good stuff in it that is good for your health such as antioxidants, and in particular, substances called melitidin and brutieridin, which are thought to have statin like properties.

Bergamot also has been noted to have a grapefruit like effect, meaning it helps upregulate the cytochrome p450 pathway in your cells, which is an important pathway for detoxification in your body, especially in your liver, where many toxic compounds (including things like alcohol) are neutralized.

Bergamot is highly fragrant is also used in skincare products and fragrances.

But if you want to know the real reason why I drink? Earl Grey, it?s because I am ultimately a big science fiction and comic book geek.

It?s Jean-Luc Picard?s favorite drink too?

Source: http://www.midwestprs.com/the-health-benefits-of-tea

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