Green Tea Health Benefits

I happen to love Green Tea for the taste. I especially like it steaming hot with a nice spoon of rich honey. However, it seems that even if you’re not that into tea as I am, you should definitely drink some every now and then due to the many health benefits Green Tea offers.

Green tea has been a popular drink in Asian regions for thousands of years. What once people simply knew by instinct, research is now proving.

In this article I want to go over a short list of the many benefits of Green Tea. I hope that by the end of it, you’ll rush to get yourself a hot steaming cup of it yourself.

Helps to Fight Cancer

This is probably the biggest reason to drink green tea, especially with such high numbers of cancer patients and deaths in developing countries.

While evidence that Green Tea helps to reduce risk of cancer is  inconclusive as yet, there are various studies (some on human, others on animals) that suggest that it can help to delay spread of cancer and combat abnormal cell growth (learn more here) mostly due to its containing the flavonoids EGCG and EGC.

Rich in Antioxidants

Green Tea is rich in catechins, powerful antioxidant that protect the body against free radicals which are elements that can damage your DNA and contribute to a host of health problems.

In addition, antioxidants help to delay the aging process so you should definitely include them in your day-to-day diet if you wish to maintain a youthful appearance.

Good for the heart and blood vessels

While there are studies that maintain that Green Tea helps to reduce risk of heart disease (read more here) it is still not clear how effective it really is. What is known is that the antioxidants in green tea dilate the blood vessels and reduce the chances of blood vessel clogging.

Green tea to lose weight

While it does seem that green tea can help to boost your metabolism a bit and help you to lose weight faster you should not expect any miracles from it. The real way to shed pounds and to keep them off is to workout regularly and stick to a healthy eating plan such as the Diet Solution Program, for instance.

In addition, you will probably get as much benefit from drinking green tea as you would from most if not all of the green tea supplements and extracts that are sold as weight loss miracle products. I don’t really believe many of these products and I think you should steer clear of most of them. After all, it’s so easy to simply make a cup of tea. Why pay through the nose to get it?

How I like To Drink My Tea

I have 2 – 3 glasses of green tea each day. I like my tea strong so I leave the bag in the steaming water for a long time. I sweeten my tea with raw honey which I consider the best sweetener I know. It gives the entire drink more body and, of course, taste. I know people who mix various kinds of tea in one pot. You can try out various mixes. It’s something that I haven’t tried but probably will someday soon.

In conclusion

Green Tea should be part of your diet as it can contribute to your overall health. However, don’t depend on this beverage to help you shed weight super-fast. Yes, the health benefits of green tea are many and a healthy body is more likely to become a leaner and fitter body as well. However, a complete eating plan and regular workouts are the main things you need to lose weight and tone your body.

Image Credit: Dano