Month: November 2015

The Chinese have known about medicinal green tea benefits since ancient times, using it to treat everything from headaches to depression.

I was so impressed when I started researching the benefits of Green tea that I started a Chinese Green Tea website.

Green Tea Benefits

In fact, Chinese Green tea benefits have been researched and linked to helping all of the following conditions.

green tea benefits

• Rheumatoid arthritis
• High cholesterol levels
• Cardiovascular disease
• Infection
• Impaired immune function
• Cognition
• Stopping certain neurodegenerative illnesses such as Alzheimers
• Treating Arthritis
• Treating MS

Preventing Lowered T-Cells Due To HIV

In lab tests, EGCG, found in green tea, was found to prevent HIV from attacking T-Cells.

Scientists in Japan have found a component of green tea can stop HIV from binding to healthy immune cells, which is how the virus spreads.

Their laboratory tests suggest a chemical called Epigallocatechin Gallate (EGCG) protects cells.

Writing in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, the scientists said the discovery could lead to new treatments to fight the disease. Although it is not known if this has any effect on humans yet.

Green Tea Benefits – Cancer

For example, in 1994 the Journal of the National Cancer Institute published the results of an epidemiological study indicating that drinking green tea reduced the risk of esophageal cancer in Chinese men and women by nearly sixty percent.

University of Purdue researchers recently concluded that a compound in green tea inhibits the growth of cancer cells.

In fact, they said many laboratory studies have demonstrated inhibitory effects of tea preparations and tea polyphenols against tumor formation and growth.

This inhibitory activity is believed to be mainly due to the antioxidative and possible antiproliferative effects of polyphenolic compounds in green and black tea.

Green Tea Benefits – Weight Loss

New evidence is emerging that green tea benefits can even help dieters.

In November 1999, the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition published the results of a study at the University of Geneva in Switzerland.

Researchers found that men who were given a combination of caffeine and green tea extract burned more calories than those given only caffeine or a placebo.

Green Tea Increases fat oxidation (helps the body use fat as an energy source) and raises metabolism. These are two things that are predictive of loss.

Green Tea Benefits – Teeth and Skin

Meanwhile, skin preparations containing green tea benefits are shown everywhere – from deodorants to creams – are starting to appear on the market.

Scientists have even discovered that applying green tea to the skin can help cure and prevent some forms of skin cancer and other skin disorders, protect the skin from long- and short-term damage from the sun’s ultraviolet rays, and act as an antibacterial agent when applied to skin infections.

Many of the broad health benefits of green tea are derived from its rich supply of plant nutraceuticals called polyphenols, of which epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) is the most powerful.

A respite for parents of children consuming too many chocolates has reason to cheer up. The consumption of green tea has been linked to reduced incidence of tooth decay.

How Does Green Tea Work?

The secret of green tea benefits lies in the fact it is rich in catechin polyphenols, particularly epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG). EGCG is a powerful anti-oxidant: besides inhibiting the growth of cancer cells, it kills cancer cells without harming healthy tissue.

The reason Green tea White Tea have more polyphenol antioxidants than other teas is because of the way they are processed.

Preventing the degradation of cell membranes by neutralizing the spread of free radicals (which occurs during the process of oxidation).

The health benefits of these teas are derived from the light processing of the leaves which maintain the ingredients like Catechin that research is now demonstrating to be beneficial.

White Green tea are often steamed or pan fired rather than being semi-fermented (oolong) or fermented (black tea). Fermentation leaches out some of these beneficial ingredients in the same way that frying food tends to reduce nutrient value that steaming does not.

It should be no surprise that steamed green tea also maintains more of its polyphenol antioxidant profile than pan-fired green tea as well.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has rejected claims of green tea health benefits.

“There is no credible scientific evidence that drinking green tea reduces the risk of heart disease”.
“FDA concludes there is no credible evidence to support qualified health claims for green tea or green tea extract and a reduction of a number of risk factors associated with CVD” (cardiovascular disease).
The FDA previously has said that green tea likely does not reduce breast, prostate or any other type of cancer risk.

In spite of the FDA’s claims, Green Tea’s medicinal benefits have been described for over 1000 years.

The Kissa Yojoki, or Book of Tea written by Zen priest Eisai in 1191, describes how drinking green tea can have a positive effect on the five vital organs, especially the heart.

The book discusses tea’s medicinal qualities which include easing the effects of alcohol, acting as a stimulant, curing blotchiness, quenching thirst, eliminating indigestion, curing beriberi disease, preventing fatigue, and improving urinary and brain function.

Part One also explains the shapes of tea plants, tea flowers and tea leaves and covers how to grow tea plants and process tea leaves.

In Part Two, the book discusses the specific dosage and method required for individual physical ailments. Objectively speaking, skepticism of green tea’s medical benefits would not be the first time an ancient medical remedy practiced successfully in Asia was initially called into question by the Western Medical establishment.

Health Risks of Green Tea

To date, the only negative side effect reported from drinking green tea is insomnia due to the fact that it contains caffeine.

However, green tea contains less caffeine than coffee: there are approximately thirty to sixty mg. of caffeine in six – eight ounces of tea, compared to over one-hundred mg. in eight ounces of coffee.

Avoid drinking green tea or at least talk to your doctor before taking green tea if you have:

• Heart problems
• High blood pressure
• Kidney disease
• Hyperthyroidism
• Nervous disorder

You can see that there is a lot of anecdotal research on this. What is your personal experience with green tea? Do you believe in green tea benefits?

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Stretching in the morning for many people, exercising the first thing in the morning is convenient. It may or may not be the most welcome time, but it is convenient.

Some people are morning people like me, ready to dash out into daily living with oomph. Many more people are very slow getting going in the morning and need a few minutes to really wake up.

Nothing can or should be done about the way we wake up.

The thought of indulging in a few exercises upon awaking is enough to discourage almost anyone. But try them a few times and perhaps you will see a difference. stretching exercises can be a fantastic way to start the morning

Why Stretch In The Morning?

When we sleep and, therefore, let our muscles sleep, blood tends to collect in the internal organs, or “splanchnic circulation.” Very little blood is needed in the muscles, or “peripheral circulation.”

If after waking up there is no noticeable muscular activity, blood very slowly leaves the splanchnic pool, resulting in sluggish circulation to the brain and muscles. The person wakes up groggy, listless, and without energy.

However, three to four minutes of easy exercises, stretching in the morning,  while in bed can redistribute the blood, clear away the cobwebs, and bring back over-all tone. Energy comes surging in and the person feels as alert and as full of energy as he might normally experience only well into midday.

How to stretch in the morning

1. Stretch hard 5 times, maintaining “stretch” for 3 seconds and relaxing for 2 seconds

2. With elbows tucked in beside body and legs together, arch back 3 times

3. Tense all leg muscles hard and relax. Do this 12 times

4. Do 2 sit-ups touching your toes.

5. Raise bent legs over your head and touch ears with knees 3 times

6. With palms pressing each other, hands close to the front of chest, push hard to one side and then the other, resisting with the other arm. Do this 10 times.

7. With fingers flexed, grasp hands and pull apart, first to one side and then the other. Do 10 times.

8. Place hands on the abdomen and push vigorously while resisting by tensing abdominal muscles. Do this for 3 seconds and then relax for 2 seconds. Repeat 10 times.

Time required for these stretching in the morning exercises, once you get the hang of them, should only be two to three minutes.

When you really become proficient and can breeze through this series in less time, then do it twice. At most, five minutes is sufficient to get you started in the morning.

No Hard Stretching Before A Warm Up

Flexibility exercises, as with all other workouts, should not be attempted when you are “cold.” Warm up for a few minutes. If you are doing morning exercises when you wake up, do flexibility exercises first, but start them gradually. You have three goals:

1. To increase range
2. To increase forcefulness
3. To increase speed of motion

So start stretching in the morning slowly, take it easy, and do not work against the clock. As mentioned earlier, one month should be devoted entirely to flexibility exercises. During the second and third months, progressive resistance can be added but keep up the flexibility exercises, too. Over time, and a very short amount of time at that, you will find that your flexibility and core strength have increased significantly.

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One overlooked muscle group is the triceps so I thought I would write a bit on the best triceps exercises. The triceps muscles are the muscles at the top of the back of your arm and are called triceps as they are muscles that have three heads.

There are many ways that you use your triceps  but most of all it is important to remember that even though everyone is working their biceps to have big arms in actual fact your triceps will make your arms bigger a lot fast than working your biceps do. So it is important to do the correct and best triceps exercises to make the most of all three heads of your triceps.

Here are the Three Best Triceps Exercises

Best Triceps Exercises

Triceps kickbacks – This exercise is fantastic, I think it is one of  the best triceps exercises and is done by keeping your body parallel to a bench with your hand and knee resting on the bench.

In this position with your free arm bring your elbow up to your side and then bring your arm up straight.

This exercise is the opposite of a bicep curl and at the top you will have a great peak contraction of your triceps.

Triceps pushdowns – You need a gym to do this exercise. All you do is pull the bar of the machine down to your sides and you will feel the contraction when your arms reach the bottom. When doing this exercise try to tighten at the bottom of the rep and you will get a great burn.

Close grip bench press – this is just like a regular bench press except you are keeping your hands less than shoulder height apart. As you let the down keep your elbows into your body and you will be able to feel the push up as being very difficult.

Out of all of these tricep exercises, I believe that the triceps kickbacks are the best.

When doing triceps exercises try to make sure that you do not work triceps more than twice a week as the triceps are used a lot in doing chest and shoulder exercises as well and can be easily overtrained.

Each set for triceps should be about 6-10 reps and actually my method of doing triceps is to just do two sets of each exercise and each of these sets is to failure.

Many compound exercises also work your triceps. A couple of examples of exercises that also work your triceps are the bench presses and military presses.

Triceps can be worked twice a week with a couple of days between workouts and you should do about 4-6 good heavy sets total between these exercises to work your triceps well.

So are these the best triceps exercises to you or are there others that you like better?

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