Tea: The Best Green Tea Blends

Copyright � 2007 Jon M. StoutGreen tea is fast becoming one of the hottest ways to look afteryour health. More and more research is surfacing that suggeststhat drinking green tea may be one of the simplest things you cando to live a longer and healthier life.Green tea is special because of the way that it's processed.Though it comes from the same plant as black tea, it is producedin an entirely different way. During processing, black tea isallowed to oxidize, or ferment. Green tea however, is simplydried and then steamed or fired to prevent the oxidation processfrom occurring. It sounds like a simple difference, but it causessome very powerful differences between the two types of tea.The fermentation process that happens to black tea converts thenatural anti-oxidants in tea to other compounds. So, while blacktea is a healthy beverage, it is not as healthy as green tea,whose anti-oxidants are left in their natural state. In fact,green tea contains EGCG (epigallocatechin gallate), one of themost powerful anti-oxidants.Anti-oxidants play an important role in protecting our health.The anti-oxidants created by our bodies and those derived fromour diet help to neutralize free radicals. Free radicals areoxygen containing molecules that are created as a by product ofconverting the food we eat into energy. Left unchecked, thesefree radicals damage our cells and DNA, leading to aging anddisease.A diet rich in anti-oxidants keeps these free radicals undercontrol. To ensure that you get your daily dose of anti-oxidantsit's important to eat a diet that's full of plant products,like fruits, vegetables and green tea.Research has shown that drinking green tea is especially helpfulat reducing your risk of disease. Some of the most positiveresearch includes the following findings: * Long term tea drinkers tend to have a lower body weight andlower percentage of body fat. * Green tea has been shown to be effective at preventing manyforms of cancer, including breast cancer, colon cancer and lungcancer. In addition, some studies have shown that chemotherapy ismore effective when the patient is on a regimen of green teaalong with their chemotherapy. * Green tea has been shown to reduce the risk of heart diseaseby helping to lower cholesterol and reduce your chances of ablood clot. * Green tea has been shown to be an effective weight losssupplement. The anti-oxidants in green tea combined with thecaffeine have been shown to speed up the metabolism and promotethe oxidation of fat. * It has been suggested that green tea may be helpful inpreventing Alzheimer's disease. * Green tea may be helpful in regulating insulin, so it may be anatural way to help prevent diabetes.So, as you can see, there are many health reasons for drinkinggreen tea. Most of us in the Western world have grown up on blacktea, and may find the flavor of traditional green teas somewhatgrassy in comparison. If you find that green tea simply doesn'ttaste as good to you as black tea, try drinking a green teablend. When blended with other flavors, green tea can taste quitedifferent than it does on its own.There are a wide variety of green tea blends out there. It'simportant to choose the best quality of loose green tea, whetheryou're choosing a blend or a single tea. Many tea companies willuse lesser quality tea leaves when they're blending the tea withother flavors, because they believe the difference in qualitywill not be as noticeable.So, be certain that you choose your blended green tea from areputable tea company to ensure that you get only the finestquality. If you're interested in choosing a green tea blend,here are some very good and very popular ones to try. * Moroccan Mint � Moroccan mint green tea is one of the mostpopular blends. This is a blend of one or more kinds of mintflavoring with a green tea base. The flavor is light andrefreshing and makes a great glass of iced tea as well as hottea. * Jasmine Green Tea � Another popular choice in green teablends, this green tea is scented with the petals of jasmine.You'll also find Jasmine green tea mixed with vanilla, whichmakes the tea more flavorful. The combination of the scents ofjasmine and vanilla make this jasmine green tea one of the mostfragrant you can find. * Vanilla Mint Green Tea � This is a refreshing green tea blendthat will appeal to any tea drinker. Tea artisans mix highquality green tea with mint leaves and pieces of vanilla bean.These two flavors are pleasing to any palate. This makes a greaticed tea for the summer as well as an aromatic and flavorful hottea.These are just a few of the many blends of green tea available.Experiment with the varieties available to find the ones that youlike best. For maximum benefit to your health, experts recommendthat you drink at least three cups of green tea each day. So,lift your cup of green tea and drink to the delicious flavor �and to your health!============================================================Jon M. Stout is Chairman of the Golden MoonTea Company. For more information about tea,(http://www.goldenmoontea.com/greentea) green tea (http://www.goldenmoontea.com/blacktea) and black tea go to http://www.goldenmoontea.com ============================================================Read More Articles From Jon M. Stout:http://thePhantomWriters.com/free_content/d/index.shtml#Jon_M._Stout

Vitamin and Mineral Supplements: What You Need To Know Before You Buy

Important! Read this before you buy another vitamin-mineral or nutritional supplement product. This information is vitally important to your health. All vitamin supplements are not the same. AND there is no one supplement that is good for everyone. If anyone ever tells you that theirs is the one supplement that everyone needs, run, don't walk and don't look back.How do you choose the vitamin-mineral and nutritional supplements that you take? Or maybe you don't take any because you're so overwhelmed by the choices and you don't know which to choose.One product claims it's "the most comprehensive answer to the body's need for life-giving nutrients." It has "100's of healthy nutrients from all natural whole-food sources."Another company says they produce the "highest quality nutritional ... products available" that "make you feel and look wonderful."Still another company boasts "an exclusive line of cutting-edge nutritional products" that are "quality, wellness and life-enhancing."Then there's the product that states it "has a total of 165 nutrients, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and whole food extracts" which gives you "a more complete and broad spectrum of ingredients [and] faster absorption..."These are only a few of the claims made for nutritional supplement products available today. There are hundreds of different vitamin-mineral and nutritional supplement products competing for your dollar.So, how do you choose? Maybe you've heard someone say what fantastic results they got from taking a specific product. You tried it and you didn't feel any different. Perhaps you did this a few times, with several different products, and still you got no results. You might even have gotten discouraged and decided that vitamin supplements just don't work. Or quite possibly you continued to take them simply because you felt you needed to, to be healthy, even though it didn't make you feel any different.Why do some people get such fantastic results that they rave about it to everyone who will listen and some people don't get any results at all ... with the same product? It all boils down to biochemical individuality. In other words individual differences. Those who get the most dramatic results are generally the most deficient in the nutrients that product provides. They had deficiencies the product corrected. And why didn't you feel any different? Because the nutrients in that product were not the right nutrients for your body or they weren't in the right proportions.Not everybody needs the same vitamin and mineral combinations in the same proportions. But everyone needs certain amounts of vitamins and minerals to be healthy. Vitamins and minerals are essential to life. And with the nutrient deficient soils our foods are grown on, most people don't get enough nutrients from their food alone to be truly healthy. Even the American Medical Association (AMA) recommends that every adult take a vitamin/mineral supplement daily.So how do you choose a good quality supplement that will give you all the nutrients that you need?First, let's take a look at some facts that you need to know about how vitamins and minerals work in your body.1. Vitamins and minerals work together. They need to be taken in the right proportions to be effective. For example, calcium, magnesium and phosphorus, in the right proportions, work together to keep your bones strong.2. If you take too much of one nutrient, it can cause deficiencies in other nutrients. For instance, if you take too much calcium, it can cause your body to absorb less magnesium, phosphorus, iron and zinc. Too much vitamin C can cause a copper deficiency.3. Taking too much of some nutrients can cause the same symptoms as a deficiency of that same nutrient. This happens with calcium, zinc and vitamin C.Your personal needs are also dependent upon your metabolism. Is your metabolism fast or slow? Certain nutrients speed up your metabolism and others slow it down. If you have a fast metabolism, you don't want to be taking nutrients that speed it up even more. If your metabolism is slow, you shouldn't be taking nutrients that slow it down. You want a nutritional product that will balance your unique body chemistry.Choosing the right nutritional supplement sounds complicated, but it's not. It can really be quite easy. You see, your hair holds the key. It contains the blueprint of the mineral balance in the tissues of your body, past and present. And because minerals interact not only with each other but also with vitamins, proteins, carbohydrates and fats, the mineral status also gives you information on your vitamin needs as well.Your hair gives you a good picture of your body's nutrient needs. When you have a hair mineral analysis test, there's no guessing, no trial and error. With proper interpretation of the results, you know what's in balance in your body, what's out of balance and what your body needs. And with the proper selection of nutritional products based upon the results of your hair analysis, you will get the nutrients your body needs.(c) 2006 Christine H. Farlow, D.C. Find out more about how hair analysis can help you improve your health and choose the right supplements for your unique nutritional needs at http://www.healthyeatingadvisor.com/customnutrition.html