Sip to Your Health

I made up a pot of Country Peach today and celebrated a snow day. That means a bonus 3 day weekend. We will make it up, but right now it's a free day. So I drank tea and exercised and that's about it. It's time for some mental exercise.

I wanted to explore benefits of drinking tea. Thank goodness for Google; now I don't have to dig through books to get information. The down side- sifting through all that information. So I decided to stick with hard core sites. WebMD gets down to the nitty gritty along with Harvard Medical School.

Real tea would be made from that specific plant that's native to China. This would be our green tea, black tea and white tea. Although I don't go out and buy white tea myself, you can bet it's still the real thing. These teas contain a special antioxidant known as "flavonoids". These are considered phytonutrients which basically means plant chemicals. The ones in these teas can help prevent cancer, heart disease and clogged arteries according to WebMD. The caffeine in tea is lower than coffee, which can help those people prone to high blood pressure and susceptible to jitters. At the same time caffeine helps with mental alertness.

These real teas also contain polyphenols that may increase insulin activity according to researchers. According to a Dutch study from 2009 "drinking 3 cups of tea (or coffee) could reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes by 40%". 1  You also need to know if you add milk you've diminished the insulin benefits from the tea.

Herbal teas are a different class of tea because they aren't derived from the tea plant itself. As I looked over my peach tea box the ingredients had nothing to do with tea. So even though I enjoy the flavor of herbal tea, the health benefits are based on exactly what's in your herbal tea. The best bet is to check the box and search the ingredients.

Speaking of ingredients, you're better off avoiding the sugary bottle teas you can easily find at convenience stores. Adding sugar just negates the health benefits. And if you live down south (US), don't even bother trying to find unsweet tea in bottles. If you do find it, don't drink it. I know from experience that it's probably way out of date. And instant tea is just gross in my opinion. That's because I don't add sugar. You also may want to check the ingredients of instant tea; you may find MSG hidden in there. Not good!

So feel good, my friends for brewing up some of your own tea and sipping away. In fact I'm ready for some more tea.