10 Health Benefits of Drinking Tea

 

 

A cup of tea has become more and more popular around the world. As for in the UK the introduction of soft drinks has made young people in the UK begin to loose some interest in this beverage. The aroma of various flavors of tea combined with having a hot tea mug warming your hands on a cold winter morning can make get you some peace of mind.  Sipping tea in front of the fireplace is also a good way to relax. These are the feel-good reasons for drinking tea, but is not limited to tea, as a cup of hot chocolate or any other type of hot beverage can make you feel the same if you only want to indulge yourself and feel at peace with yourself.

There are at least 10 reasons tea does your body good and can make you pick up on the habit of drinking tea.

Then the next questions come to your mind, yes, that is very well but which tea is better – green, black, red or white?

There really isn't enough difference between the types to get overly excited about. All teas generally contain the same amount of flavonoids. Green and black tea comes from the same plants, but green tea is dried for a shorter time and doesn't go through a fermenting process used for black tea.

Ok, we sorted that out then, but then you might ask yourself, are decaffeinated teas just as good for you?
Some brands use chemicals to decaffeinate tea; others use a water process. The chemical process removes more of the beneficial polyphenols, so my tip to you is to read labels carefully when choosing decaffeinated versions of tea.

All this is fine but I have never made a cup of tea before, and it sounds like a lot of hassle to me, should I even bother trying you might say at this stage.

It is quite simple actually, and you can do it different ways fitting your schedule and habits, and even taste of tea.
For brewing hot tea you should bring one cup of water per tea bag, or teaspoon of dried tea, to a rolling boil.
Measure the tea into a glass container as plastic and metal pick up unwanted flavors which you really don’t need. Pour the boiling water over your tea and steep to the desired strength. However, be aware If you steep too long and you'll get an acidic taste.
For iced tea you can just brew your tea with boiling water, as described above and then chill with ice and keep in the fridge. You will have tea for the whole day, and just take a fresh cup of ice tea whenever you feel like it

Now we come back to the list of 10 health benefits from tea.

1.  Antioxidants. Like the anti-ust paint that keeps your outdoor furniture from rusting, tea's antioxidants protect your body from the ravages of aging and the effects of pollution.

2. Tea has less caffeine than coffee. Coffee usually has two to three times the caffeine of tea.  An eight-ounce cup of coffee or around 2 deciliter contains around 135 mg caffeine as tea contains only 30 to 40 mg per cup. If drinking coffee gives you the jitters, causes indigestion or headaches or interferes with your sleep then you should switch to tea. attack and stroke. Drinking tea may help keep your arteries smooth and clog-free. A study from the Netherlands found a 70 percent lower risk of fatal heart attack in people who drank at least two to three cups of black tea daily compared to non-tea drinkers. weight, exercise, smoking and other risk factors. The authors suggest that this may be the work of tea's many beneficial phytochemicals. -- tea and other caffeinated beverages definitely contribute to our fluid needs. The only time the caffeine becomes a problem as far as fluid is concerned is when you drink more than five or six cups of a caffeinated beverage at one time.

3. Tea may reduce your risk of heart attack and stroke. Unwanted blood clots formed from cholesterol and blood platelets cause heart

4. Tea protects your bones. It's not just the milk added to tea that builds strong bones. One study that compared tea drinkers with non-drinkers, found that people who drank tea for 10 or more years had the strongest bones, even after adjusting for age, body

5. Tea gives you a sweet smile. Tea contains fluoride and tannins that may keep plaque at bay. However the sugar added to it is likely to blame bad teeth. So the advice is to drink  unsweetened tea.

6. Tea bolsters your immune defenses. Drinking tea may help your body's immune system fight off infection. Research studies have shown that drinking five cups of tea or coffee each day for four weeks, gave higher immune system activity in the blood of the tea drinkers.

7. Tea protects against cancer. The polyphenols, the antioxidants in tea have cancer-fighting effects. However the overall research is inconclusive in this area but enough studies show the potential protective effects of drinking tea.

8. Tea helps keep you hydrated. Caffeinated beverages, including tea have been seen as the type of beverages that had dehydrating effects. Since caffeine is a diuretic and makes us pee more, the perception was that caffeinated beverages couldn't contribute to our daily fluid requirement dosage. However, recent research has shown that the caffeine really doesn't matter

9. Tea is calorie-free. Tea doesn't have any calories, unless you add sweetener or milk. Consuming even 250 fewer calories per day can result in losing one pound per week.

10. Tea increases your metabolism. Some people have a slow metabolic rate and thereby their inability to lose weight. Green tea has been shown to actually increase metabolic rate so that you can burn 70 to 80 additional calories by drinking just five cups of green tea per day. Over a year's time you could lose eight pounds just by drinking green tea. Of course, taking a 15-minute walk every day will also burn calories.