Have Your Green Tea and Like It, Too

We know that drinking Green Tea is good for us.

According to the University of Maryland Medical Center, http://www.umm.edu/altmed/articles/green-tea-000255.htm

“Green tea has been consumed throughout the ages in India, China, Japan, and Thailand. In traditional Chinese and Indian medicine, practitioners used green tea as a stimulant, diuretic (to promote the excretion of urine), astringent (to control bleeding and help heal wounds), and to improve heart health. Other traditional uses of green tea include treating flatulence (gas), regulating body temperature and blood sugar, promoting digestion, and improving mental processes...

The healthful properties of green tea are largely attributed to polyphenols, chemicals with potent antioxidant properties. In fact, the antioxidant effects of polyphenols appear to be greater than vitamin C. The polyphenols in green tea also give it a somewhat bitter flavor.
Population-based studies indicate that the antioxidant properties of green tea may help prevent atherosclerosis, particularly coronary artery disease. Research shows that green tea lowers total cholesterol and raises HDL ("good") cholesterol in both animals and people…. Several population-based studies have shown that green tea helps protect against cancer. For example, cancer rates tend to be low in countries such as Japan where people regularly consume green tea.”

Green tea has also been shown to help with weight loss.

But what about that “bitter flavor?” To be honest, drinking plain green tea often requires a strong will to finish the beverage as quickly as possible to get it over with. But with an assortment of naturally flavored Green Teas, you can have your Green Tea and like it, too.

Celestial Seasonings, the forty year old purveyor of teas and other natural items based in
offers about a dozen flavored Green Teas, including there newest, Green Tea Tropical Grapefruit and Cranberry Pomegranate. The boxes are all beautifully designed and the tea bags come two by two with no strings attached. The taste is sublimely soothing with just the right fruit essence to make the beverage more palatable. And both new flavors were launched in partnership with the National Breast Cancer Foundation.

Lipton has Green Tea with Mandarin Orange flavoring, or Mint or Orange Passionfruit and Jasmine as well as quite a few others. These are just more options that will allow you to enjoy the benefits of Green Tea while actually enjoying drinking it.

High Fructose Corn Syrup-- A Honey of a Sweetener?

Have you noticed ads recently quietly sponsored by the Corn Refiners Association? The television advertising presents senarios of one person being apprehensive about accepting a beverage or somesuch made from high fructose corn syrup and the other person assuring them its all natural and so okay.
Buoyed by a recent FDA finding, the CRA has been advertising its product as natural and equal to honey and table sugar.
“Upon careful review of the manufacturing process for High Fructose Corn Syrup, the FDA found that HFCS can be labeled natural,” stated Audrae Erickson, president, Corn Refiners Association. “HFCS contains no artificial or synthetic ingredients or color additives and meets FDA’s requirements for the use of the term ‘natural.’ HFCS, like table sugar and honey, is natural. It is made from corn, a natural grain product.”
Specifically, the FDA stated “we would not object to the use of the term ‘natural’ on a product containing the HFCS produced by the manufacturing process…” commonly employed in the corn refining industry. A copy of the letter clarifying FDA’s views on the use of the term natural for products containing HFCS can be found at www.corn.org/FDAdecision7-7-08.pdf.”
So the conclusion seems to be that HFCS can now be touted as just as good for you as honey.

Soy—a (very) brief overview

Let's not even mention the website that proclaims “Soy is making kids gay….” Here are a few sentences about the influence of soy:

According to The Mayo Clinic http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/soy/NS_patient-soy “Soy was introduced to Europe in the 1700s and to the United States in the 1800s. Large-scale soybean cultivation began in the United States during World War II. Currently, Midwestern U.S. farmers produce about half of the world's supply of soybeans.”

And the Mayo Clinic goes on to state:

“Soy and components of soy called "isoflavones" have been studied for many health conditions. Isoflavones (such as genistein) are believed to have estrogen-like effects in the body, and as a result, they are sometimes called "phytoestrogens." In laboratory studies, it is not clear if isoflavones stimulate or block the effects of estrogen or both (acting as "mixed receptor agonists/antagonists"). "

The Mayo Clinic also proclaims that, based on scientific evidence, "Soy products, such as tofu, are high in protein and are an acceptable source of dietary protein. "

AND

High cholesterol--

"Numerous human studies report that adding soy protein to the diet can moderately decrease blood levels of total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein ("bad" cholesterol). Small reductions in triglycerides may also occur, while high-density lipoprotein ("good" cholesterol) does not seem to be significantly altered. Some scientists have proposed that specific components of soybean, such as the isoflavones genistein and daidzein, may be responsible for the cholesterol-lowering properties of soy. However, this has not been clearly demonstrated in research and remains controversial. It is not known if products containing isolated soy isoflavones have the same effects as regular dietary intake of soy protein. Dietary soy protein has not been proven to affect long-term cardiovascular outcomes, such as heart attack or stroke. "

Since soy is good for many of us, why not enjoy it in a variety of forms?