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For the past few months I have been drinking lots of coffee. If few years ago (by the time I first wrote about green tea in 2006: http://www.bodytweaking.com/2006/03/06/green-tea-benefits-beyond-imagination/) my tea/coffee intake ratio was a healthy 6:1, over the past few months it dramatically changed to 1:6.

One of the reasons was the new Senseo coffee pads machine we’ve got as a gift which is so practical and easy to use. With a click of a button it makes superb coffee in less than a minute! It was so good and easy that I became lazy to make my daily tea and drank 3-4 cups of Espresso a day instead. Thanks to Heavens I saw this wonderful documentary about the green tea the other day, which made me switch back to tea almost overnight. Why?

Cancer risk reduction

While the results of studies on whether green tea has an effect on cancer prevention are conflicting, it is proven that (1) antioxidants lower the body’s inflammations, which are considered to be one of the reasons for some cancer types, and (2) green tea has a micro-element which is proven to kill indirectly the cancer cell (by inhibiting the protein that makes the cancer cells live longer).

If you smoke or have an irregular diet…

Then green tea should be your best friend! Links are being made between the effects of drinking green tea and the “French Paradox.” For years, researchers were puzzled by the fact that, despite consuming a diet rich in fat, the French have a lower incidence of heart disease than Americans. The answer was found to lie in red wine, which contains resveratrol, a polyphenol that limits the negative effects of smoking and a fatty diet. In a 1997 study, researchers from the University of Kansas determined that EGCG (contained in Green Tea) is twice as powerful as resveratrol, which may explain why the rate of heart disease among Japanese men is quite low, even though approximately seventy-five percent are smokers.

Good for teeth?

In a recent study it is said that  Green Tea may make your teeth healthier through it’s bacteria-destroying abilities: by killing the bacteria responsible for dental plaque.

If you don’t like how it tastes, just add some drops of natural sweetener (Stevia, for example. Do NOT use sugar – the white death of the modern world!). Put a bottle of sweetened green tea into the fridge and take it with you to the next workout. Add mint to make it ever more refreshing! Preparation varieties are limitless. Sky’s the limit. And once you learn to love and value green tea, you will not get enough of it!

Accoring to a reknown blog, scientists might have discovered a key to longevity in a form of an antibiotic called rapamycin. Rapamycin is usually used in organ transplant patients to reduce the risk of rejection. However, recent  studies and tests on mice revelaed that rapamycin increses the lifespan of female mice by 14% and male mice by 9%.

The interesting fact is that the antibiotic was administered to adult/old mice, so that you do not have to take the antibiotic from a small age!!

Until the tests are confirmed and the new medicament elaborated into a longevity-pill several years will pass, for sure. Until then, the four keys to longevity stay the same:

1. no smoking
2. daily vaggies and fruits intake
3. healthy weight/height ratio and
4. at least 3 hours of sports weekly

Live long!

It’s completely normal to feel sleepy after eating a big meal because your blood flows to your stomach in order to digest all the food you have eaten. That is why you are not in mood to do anything after a huge meal. It is even advisable an hour of rest before doing anything else.

From my point of view that’s exactly the problem with big meals. After eating hundreds of fat, carb and protein calories, your body’s “warehouses” (your fat) will be filled even more because these calories have not been used for anything productive while you are resting after the big meal. That’s why it is far better to eat 5, 6, 7 tiny meals a day because (1) you will burn those calories straight off and (2) you will be more energized and productive throughout the day without those huge energy drops.

By eating 7 small meals you could even eat 20-30% more calories a day without getting fatter. A rule of thumb to calculate a small meal is that after eating a small meal you still feel just a bit hungry. This tiny hunger is like a primate trigger (to search for food) that will keep you going throughout the day.

Less is sometimes more. Think about it and don’t fall asleep!