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!

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!

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!

Recently, high vitamin D dosages of +3,000 IU have been linked to kidney stones and nausea. So by taking too much of it out of the bottle might eventually be counter-productive and even harmfull! The findings are yet to be proven, which won’t happen till the mids of 2010, but you’re better off using your common sense and keeping your “the more the better” philosophy in check. It doesn’t matter whom to blame: the general public ignorance or industry’s abusive disinformation campaigns. You are resonsible for yourself. No one else.

And while the world is getting more and more complicated everyday and you seem to lose track of what is truth and what is a lie, you need just a few simple rules that will always keep you on the safe side. Rule #1:  too much of anything is never good.

This is an absolute rule that applies to anything. Vitamin D is not an exception. Just take a 20 minutes walk in the sun, which will give you some 1,500-2,000 IU of Vitamin D. This way you’ll avoid the bottled supplements and do something for your fitness in the process.

Keep it safe bodytweakers!

Knee problems have always been an issue for me. I suppose, it lies in my family’s genes since my mother and his father had the same problem as me. It started as I was about 14 years old It didn’t hurt at all and I didn’t feel anything disturbing. Just this strange cracking sound. So I though “whatever… I can live with it!”. Unfortunately, it changed during the following years.

The cracking sound got louder and I felt a small pain in my knees. I mean, I still could live with this problem, but I was worried if it could get worse at the age of 30, 40 or 50? So I went for an specialist’s advise and was told that there was nothing wrong with my knees and that the sound would go away with the age. I was also advised that I should start running and train my quads as it usually helps in this kind of problem.

However, running didn’t change much. I think, it even got a bit worse since I was running on concrete back in Madrid and this impact is not very healthy for the knee joints. (Follow my advice and go run on a beach if you have one nearby! You will avoid the trouble in the long run! )

Fortunately enough a friend of mine suggested to try cycling. It doesn’t have much impact on your knees, trains your whole legs and is fun as hell! So I started with simple spinning classes half a year ago. Very soon I was doing 2 classes in a row, 3 to 4 times a week. Apart of dramatically improving my endurance and cutting all that fat I have saved up during my time off running, I have noticed an incredible improvement in my knee joints! There’s no pain anymore and the sound is almost nonexisten. Hooooray!!

Two months ago I have bought a mountain bike (which was my biggest fitness investment ever) and have started to train going up and down the hills in my area. Sometimes aroung 100 miles in one go! This is really fun and gets very addicting! Leg strength, endurance and overall health keeps improving. I am even considering to participate in a few mountain bike marathons this fall!!

Summing up, cycling is probably the best choice if you have knee problems (better than running or leg training at the gym). Good road or mountain bikes can get somehow expensive, but they are worth every penny! I consider my bike as my best investment since the benefits you get are worth much much more. Cut the costs on other crap. Get rid of junkfood and stop bying stuff you do not need. Save money for things that DO matter!