Green Tea And Metabolism
New research has show that drinking 5-6 cups of green tea daily can help to increase your metabolism. This in turn can then help you to lose weight. Researchers found that just increasing a patient’s caffeine intake is not enough to increase metabolism. Rather, there is some specific property only found in green tea which seems to have the metabolic effect. Visit www.thebenefitsofgreentea.org to find out more about the natural health benefits of green tea.
Green Tea And Prostate Cancer
Certain anti-oxidants in green tea have been found to help shrink the size of prostate tumors. While doctors caution that drinking the tea may not be enough to procure such results in normal cancer patients, researchers are looking into how to create a treatment that mimics the effects of the substances in green tea which can be used in fighting cancerous tumors.
Green Tea For Wrinkles
In addition to the many other positive health benefits provided by green tea, researchers have now also discovered that this magic drink is something of a fountain of youth. Applying a bit of concentrate green tea to your skin everyday can help minimize the appearance of wrinkles and help make your skin look young and smooth again. Find out more about the many benefits of green tea!
Green Tea And Lung Cancer
Adding to list of the many benefits of drinking green tea are the findings in a new study that show the chances of developing lung cancer for smokers can be reduced by drinking green tea.
While this in no way changes the medical certainty that smoking is dangerous for a person’s health, smokers are encouraged to help increase their chances for a healthy life by adding green tea to their diets. Green tea can also help the bodies of ex-smokers recuperate from the damage caused by smoking.
Using Your Fresh Herbs In Infusions, Herbal Teas, or Decoctions As An Herbal Medicine.
Recently it has been shown that high herbal tea and quality teas have many health benefits, especially Black and Green Tea. With all the news on Black and Green Tea lately, you may be considering adding it to your daily diet regime. If that is so, only use the best quality and freshest tea available for the maximum health benefits. Also consider the health benefits of herbal teas using fresh herbs. Think of these as herbal medicine.
Millions of people all of the world have been drinking tea and infusions for centuries specifically for herbal medicine. In America, it has been considered a cheap convenient drink for soothing the soul and stimulating the senses. Yet there is a far more important reason that people drink tea more than any other beverage: the tea leaf has potent health-enhancing powers. The Japanese have known this for thousands of years and the modern West is just catching up to the remarkable health benefits of drinking tea.
To make a tea or infusion you must steep the fresh herb in boiling water. Many think of teas and infusions as the same, but there is a slight difference.
When making teas or herbal teas you are brewing it and you don’t leave it steeping for very long. An easy way to brew it is to place the tea bag or fresh herbs into a measuring cup with 8 ounces of water. Microwave for two minutes and you have a cup of tea. Fresh herbs make a marvelous cup of tea and are considered essential in herbal medicine.
Infusions on the other hand stay in the boiling water longer, anywhere from 10 – 20 minutes. Obviously the longer the fresh herbs steep the stronger the brew will become and it will become a more potent herbal medicine. Infusions should be used immediately after brewing to reap the most out of this herbal medicine, especially when using fresh herbs. Rule of thumb is to use 1-2 teaspoons of dried, crushed, or powdered herbs. If you want to get the most out of this herbal medicine use fresh herbs and double the amount to steep. After the steeping time your infusion will be at room temperature. It is okay to warm it back up if you prefer it hot.
Infusions can be therapeutic as well as being considered herbal medicine. While your infusion is steeping bend over the container and breathe in the steam. This will act as a decongestion when you are suffering from colds or allergies. Close your eyes, try to envision this herbal medicine as attacking the germs in your system. Visualizing the fresh herb infusions attacking the malady will help to fight illnesses quite well, according to some published studies. It is like the grounding technique used in yoga. Here again, fresh herbs make the best infusions in herbal medicine.
There is a problem with infusions as they tend to be quite bitter. And of course, if you can’t drink the infusion then it will not be an advantageous herbal medicine. To make it taste better try adding honey or sugar. If you still can’t get it down, try a different infusion. There are many different fresh herbs to try when brewing your herbal medicine.
Decoctions are a different story as they don’t use strictly fresh herbs. Here you would use the dried roots, flowers seeds and barks for their medicinal purposes, not fresh herbs. To get the most from your mixture heat will be used since it is more difficult to extract their active chemicals. Start by boiling the roots and allow them a good head start. Next add the bark, the seeds, the flowers and any spices in that order. Allow a few minutes of simmering after each addition. Then simmer the herbal medicine slowly for 10 to 20 minutes.
Now you have another use for your fresh herbs. This gives you yet another excuse to plant a beautiful herb garden
Happy Healthy Gardening!
Copyright © Mary Hanna, All Rights Reserved.
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