If only we Americans would take after the British when they say “Care for a spot of tea?”. No doubt they’re on to something because most teas contain a wide variety of healthy nutrients.
You just can’t go wrong with tea for weight loss, better sleep, more antioxidants for your body and brain, and a host of other advantages.
How Tea Helps with Weight Management
It’s been said that drinking tea can help to control blood sugar levels. In contrast, eating is often necessary in order to regulate blood sugar levels. Also, drinking tea lowers the caloric intake for each cup of tea consumed. It’s very important to drink a hot cup of tea for at least 15 minutes before going to bed so that it’s prepared and ready to consume. It helps to relax the body and will help to keep you away from eating foods that will lower your metabolism.
What are the best teas to drink for weight loss? One of the best beverages for weight loss is dark teas. Dark teas tend to contain less caffeine than fruit teas and there are an array of different varieties that you can drink. Among the most popular dark tea varieties include oolong, black, green, and white teas.
Why Tea is Good for Your Sleep
There is much evidence to suggest that drinking certain specific teas can help you sleep better. According to Professor John Britton at University College London:
“There is substantial evidence from studies with animals and humans that tea consumption prevents or moderates the decline in sleep onset latency over time, which is usually associated with age.”
But when it comes to tea, there are some subtle qualities that can make a big difference. One of the favorites amount researchers is Chamomile. It is a well-known herb that has been used for centuries to help reduce inflammation, anxiety, and insomnia. In fact, many people regard chamomile as a mild tranquilizer.
The Benefits of Antioxidants in Tea
Antioxidants are nature’s way of keeping cells and tissues intact. They stop our body’s toxic proteins from forming harmful compounds in the blood and damage our cells. Tea has the highest concentration of antioxidants of any beverage. You can make this popular drink even more antioxidant-rich by brewing it in a teabag that’s also loaded with antioxidants.
For example, a green tea bag has the equivalent amount of antioxidants to a cup of spinach. Research shows that when you drink green tea daily, it may have a measurable impact on your metabolism. The reason for this is that the tea leaves’ vitamin C, or ascorbic acid, promotes a faster metabolism.
Although green and black teas may have high levels of antioxidants, according to an Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity (ORAC) analysis – a research laboratory that measures a food’s antioxidant activity, the tea with the most antioxidants is flor de Jamaica. The Spanish name for hibiscus. When brewed, this tea has 400% more antioxidants than black and green tea.
Note: Although hibiscus tea is abundant in antioxidants if you take medication for blood pressure or blood sugar, you might want to defer to your medical practitioner first as taking meds and drinking hibiscus tea can lower your blood pressure and/or blood sugar.
Stress Management
No one wants to deal with stress and we’ve posted numerous articles on how one can deal with anxiety, as well as depression, but when it comes to teas, here are a few that can help you calm down in addition to our blog suggestions: mint teas, chamomile teas, lavender teas, rose teas, and matcha. Give them a try. What do you have to lose?
The Best Teas for Your Overall Health
While, of course, there are many different types of teas, We’ve narrowed it down to three particular types for your good health. They are regular, decaffeinated black and green tea.
All Three Offer the Following Benefits
1. Tea for weight loss. We all know it’s important to eat healthful food. The antioxidants in green tea can help you avoid the signs of aging, as well as fight bacteria.
2. Tea for better sleep. Green tea contains a large amount of caffeine, so we won’t recommend it in this category but Chamomile, Valerian Root, and Lavender are highly recommended. There is also calorie and caffeine-free peppermint tea.
3. Tea for better stress management. There are numerous teas that may keep you calmer. Mint chamomile, lavender, and hibiscus teas to name a few, but we are not suggesting to drop your whole anti-anxiety routine (whatever plan you are on). We are, however, proposing that these teas may be that one added factor that could very well change your stress level.
Conclusion
So there you have it, a list of numerous awesome tea benefits to help you make your tea drinking a habit. Talk to you soon with my next post on The Top 10 Reasons To Drink Tea Every Day.
Note: As previously mentioned, if you are on any medications, please speak to your doctor or medical provider regarding drinking these teas.