Drinking Green Tea - The benefits and the Bullshit!

Drinking Green Tea - The benefits and the Bullshit!

I went through a phase in 2010 of drinking, tasting and getting to know teas. I drunk everything from apple to rose hip tea. That same year I found out what fluoride does to your teeth, your bones and your brain considering most black teas contain fluoride decided to make the switch.

I also made the switch with green tea from coffee. I was getting the coffee jitters at the time and went cold turkey... Green tea helps you with the transition... TRUST ME... Years later I'm over most teas but will still drink green tea from time to the while on the run with my day job, doing my psychology degree, writing this blog and maintaining an active social life.

When I was out recently, one of my important friends in one of my social circles brought up green tea again. He saw that I was blogging on health and considering that I also gave him a juicer to make juice he was keen on some of the recipes I had published.  When we got talking he didn't waste any yoke and started down the hard and heavy road on how I should be drinking more green tea with my juices in order for it to be a good compliment to my juices alkalizing potential.

My friend went so far as to mention our last meet up that if I drunk green tea more often that I'd swear by it, like he does too... and I would continue to swear by green tea but I still like my occasional coffee too much! Nonetheless after going into an organic tea shop with him and trying all the different teas there (nostalgia for 2010), my friend settled on... Now wait for it - Organic Green tea. But of course!

Life got busy and we both went our separate ways and two weeks later and out of the blue he called me up on my cell phone to state "Daniel, omg it's amazing... The organic green tea we both purchased, has actually helped me stay focused at work, but has also helped to detoxify, clean out and and help my digestive system breakdown all the good food I have started eating."

"Good for you", I exclaimed to him over the phone, but he continues without missing a beat "it's been shown that green tea can, not only help boost your immune system, but that it can also fight cancer". He paused over the phone with me and I felt myself pausing too... To be honest that's a bold statement just for green tea and I'm likely between you and I, the reader to doubt his statements.

Because, I've heard varying things about green tea over time - Such as it's antioxidant potential to slowdown ageing, the ability for it to detox the liver and to sweat out of the lymph nodes I do have an open mind... But to cure cancer, I was and remain skeptical. My skepticism stops with most organic substances and supplements similar to green tea because I know that most of them direly or indirectly boost the immune system, hell when you get sick and unwell I believe that they can even fight off disease. But for me, his statements about cancer are a bit far out.

Nonetheless I decided to open up my Ipad 4 and write a draft article to be later published on my blog about Green tea, "searching the Internets" for useful and resourceful data about what green tea actually does... And here is what I found out:

1. Lifehack.org - A really cool website on self-development states that green tea aids in the reduction of weight loss and lowers the incidence of type 2 Diabetes.

The reasons given on this and similar websites is that green tea does is thermagetic I.e. It is a substance A which increases the body temperate when someone drinks it or works out with it slightly, thereby burning up more nutrients, more fat and more calories when consumed. The thermagetic effects is also the reason why green tea reduces the incidence of type two diabetes, as it causes the breakdown of sugars, keytones and fats but there has also been research on green tea which has shown that it increases insulin sensitivity and in the uptake of chromium a metal which balances blood sugar levels.

Another interesting aspect of green tea is its nootropic and anti-aging effects.

2. Third age.com another radical website which proposes the effects of green tea on human beings notes on some of its hyperlinks that green tea contains low levels of taurine, cafinene and other substances which actually give it a cognitive enhancer and nootropic like effect similar to ginkgo bibloba. The effects of this mix are somewhat varied, other than increasing blood flow to the human brain and central nervous system they also appear to increase intelligence, the ability to be diligent, focus while maintaining in the person who drinks it a calm and meditative effect.

This particular meditative effect is reminiscent but much more healthy than tobacco or kava and is also one of the reasons why it has been shown to delay or slow human aging, since it provides stress reduction. Other than stress reduction, green tea's anti-aging effects come from its more exotic antioxidant potential. Antioxidants allow the human body to destroy free radicals and it is free radicals which cause aging in the human body and are a health subject all by themselves.

But what about the negative effects of green tea? Are there any?

No not really other than over-stimulation if you have too much (16 cups of green tea to 3 cups of coffee), if you are stimulated by caffeine and have green tea before bedtime then don't!!! There is also the negative consideration that green tea like many other teas and coffees is a diuretic and dries out/dehydrates the body if too much of it is consumed.

Given this, it is best said that the only other downside to green tea like garlic is its smell when the lymph nodes are using the green tea to remove toxins from the body. I've known many people who come from south east Asia to have had a full meal and drink much green tea after it - To have later smelled not of body odor but rather of sour green tea... Perhaps a pungent and sour smelling green tea smell is not the greatest - Yet, for the woman who I have had the chance and opportunity to kiss after drinking green tea at a meal - There is always the sweet smell of it on their breath.

That's not a bad thing and green tea is good and healthy. This is why my friend who recommends green tea needs to know that while it may not cure cancer - It will most definitely provide all the other health effects he does claim. Until the next blog post.

Count. Daniel John Fogarty, 26th of November 2013