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Want to Look & Feel Good? Be a Tea’s

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October 16, 2009
	Dr. Gary Huber : Head Medical Ego

In a recent article I sang the praises of green tea.  I told you how it can stop cancer and protect your heart, save you trips to the doctors office, improve your life, save you money and more which is all very nice but lets face it . . . it’s just not a sexy topic.  What you really want is to feel good and look good.  Well I have the answer for you . . . green tea!

Buckle your seat belt; we’re heading back into the lab. Brain waves are measures of electrical activity on the surface of the brain. They range in frequency from Delta waves of 0.5 – 3 Hz when in deep sleep, all the way up to Beta waves at 14 Hz and greater when you are very excited and stressed.  But if you back off the accelerator a tad and slow down to Alpha waves at a cool 8 – 13 Hz you are in “the zone” or relaxed attention where your brain functions at peak efficiency.

Waves of Alpha
Now for a fun fact:  green tea contains a neuroactive amino acid called L-theonine that pulls your brain into the joyous world of Alpha waves. It does this by enhancing production of gamma amino butyric acid (GABA), which in turn has an effect on neurotransmitters dopamine and serotonin to produce a relaxation effect without causing drowsiness. Studies have shown it to help benefit learning, mental clarity, and concentration. In fact studies show that people with a higher predominance of Alpha waves are less anxious, more creative and are better problem solvers. I could have really used this info back in college. It even acts antagonistically against the stimulatory effects of caffeine to avoid the caffeine induced jitters. And it seems that this wonderful compound L-theonine is found almost exclusively in tea plants.

Now for more good news: You may want your furnace and your car to be fuel efficient but wouldn’t it be nice if our bodies wasted fuel like fat all the time? Wouldn’t it be great if we could increase the “idle” so that we were better able to burn fat at a greater rate even while sitting and going about our normal daily activities?  Well the polyphenols of green tea work in just this fashion.

Boost Metabolism
Studies have shown that people drinking green tea have a higher metabolism and burn fat more effectively as it increases thermogenesis. It has been demonstrated that adding green tea to your diet can increase energy expenditure by 4% over the course of a day and that equates to 80 calories per day. Now you may be thinking that this is simply the effect of excess caffeine but this factor was accounted for as there was a control group of subjects that received the same amount of caffeine as the green tea group and they did not experience the same thermogenosis.

Another study showed nearly twice the fat loss when two groups were fed the same diet for 4 months with the only difference being the addition of green tea. Green tea was also found to inhibit the activity of two digestive enzymes, lipase and fatty acid synthetase, which are responsible for the breakdown of fats and their storage in fat cells. This means the body is less likely to absorb the fat that you eat.

Relaxed, Focused, Fat-Burning – A How To
OK, so you want the mellow buzz of relaxation, this mentally sharp decision making zone, this high revving fat burning machine of a body . . . how do you get there?  You have options of either drinking green tea several times a day or getting what you need by consuming an organic whole food tea. You could also try supplementation of ECGC polyphenols and theanine. 

Studies show that even over the top consumption of green tea at 20 cups per day produced no side effects. The caffeine in green tea is generally around 20 mg per cup which is small compared to the 120 mg you will find in a cup of coffee.  Don’t rush to buy the decaffeinated version of green tea because the process used to remove the caffeine also tends to remove the beneficial L-theanine and polyphenols.  Oolong and black teas are not blessed with the same potency of polyphenols and tend to have more caffeine. 

All together now, let’s look at the benefits of green tea:     

• Brighter skin & reduced wrinkles
• Increases metabolism to help burn fat effectively
• Cardio protective, reducing your risk of heart attack
• Cancer killer, seeking and destroying cancer cells
• Lowers bad cholesterol and blocks absorption of cholesterol
• Lowers blood pressure
• Decreases clot formation, lessening risk for stroke
• Fights bacterial, viral, and fungal infection
• Reduces stress and promotes relaxation
• Improves learning ability and mental clarity

With all that going for it give me one reason not to include it as a daily habit.  Did you know that can “eat” whole green tea leaves and get 99x more EGCG than drinking it?  Have you ever tried eating tea leaves?  Let me hear your personal experience and I’ll share mine.

Keep it green.

For more information about organic whole food green tea powders and loose leaf tea suitable for eating visit our friends at www.EmeraldCityTea.com (No endorsements were paid for this article.) 

Related: The Queen Drinks Green Tea. Long Live the Queen!