Tea has long been used around the world to help people heal and maintain a healthy body. All throughout history, tea has been used to treat illnesses, reduce fevers, improve brain function and calm people down. There are so many different teas around that we can find one for just about anything. Here’s a look at just a few of them.
Kombucha Tea
When I first heard about kombucha and the live cultures floating around I thought it was disgusting. When I first tried it, I was pleasantly surprised about the flavor. After drinking it regularly, I’ve been happy with many of the great effects of it in my body. When you combine the use of kombucha and some of the cultured, nondairy foods you will feel like your stomach is a champion. Some of the best things about kombucha are:
- Great for digestion – The live cultures in kombucha help us feed our flora which breaks down all the food we eat.
- Helps with weight loss – because of the digestion help, kombucha will allow the body to absorb more nutrients from fewer calories which will help keep our hunger at bay.
- Helps with sleep – if we are digesting properly, we’ll have an easier time sleeping because our body will be able to focus on rest.
- Sports Recovery and Energy – Most of our bodies’ energy goes into digesting our food. If we make a digestive aid, we then will recover more.
Further reading: Learn more about kombucha from Kombucha Dave.
Green Tea
Green tea is one of my favorites. I lucked out having some of the best green tea given to me from Japan. Since then I have been drinking a good share of it.
There is the issue of caffeine in green tea that keeps a lot of people away from it. The truth about the caffeine in tea is that it is almost always half of the caffeine in the same amount of coffee. That being said, I try to only drink it when I am eating since it spikes your energy levels a little bit. This way, I am helped with my digestion and not getting the jittery caffeine feeling.
Some of the great properties of green tea are:
- Helps prevent heart disease – the polyphenols help block bad cholesterol(LDL) and helps raise your good cholesterol(HDL).
- Helps regulate blood sugar levels – research has been done using green tea for the prevention of Type 1 Diabetes.
- Reduces growth of many cancer cells – the polyphenols in green tea have been known to help prevent and destroy cancer cells.
Further reading: The University of Maryland Medical Center has a great article about green tea’s many benefits.
Oolong Tea
For taste, there in nothing like a great Japanese momo oolong (peach oolong) tea. I would say the best tasting, and smelling, teas I’ve ever had are oolongs. Oolong tea is right in between black tea and green tea in its oxidation. The benefits of this are:
- Helps prevent heart disease – similar to green tea, oolong has polyphenol which helps reduce LDL cholesterol and blood pressure.
- Helps remove free radicals – oolong helps the body identify and get rid of the free radicals that can reek havoc in our bodies.
- Improves skin quality – this is one of coolest parts of oolong tea. It can actually help with eczema by aiding your body with getting rid of the toxins that are trying to get out through your skin.
Herbal Teas
Perhaps the most useful teas around are herbal teas. I say the most useful because they can be very specific to certain disorders or complications. Something fun to do is to go to a Chinese herbalist shop (check reviews on Google Places or Yelp) and ask for a blend for whatever ails you. They have extensive knowledge for the specific uses of herbs. They will help you concoct a great blend to help you focus, lower your blood pressure or help you meditate more.
Here’s a look at some of the great herbal teas you can make.
- Peppermint – tastes great and it helps you break up the mucus in your body. It will also help reduce pain and headaches.
- Clove and Cinnamon – these both have great antiviral and anti-fungal properties. Cinnamon will also help with nausea while clove can help with headaches.
- Blackberry – blackberry is a great source of vitamin C and you can also use the leaves which taste great.
Further reading: Jackie Leavitt wrote a great article about herbal teas on Mindbodygreen.com.
Conclusion about Teas
As you can see, there are some great health benefits of tea. What makes them even more potent is the rest of the things we do in our lives. Add these teas to your daily routine of healthy living and you will feel like a superhero, or at least, a super you. I would suggest working on your mental health, fitness health and your nutritional health. Add these teas in to help support these healthy efforts.
One thing to keep in mind when you are looking for teas is to make sure they are fresh, organic and pesticide free. This way you know that you’re not going to be getting a bunch of chemicals that your body doesn’t know what to do with. The tea will also taste so much better!
What are some of your favorite teas? How often do you drink tea?
