Posts Tagged ‘Important’

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Important Health Benefits To Black Tea

Thursday, June 3rd, 2010

For thousands of years, the Chinese people have been drinking tea because of its refreshing and soothing effects. Like all three of the major Asian teas in the market, black tea comes from the plant called Camellia sinensis. But the difference between the tea types lies in how the leaves are processed, not on where they come from.

In the case of black tea, the leaves are first dried and then fermented. Black tea undergoes full oxidation, which actually accounts for its aromatic and rich taste. Compared to green tea and oolong or black dragon tea, black tea has a fuller taste and tastes better with age.

However, black tea is not only known for its intriguing flavor (comparable to wine!). New research suggests that it may be a major contributor of health-promoting nutrients in the U.S. diet.

Black tea health benefits lies in the presence of flavonoids in tea. Before, scientists believed that the process of fermentation changed the beneficial flavonoid polyphenol in black tea into another form, which is not thought to have any beneficial effects at all. However, newer studies showed that polyphenol or not, black tea health benefits can certainly do you a lot of good.

Below are the top five black tea health benefits enjoyed by those who love their cup of tea every morning:

Antioxidants

This is actually the one black tea health benefit you can get from drinking tea. Antioxidants are substances commonly found in vegetables, fruits, and beverages such as tea. Because of their disease-fighting abilities, antioxidants have been the subject of various scientific studies investigating their many benefits, from heart disease to cancer prevention.

Think of antioxidants as the rust-oleum paint that you put on your outdoor furniture to keep it from rusting. Just as oxygen in the air around us cause iron to rust, the oxygen particles in our blood can sometimes be destructive. In scientific circles, they call these highly reactive oxygen-containing substances as free radicals, and they are the reason why our body undergo massive cellular damage as we age or undergo degenerative diseases like cancer and heart illness.

The function of black tea health benefit antioxidants is to seek out these free radicals and destroy them. In so doing, these black tea health benefit antioxidants help protect your body from the ravages of aging and the effects of pollution.

Caffeine

Unless you consider yourself a coffee connoisseur, one black tea health benefit that you would surely appreciate is its caffeine content. Black tea does the job that your coffee does – that is, to give you a little push as you wake up in the morning after pulling up an all-nighter. But while coffee has the unfortunate reputation of causing heart palpitations because of too much drinking (and hence, too much caffeine), your chance of suffering the same with drinking black tea is nil. That’s because black tea has two to three times less caffeine than coffee. An eight-ounce cup of coffee contains around 135 mg. caffeine, while black tea contains only 30 to 40 mg. per cup.

What are Phytonutrients and Why are They Important to our Health? (part I)

Friday, March 5th, 2010

You will hear the MonaVie blend referred to as “the highesailable today.”  But what are phytonutrients and why are they essential to our health?

 
Once upon a time it was thought that fats, proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals were all the nutrients necessary for growth and health.  Now we know there’s another group of nutrients necessary for optimal health called phytonutrients.  Despite its high tech ring, “phytonutrient” (from the Greek phyton for “plant”) simply means a “nutrient from a plant.”
 
Molecular science is finally confirming what mother always told us: “Eat your fruits and vegetables.”  The power-packed nutrients that give fruits and vegetables their many colors also provide a lot of Mother Nature’s medicine.
 
While there are many phytos that have been identified, there are probably thousands more that remain to be discovered. The best known phytos are carotenoids, flavonoids, and isoflavones.  Carotenoids include yellow, orange, and red pigment in fruits and vegetables. Dark, green, leafy vegetables are rich in the carotenoid, beta carotene, but the usual yellow color is masked by the chloraphyll, the green pigment in the vegetables.  Flavonoids are reddish pigments, found in red grape skins and citrus fruits, and isoflavones can be found in peanuts, lentils, soy, and other legumes. You’re familiar with vitamins, now we have “phytomins,” which are less familiar, but equally important, health-promoting substances in food.  
 
There is currently a sort of phyto information war going on. On the one side, pill-makers are trying to package and promote phytonutrient supplements as the new magic cure-all.  On the other side, researchers are trying to determine scientifically just what phytochemicals are in which foods and what good things they do for you. Here is information you need to know to separate the hype from the useful information: 

 

Eat the real thing. Get your phytos from foods, not just from pills. Even reputable phyto supplement makers offer this grandmotherly advice. Like other nutrients, phytos operate under the biochemical principle of synergy (1+1=3). For example, flavonoids and carotenoids have more health-promoting properties when they are eaten together in the same food rather than when they are taken separately in a supplement.  Each one of the hundreds (perhaps thousands) of yet-undiscovered phytos helps each other biochemically in the food – and presumably also in the body.  Eating a whole tomato is better than popping a pill that contains a chemical isolated from a tomato.  By eating a few florets of broccoli you’re not only getting the beta carotene you could get in a pill, but you’re probably also getting the health benefits of hundreds or thousands of other phytos that don’t even have names yet.  And, of course, you’re getting vitamin C, fiber, and calcium, too.

Eat variety. Because each class of phytos affects cellular well-being in different ways, the best way to take full advantage of the best medicine nature has to offer is to eat a variety of fruits and vegetables. One phyto may bind a carcinogen to keep it from latching onto a cell; another may whisk carcinogens out of the cells; still another may handcuff free radicals before they are allowed to roam free in the body; still others stimulate the body’s own enzymes to break up potential cancer-causing chemicals. Certainly, a multi-vegetable salad is more heart-healthy and cancer-protective than an apple. (Better still, eat the salad for lunch and have the apple for dessert.)

Together, the synergistic union of fruits in the MonaVie blend reaches far beyond what any single fruit could accomplish.  It’s the wide variety of unique and exotic fruits contained in the entire color spectrum that create the right balance of phytonutrients in our product.  Drinking four ounces of MonaVie Active on a daily basis provides the equivalent antioxidant capacity of 13 servings of common fruits and vegetables.

Why health insurance coverage is important

Tuesday, February 16th, 2010

Much has been said about the importance of being healthy. If you have been paying attention to your health, you probably would have a California health insurance coverage. If you don’t have one yet, there is no better time than now to get California health insurance quotes. There is indeed nothing more important than keeping healthy than protecting yourself from illnesses and its consequences. What consequences are we talking about?

Among many other things, an illness or degradation in your health can mean loss of your earnings if you are unable to work. It can also mean huge financial burdens as medical bills are getting extremely expensive. A serious illness not only cripples you of the normal life you are used to, but it also endangers you and your family from all security – financial or otherwise. ACalifornia health insurance coverage will help you avoid most of these problems. It can also help you lead a life that is healthier as it pays for various preventive measures including immunizations and regular checkups, among others.

Recent statistics reveal that more and more California residents have been neglecting health insurance, most especially in the recent years. This can be attributed largely to the growing global financial crisis that all of us seem to experience. Although one can live without aCalifornia health insurance, imagine how much more impact a health problem can bring you and your family to top off the existing crisis.

If you take a look at California health insurance quotes, there are certain things to pay attention to. There are various items included in a health insurance plan. Some of these include inpatient services, outpatient surgery, medical testing, office visits, prescription drugs, physical therapy and rehabilitation care, and mental health care. These items are usually included in your California health insurance quotes.

You should remember is that your insurance should serve its purpose, which is to protect you and your loved ones from financial burdens in the event of serious medical conditions. There are a couple of effective ways to get more affordableCalifornia health insurance quotes. You can, for example, ask your California health insurance agent to take out coverage that you think you don’t need and see how it can lower your premiums. You can also set a higher deductible which will be your out of the pocket threshold before the coverage kicks in.

The importance of having a California health insurance coverage should not be ignored or underestimated just because the economy of the country is hard-up these days. In fact, the rise in medical costs should be the exact same reason for you to get thoseCalifornia health insurance quotes now. Even the most routine of surgeries can cost you thousands of dollars. Governor Schwarzenegger may now have a universal health policy plan forCalifornia, but an affordable health insurance can be yours if you know the right place to find it. Get access to low California insurance health quotes and start living a healthy, more secure lifestyle.

Why is Fitness Motivation Important?

Saturday, January 30th, 2010

You go to the gym every day because of two common reasons in most cases: either you really want to lose weight or you want to keep your achieved weight the same. Either ways, it is a process of ”I need to” and not ”I like to”. And what is really to like? Sweating? Exhausting yourself indoors like a caged rodent? Well no, but its results are greater than that discomfort and by the end of your program you can look in the mirror and think that you’ve achieved something more by getting in shape and being healthy.


It’s quite hard to get in that great shape you want but in the end it’s worth it. All sorts of fitness gyms try to make your workout as fun and pleasant as possible – I’m sure you like the active music that pumps you up and gives you the energy to keep on stretching. If you do not like it you can always go for an MP3 player to enhance your workout environment.


You also get a personal trainer in these gyms, so you are provided with the feeling that you are cared for and given a personalized program according to your needs and of course what you really want to achieve by doing fitness – lose weight or keep in shape.


Sometimes that little devil on your shoulder (laziness) won-t let you go to the gym and will always give you some apparently good reasons to stay home or go out for a drink instead. I know that, because I was that devil’s victim myself, but what you have to realize is your target: you want to look and feel great and going out for that drink won’t do it for you!


When I feel that laziness I try to motivate myself to go do my workout by looking in the mirror and after I see my flaws (there is no woman that doesn’t see at least one, ever), I think that by going I can diminish them a bit. That really gets me going!


If that doesn’t work for you, try telling your friend or partner to tell you to go. More people take in consideration what others think of them, than what they need to do. So when your boyfriend will remind you what you planned to look like in a month and by not going to the gym you spoil everything, I’m sure you’ll feel that fitness motivation you are looking for!


Another way to get fitness motivation is to leave yourself a message in the evening for the next morning with two reasons why you should skip your workout. You tend to get lazier in the morning and make more plans in the evening.

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