ADD LEMON TO GREEN TEA

Green tea is known for its health benefits (see articles on this blog). Research has that adding a squeeze of lemon juice to your cup of green tea allows your body to absorb more of its protecting catechins. The experts tell us the lemon's vitamin C prevents the catechins from being degraded during digestion. This allows more of the powerful antioxidants to be absorbed by your body's cells. Lime or orange juice may be substituted.

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HOW TO MAKE A HEALTHY GREEN TEA SMOOTHIE

I don't usually put recipes on this blog as I have 5 other blogs that feature recipes.  Today, however, I am making an exception.  I am always stressing the health benefits of green tea, as my regular readers know.  Today I am posting a recipe for a green tea smoothie that is chock full of good for you benefits.  This recipe makes 2 servings and each serving contains 32% of your daily values of potassium (people with high blood pressure take note!).  Each serving is also full of cancer-fighting catechins, and 72% of your daily values of vitamin-C.  This is a smoothie you need to try!

3 cups frozen white grapes
2 cups packed spinach
1 1/2 cups strong brewed green tea, cooled
1 medium ripe avocado
2 tsp honey

Make as you would any smoothie by combining in a blender.

Note: I think I got this from an Eating Well magazine several years ago.

ACTIVE CALORIES - ENERGIZING FOODS

Today's post continues the posts of the past couple of days regarding active calories.  Today we will talk about Energizing Foods.  Energizing foods are basically foods that boost your metabolism.  Examples are coffee, black tea, green tea, and dark chocolate.

You get metabolism-boosting caffeine in coffee and in black tea.  The key here is to drink these beverages without loading them down with sugar and/or cream!

Green tea doesn't have much caffeine in it but it does have catechins, an antioxidant that raises  resting metabolism by 4% and that amounts to about 80 calories a day. Had you ever realized you could burn calories with a cup of green tea?

Dark chocolate does double duty since it contains both caffeine and catechins.  The downside here is to not overindulge.  You should only eat 1-ounce per day, and it should be dark chocolate!

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GREEN TEA EXPIRATION

According to the Journal of Food Science, the antioxidants in green tea decrease an average of 35% after 6 months on the shelf.  These antioxidants, known as catechins, may decrease your risk of several types of cancer, but are sensitive to both light and oxygen.

Suggestion: Buy your tea in airtight cans rather than packages wrapped in cellophane, which air can penetrate.  Green tea is more sensitive to heat than is black tea.  Store your tins of green tea in the refrigerator.  Buy quality teas and store properly to get the ultimate protection.

This is a picture of one of my tea canisters.  I buy mine in small (this is a 3-oz) tins to keep the tea fresh and protected.