Sunday, October 16, 2011

Even more delicious Teas for you…


A lot of people wrote in and were thrilled to hear that green tea and Wu-long tea had wonderful fat burning properties, but what about white tea and rooibos tea?

White Tea
As with all the other teas we’ve already discussed, white tea also comes from the Camellia sinensis plant, as almost all teas do. The main difference between white tea and the other teas is that the white tea leaves are picked and harvested at a younger age than the other tea leaves. Whereas black tea is fully fermented and green tea is partly fermented, white tea is not fermented at all, helping it to retain more of its beneficial antioxidants.
Some studies have shown that because of this “no fermentation”, white tea has a concentration of antioxidants that is 3 x’s higher than green tea, making it an incredibly healthy choice for drinking as part of any healthy eating plan. Not only that, it is a wise choice for those who are sensitive to caffeine. It only contains 15 mg of caffeine per cup, much lower than the 20-30 mg you get from green tea, and 40-60 mg you get from black tea.
But what about fat loss? Does it contain the same fat burning properties as green tea and wu-long tea?
White tea has been shown to promote fat burning in the body by preventing cells from storing body fat. White tea’s caffeine content also does help to stimulate the metabolism (without causing any jitters). But I will reiterate that white tea’s greatest claim to fame is still its extremely high antioxidant content, making its fat burning properties secondary and not as powerful as the fat burning properties found in Wu-long tea .
Rooibos Tea
Rooibos tea (pronounced “roy-boss) is a perfect choice for those looking for NO caffeine at all. Rooibos, also known as “red bush”, does not come from the Camellia sinensis tea plant as all the other previously mentioned teas do. Instead, it comes from the Aspalathus linearis plant which is native only to South Africa.
Rooibos tea has been found to contain some incredible health benefits without ANY caffeine. It has been shown to boost the immune system, treat hay fever, asthma and eczema, relieve stomach cramps and colic in infants and greatly help those individuals who suffer from heartburn.
As with white tea, including a cup or two of rooibos tea into your healthy eating plan will bring you some incredible benefits, but it is not widely known or used for fat burning and weight loss. So enjoy your rooibos tea for its immune boosting properties, not for accelerating fat burning.
Oh, and did I mention it also happens to be absolutely delicious?
I highly encourage you to experiment and try all the varieties of teas we’ve covered and find which one suits you best. A little raw honey, stevia or xylitol added to sweeten your tea will help make it a healthy alternative to any sugar filled drinks or those calorie laden “fancy coffee drinks” that so many people are currently addicted to (and spending WAY TOO much money on every day).

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