http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/health/the-05-anti-stress-drink-208112/
The $0.05 Anti-stress Drink Partner
by Cynthia Sass, MPH, RD, PREVENTION
If your stress-o-meter’s been off the charts lately, reach for a tall cold one—tea that is. A UK study found that men who drank black tea 4 times a day for 6 weeks had lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol than the guys given a tea substitute. They also felt more relaxed after (but not during) stressful tasks, like having to give impromptu presentations.
Within 50 minutes of finishing their speeches, the tea drinkers’ stress hormones sank by half, compared to a 27% drop in the imitation tea bunch. That’s a pretty impressive result, particularly since stress is a major health antagonist. Unmanaged stress can stifle your immune system, ramp up your hunger, and cause you to stow away excess calories in your belly, a location that ups your risk for everything from heart disease to type 2 diabetes and Alzheimer’s.
Tea already has an amazing track record as a rich source of antioxidants, it’s nearly calorie free (just 2 measly calories per cup) and it’s cheap—a box of 100 black tea bags costs less than $5, so it’s one of the best bangs for your buck at the supermarket.
I love it unsweetened but if you can’t stomach it plain, add a splash of 100% citrus juice (orange, pink grapefruit, tangerine) instead of sugar. Another recent study found that this combo boosts antioxidant absorption by up to 13 times.
Here’s a tea trivia trio:
- Tea is the most popular beverage in the world excluding water.
- White, green, and black teas all come from the same plant.
- Loose tea accounts for only two percent of tea sales in the U.S.
The $0.05 Anti-stress Drink Partner
by Cynthia Sass, MPH, RD, PREVENTION
If your stress-o-meter’s been off the charts lately, reach for a tall cold one—tea that is. A UK study found that men who drank black tea 4 times a day for 6 weeks had lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol than the guys given a tea substitute. They also felt more relaxed after (but not during) stressful tasks, like having to give impromptu presentations.
Within 50 minutes of finishing their speeches, the tea drinkers’ stress hormones sank by half, compared to a 27% drop in the imitation tea bunch. That’s a pretty impressive result, particularly since stress is a major health antagonist. Unmanaged stress can stifle your immune system, ramp up your hunger, and cause you to stow away excess calories in your belly, a location that ups your risk for everything from heart disease to type 2 diabetes and Alzheimer’s.
Tea already has an amazing track record as a rich source of antioxidants, it’s nearly calorie free (just 2 measly calories per cup) and it’s cheap—a box of 100 black tea bags costs less than $5, so it’s one of the best bangs for your buck at the supermarket.
I love it unsweetened but if you can’t stomach it plain, add a splash of 100% citrus juice (orange, pink grapefruit, tangerine) instead of sugar. Another recent study found that this combo boosts antioxidant absorption by up to 13 times.
Here’s a tea trivia trio:
- Tea is the most popular beverage in the world excluding water.
- White, green, and black teas all come from the same plant.
- Loose tea accounts for only two percent of tea sales in the U.S.
Bigger man than I! I bought an Absinthe Spoon from 1933 on eBay a couple of years ago, but only had the privilege to consume any about 2 times.