Archive for August, 2009
Press, One-cup and Drip Coffee Makers
Drip and Presses and One-Cups, oh my! When it comes to coffee makers, java junkies are spoiled for choice, so here are my thoughts on the three types.
French Press ($15 plus)
One Cup Mini ($100 plus)
Drip Programmable ($120 plus)
Greeen with healthy TEA
Why Green Tea?
What makes green tea so special? It has a lot wellness benefits combined with a modest and delightful flavor give brought green tea almost instant fame over the last a couple of years. As a lot more is found out around about the cancer preventive attributes and other health views of the drink, green tea will continue to be amongst the world’s most sensible and healthiest beverages.
Green Tea represses Certain Cancer Risks
There have been research studies across the world that feature clear evidence that green tea inhibits the growing of cancerous cells, in effect cutting your chance of certain types of cancer. Green tea has been proven to diminish the risk of esophageal cancer, colon cancer, prostate cancer and cervical cancer. There are claims that green tea can preclude other forms of cancer as well.
Green tea in Your Diet
Gr
een Tea is better in Your Diet, Your Skin and yes even Your Teeth. Green tea has exhibited in several reports to greatly improve calorie burning in a normal diet. It in addition to is commonly being used as a primary component in many skin care products such as creams and including deodorants.
Drinking green tea aids in improving your teeth by reducing and precluding tooth decay. The same property that depletes plaque forming bacterium in your mouth could as well forestall food poisoning.
Green Tea cuts down Cholesterol
Certain chemical element* in green tea have been shown to trim levels of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, or the bad cholesterin, improving the total cholesterol ratio. 
Several scientists nowadays believe that the same natural components found in green tea are responsible for the reduced cases of heart disease amongst the French in spite of their smoking and diets rich in fats. The like is true of the Japanese. There is a very low case of heart disease in Japan despite 75 percent of Japanese males smoking on a regular basis.
Getting to Know Oolong

If you’re looking to branch out in your tea repertoire, try oolong tea. It is a traditional Chinese tea that’s somewhere between green and black in oxidation. It has a taste more akin to green tea, but lacks its grassy notes. It’s commonly brewed strong and has a bitterness that leaves a sweet aftertaste. In fact, oolong tea is unique in that high quality oolong can be brewed multiple times from the same leaves, and the flavor improves with reuse. Typically the third or fourth steeping is the best.
Oolong tea is often scented with jasmine flowers. A popular jasmine-scented tea is known as Dragon Pearls, which come rolled into tiny balls of leaves. When you add water to them, the pearls (or leaves) unroll. This is a fun way to make oolong tea, since it provides not only a delicious drink, but entertainment as well!
Drip Coffee Machine
Looking for the basic to the over the top functional Drip Coffee Machine, your are bound to find one that meet all your need.
Here are some of the features that you may want to consider when purchasing a Drip Coffee Machine. In my humble opinion the primary factor is VALUE.
- Price
- From Single cup pods to 4, 8 or 12 cups
- Programmable flavour and cup setting
- Heating plate time
- 24-hour timer for wake-up coffee
- Grind and brew machine
- Fast-brewing technology; brew-pause functions
- Type of filter; mesh or paper
- Stainless Steel or Glass carafe
- Water-level indicator
- De-scaling indicator
- Dishwasher-safe parts
- Dimensions of unit, suitable to counter space and location.
- Warranty
Read the reviews, they provide much insight into how others the product. You know what you are looking for; if you spot a review with a similar sentiment, then perhaps that is the product you should be considering. It is relatively easy to find reviews where customers have rated coffee makers.
There are thousands of reviews which will tell you which coffee makers are good based on the consumers own views. Download the reviews and compare; this is certain to give you the best chance of making an informed decision.
Pour yourself a cup of coffee and read the reviews.
Drink It For Health
Go ahead: That cup of joe won’t hurt you, the latest research says. It might even help you.
Coffee drinkers, rejoice! The heavenly brew, once deemed harmful to health, is turning out to be, if not quite a health food, at least a low-risk drink, and in many ways a beneficial one. It could protect against diabetes, liver cancer, cirrhosis and Parkinson’s disease.
What happened? Lots of new research, and the recognition that older, negative studies often failed to tease apart the effects of coffee and those of smoking because so many coffee drinkers were also smokers.
“Coffee was seen as very unhealthy,” said Rob van Dam, a coffee researcher and epidemiologist at the Harvard School of Public Health. “Now we have a more balanced view. We’re not telling people to drink it for health. But it is a good beverage choice.”
As you digest the news on coffee, keep in mind that coffee and caffeine are not the same thing. In fact, “they are vastly different,” said coffee researcher Terry Graham, chairman of Human Health and Nutritional Sciences at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada. One can be good for you; the other, less so.
“Coffee is a complex beverage with hundreds, if not thousands, of bioactive ingredients,” he said. “A cup of coffee is 2% caffeine, 98% other stuff.”
Health Benefits of Green Tea (part 5 of 5)
Inhibits Atherosclerosis
Green tea has been shown to effectively lower risk of atherosclerosis by lowering LDL cholesterol, triglycerides, lipid peroxides (free radicals that damage LDL cholesterol and other lipids or fats) and fibrinogen (a protein in the blood involved in the formation of blood clots), while improving the ratio of LDL (bad) to HDL (good) cholesterol.
In animal studies in which green tea was given in human equivalent doses to hamsters, atherosclerosis was inhibited 26-46% in those receiving the lower dose (equivalent in humans to 3-4 cups per day) , and 48-63% in those receiving the higher dose (10 cups a day in humans).
Special Benefits for Persons with High Triglycerides 
Green tea may offer special heart-protective benefits for persons with high triglycerides, suggests a laboratory study, published in the February 2005 issue of the Journal of Nutrition.
A series of experiments revealed that the mix of catechins naturally found in green tea dose-dependently inhibit the activity of pancreatic lipase, the enzyme secreted by the pancreas that digests fat. As a result, the rate at which the body breaks down of fats into triglycerides, and the rise of triglyceride levels in the bloodstream that occurs after meals, is greatly slowed.
Since a large rise in blood levels of triglycerides after a meal is a significant risk factor for coronary heart disease, drinking a cup of two green tea along with your meals is a good idea, especially if your triglyceride levels are higher than normal.
Health benefits of tea.
Thins the Blood and Helps Prevent Blood Clots.Green tea catechins help thin the blood and prevent the formation of blood clots by preventing the formation of pro-inflammatory compounds derived from omega-6 fatty acids, which are found in meats and polyunsaturated vegetable oils such as corn, safflower and soy oil. These pro-inflammatory compounds-specifically, arachidonic acid from which the inflammatory cytokines thromboxane A2 and prostaglandin D2 are derived-cause platelets to clump together.
Protects the Heart in Patients with Acute Cardiovascular Disease
The primary catechin in green tea, EGCG (epigallocatechin-3-gallate) confers such powerful protection that it can help prevent the death of heart muscle cells following ischemia/reperfusion injury. Ischemia is the medical term for a restriction in blood supply and therefore in oxygen and nutrients. When circulation is restored, oxidative damage occurs, and this is referred to as reperfusion injury.
Health Benefits of Green Tea (part 4 of 5)
HEALTH BENEFITS OF TEA cont’d
Given the significant benefit green tea can provide, even to those who are not especially health conscious, just imagine its health-protective potential as part of your healthy way of eating!
If you simply cannot start your day without a cup of coffee, try enjoying a cup of green tea at your mid-morning break, with lunch or as an afternoon pick-me-up. You’ll quickly discover green tea’s irresistible combination of invigorating and calming qualities, plus its delicious flavor, make it one of your favorite healthy habits.
Protects against Coronary Artery Disease
In Japanese studies, green tea consumption has been found to be an independent predictor for risk of coronary artery disease. In one study, those drinking 5 or more cups of green tea each day were found to be 16% less likely to suffer from coronary artery disease. The relationship was so significant researchers concluded, “The more green tea patients consume the less likely they are to have coronary artery disease.”
An elevation in the amount of free radicals in the arteries is a key event in many forms of cardiovascular disease. The latest research shows that green tea catechins inhibit the enzymes involved in the production of free radicals in the endothelial lining of the arteries. The arterial endothelium is a one-cell thick lining that serves as the interface between the bloodstream and the wall of the artery where plaques can form. By protecting the endothelium from free radical damage, green tea catechins help prevent the development of cardiovascular disease.
For more health related articles like these visit http://www.whfoods.com
Health Benefits of Green Tea (part 3 of 5)
The study, which began in 1994, followed 40,530 adults, ranging in age from 40 to 79, in northeastern Japan for up to 11 years. Within this region, 80% of the population drinks green tea with more than half consuming at least 3 cups a day.
Compared with participants who consumed less than 1 cup of green tea per day, those drinking 5 or more cups a day had a significantly lower risk of death from all causes and, specifically, risk of death from CVD, with women receiving even stronger protection than men:
| Health Benefits of Green Tea | |
|---|---|
| In Women | In Men |
| 23% lower risk of dying from any cause | 12% lower risk of dying from any cause |
| 31% lower risk of dying from CVD | 22% lower risk of dying from CVD |
| 62% lower risk of dying from stroke | 42% lower risk of dying from stroke |
Only weak or neutral relationships were seen between black tea or oolong tea and all-cause or CVD mortality.
While this study found no cancer-preventive benefit from drinking green tea, other large studies, including a meta-analysis of 13 studies published July 2006 in Carcinogenesis (Sun CL et al), suggest that green tea reduces risk of breast cancer. In this study, compared to women who did not drink green tea, those consuming the most green tea were 22% less likely to develop breast cancer.
Often in studies, the effects of a certain health-promoting behavior are likely to be confounded by the fact that those who try to follow a healthy lifestyle practice a variety of healthy habits. In this study, however, since green tea is the most commonly consumed beverage in Japan, it is unlikely that study participants were choosing to drink green tea primarily for their health, and thus also unlikely that the significant drop in risk of death due to all causes and CVD was due to other habits related to health consciousness.
For more health related articles like these visit http://www.whfoods.com


