According to this article, “One theory: The average 1.2 liters of green tea consumed daily by many people in Asia offers antioxidant protection.”

Certainly not a reason to start smoking but it’s interesting nonetheless.

1.2 liters.  I can’t say I drink that much each day. How about you?

L-theanine is one of the three secret ingredients in tea and only one other plant (an obscure mushroom) contains it.

Because of the way L-theanine affects the brain’s alpha waves, it relieves stress, anxiety and tension. In 2004, researchers in Australia compared L-theanine to Xanax, an anti-anxiety medication.  Ukra reports that “they found that L’-theanine tended to reduce anxiety during a relaxation phase of the study, while the drug had no such effect.”

Pretty cool.

I’ll have more posts about the information in Dr. Tea’s book, including the two other secret tea ingredients. Stay tuned.

This is according to a study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

This gives me yet another excuse to drink more green tea.

I left one superfood off the list because I wanted to devote an entire post to it.

Raw honey.

Mixing honey with your green tea gives it a nice flavor.  It’s best to let the water cool down a little before adding it so that you don’t lose too many of the nutrients.

I also have raw honey when I’m not drinking tea. I have 2-3 tablespoons a day throughout the day.

I do this because I recently read about how raw, local honey can eliminate seasonal allergies. So I and one of my daughters have started using it every day. We’ll see if it really does get rid of those pesky allergies. I’ll be sure to let you know one way or another.

Raw honey has other advantages too. It has antioxidants and B vitamins . It increases energy and can even eliminate bad breath. It also aids in digestion because honey has a lot of digestive enzymes in it.

It’s best to get it from a local source if you are hoping to eliminate season allergies. That’s because you want the honey to have the pollen from your local area and the honey will help give you immunity to those specific pollens that you are exposed to every day in the spring and summer.

Honey is also an appetite-suppressant. So if you are overweight and use green tea to help with your weight loss because green tea is an appetite-suppressant, go ahead and add honey to the tea. You’ll find you won’t need big meals anymore.

If you are a fan of both honey and green tea feel free to leave a comment.

Superfoods are packed with nutrients. They can help lower your cholesterol, reduce your cancer risk, strengthen your immune system and more. Without the side effects that drugs have.

Green tea is already part of your daily diet (I hope!). Here are some other superfoods:

• Beans
• Blueberries
• Broccoli
• Oats
• Oranges
• Pumpkin
• Salmon
• Soy
• Spinach
• Tea (green or black)
• Tomatoes
• Turkey
• Walnuts
• Yogurt
• Dark Chocolate

You don’t have to just drink it to benefit from it, however. Did you know that green tea can help prevent hair loss and other hair disorders?

The same antioxidants that help your body fight the free radicals that attack your cells also help your scalp when you use green tea shampoo. It protects your scalp from infections and gets rid of the impurities.

The catechins help inhibit 5-alpha-reductase, which contributes to baldness. If you like technical jargon, here’s what Dr. Marty Sawaya says about the the benefits, “Using green tea to grow hair probably relates to the evidence for influencing circulating hormones in the body. A high intake of green tea correlates to higher levels of sex hormone-binding protein – or globulin, which carries hormones like testosterone around the body in a bound, unusable form so that tissues cannot use it directly. Testosterone is usually carried around the body by this binding protein, therefore, reducing levels of free testosterone, so that it cannot be converted to dihydrotestosterone (DHT) in the hair follicle, which is thought to shorten the hair cycle and cause hair loss in men.”

So if you are at risk for male pattern baldness, not only should you make sure that your shampoo contains green tea, you should also drink it every day. You can take capsules instead but fresh, brewed tea is the best. It also relaxes the blood vessels and improves circulation, which also helps with hair loss.

Even if you don’t have hair problems, you benefit from this shampoo because it cleans very gently and leaves your hair lush because it nourishes your hair with vitamins and moisturizes it.

Try it for 6-12 months and see if your hair loss decreases. No clinical studies have been done but the only possible side effects are the effects of the caffeine, if you drink large quantities. So it can’t hurt to give it a try.

Hormones can produce excess oil and clog pores. The growth hormones during adolescence are at a peak, of course, and acne can be a reaction to these hormones.

There’s a bacteria on our skin called Propionibacterium acnes that people with acne have in larger amounts. This bacteria attracts white blood cells. These white blood cells produce. This causes inflammation and the red bumps characteristic of acne.

Green tea is an anti-bacterial substance and also helps regulate hormones. This is why you see it in many creams and other topical substances used to treat acne. In China, green tea is called “pimple tea.” In addition to the anti-bacterial properties, it helps cleanse your body from the inside and rid it of toxins.

The nice part about drinking green is not only does it help prevent you from getting more acne, it has many other health benefits too. Green tea has high levels of anti-oxidants because the leaves are steamed shortly after they are harvested, not fermented. These anti-oxidants fight the free radicals that wreck havoc on our cells and cause tissue damage, including acne.

Unlike many natural remedies, green tea is inexpensive and widely available. If you have never cared for the taste of tea don’t give up. There are many blends out there that are flavorful and not bitter. Experiment and see. Just don’t add sugar to your tea because it will dilute the anti-oxidants. A cup or two a day is all it will take to see a noticeable improvement in your acne and overall energy levels and well-being.