one tea please
Ever since I college started this year, I’ve been a tea addict. Even as I’m trying to spit out these words, I’m sipping from my all time favorite Zen Green Tea. Sure, it sounds like the typical cool college student thing to do, but have you ever thought that there might be powerful benefits to drinking tea? You may be totally surprised by these top 6 health benefits of drinking tea. (There’s specifically 10 benefits iVillage has, which you can check out by clicking here) You might even switch that Carmel Iced Coffee order.
1.) Tea contains antioxidants. Like the Rust-Oleum paint that keeps your outdoor furniture from rusting, tea’s antioxidants protect your body from the ravages of aging and the effects of pollution.
2.) Tea is calorie-free. Tea doesn’t have any calories, unless you add sweetener or milk. Consuming even 250 fewer calories per day can result in losing one pound per week. If you’re looking for a satisfying, calorie-free beverage, tea is a top choice.
3.) Tea increases your metabolism. Lots of people complain about a slow metabolic rate and their inability to lose weight. Green tea has been shown to actually increase metabolic rate so that you can burn 70 to 80 additional calories by drinking just five cups of green tea per day. Over a year’s time you could lose eight pounds just by drinking green tea. Of course, taking a 15-minute walk every day will also burn calories.
4.) Tea bolsters your immune defenses. Drinking tea may help your body’s immune system fight off infection. When 21 volunteers drank either five cups of tea or coffee each day for four weeks, researchers saw higher immune system activity in the blood of the tea drinkers.
5.) Tea protects against cancer. Thank the polyphenols, the antioxidants found in tea, once again for their cancer-fighting effects. While the overall research is inconclusive, there are enough studies that show the potential protective effects of drinking tea to make adding tea to your list of daily beverages.
6.) Tea helps keep you hydrated. Caffeinated beverages, including tea, used to be on the list of beverages thatdidn’t contribute to our daily fluid needs. Since caffeine is a diuretic and makes us pee more, the thought was that caffeinated beverages couldn’t contribute to our overall fluid requirement. However, recent research has shown that the caffeine really doesn’t matter — tea and other caffeinated beverages definitely contribute to our fluid needs. The only time the caffeine becomes a problem as far as fluid is concerned is when you drink more than five or six cups of a caffeinated beverage at one time
Friendly Tip: If you’re new to tea or just can’t get use to the taste, try adding honey!
Lovealways,
Katelyn
Credits: http://www.ivillage.com/top-10-health-benefits-drinking-tea/4-a-108301
Feed my face?
The Background Story: I was cursed with horrible skin; acne that is. Basically, all my high school years consisted of trying endless skin treatments from drug stores and hiding my face with pounds of coverup. To me, skin treatments were a simpler and more affordable way to clear skin rather then seeking a dermatologist. More so, I had heard about horror stories of using many drugs like Accutane and also didn’t feel comfortable enough to be put on the pill. Now that college is right around the corner, it’s about time to feel confident about my skin. I wanted to try something that I had faith in, so my doctor highly advised me to go on an antibiotic. So far, the antibiotic made some changes, but not yet the results i need.
One night, my mom and I were watching one of those medical health shows and came across something really interesting: food can have a great impact on your skin. Is it possible that I was not eating the right foods? So I looked into it more and found really fascinating info.
Dr. Jessica Wu’s Feed Your Face book brought up
really good health tips for a clearer face. Here’s a little summary:
Cosmetics companies, women’s magazines—heck, even most doctors—will swear that food doesn’t affect the skin. But celebrity dermatologist Dr. Jessica Wu knows that’s just not true. After years spent battling her own pimple-prone, “problem” skin (not to mention caring for some of Hollywood’s most famous faces), she’s learned that what you eat has everything to do with the condition of your complexion.
So stop thinking about food in terms of what you can’t have: no butter, no red meat, no fat, and no flavor. Instead, discover the foods that will keep you feeling full and looking gorgeous. Follow the FEED YOUR FACE Diet, and you can have pizza. You can go out for Italian, indulge in Chinese takeout, and dine at The Cheesecake Factory (with the help of the FEED YOUR FACE Restaurant Guide). Because you do have the power to change your skin. All you have to do is eat!
So try it out, and I’l try with you! If skin is probleming you, then there’s nothing left to lose. If you’re interested, Click Here!
Or Visit abcnews.com and watch a video to check more out.
-Katelyn
Get Fit with Apps!
One thing I love most about my iPod is the app store. There’s like a billion apps and so many can benefit your lifestyle. I came across a few that were perfect to share to all ya’ll looking to slim down just before summer wraps up. They’re really helpful and best of all, some of them are even free!
This app is awesome! With an iPhone 4, you’re actually able to scan food items and compare foods based on their nutritional value. They also give you pointers and health tips to boost your diet.
Eat St. is one of those handy apps you need for the road. I always have a hard time finding restaurants and cafes whenever I’m down in the city. Now, it’s easy. Just choose what looks appetizing, map it, and go!
This app is a must! I hate listening to the same music over and over again till you get absolutely sick of it. Pandora allows you to listen to new music you enjoy without having to purchase. Perfect for a workout!!
Having a hard time meditating? It can be tricky, but this app really helps you focus on your practice. Recommended by Yoga Journal and Self Magazine, this app is perfect for anyone!
For more health apps, visit the Mac App Store! Top Paid iPhone Healthcare & Fitness Apps
Create A Better, Happier You!
Recently, I had realized I had missed a valuable ingredient in staying happy and healthy this summer. Sure, I would love to look great in my new two-peice swim suit, but what we all seem to loose focus on is our health internally. Yoga and meditation is a powerful solution to balance our heart, mind, body, and soul. I looked up benefits of meditation and found some amazing information. They seemed to find 100 benefits, which you can read more on here, but I’ll just skim over the main pointers:
Physiological benefits:
1. Increases exercise tolerance.
2. Normalizes to your ideal weight
3. Helps in chronic diseases like allergies, arthritis etc
4. Cure headaches & migraines
5. Reduces Pre-menstrual Syndrome symptoms
Psychological benefits:
6. Builds self-confidence.
7. Increases serotonin level, influences mood and behaviour.
8. Increased Productivity
9. Helps with focus & concentration
10. Helps control own thoughts
Spiritual benefits:
11. Provides peace of mind, happiness
12. Increased compassion
13. Increased acceptance of oneself
14. Helps you discover your purpose
15. Creates a widening, deepening capacity for love
If this small portion of the list doesn’t persuade you to try meditating, i don’t know what will. Just remember that health is not only physical but emotional. Try meditating 15-20 minutes or more a day (Think of it as “me” time) and see how you feel. It’s a new thing I’m trying too, so you’re not alone. All you need is a quiet space and your full attention. We all could use a little TLC, so why not start with something so simple that can have so much affect to your everyday life? Let us know how your meditation goes. We would love to hear from others!!
If you’re unsure on how to get started, here’s some helpful links I was able to find:
Keep Calm and Exercise!
I found this really awesome blog while scoping out tumblr pictures. It’s another health blog, just like this, but with a lot of fun horoscopes and fitness!
Click Here To Check out Diet Horoscope’s Tumblr!!!
Sweet Nothings: A Total Sugar Addiction
From personal experience, It’s hard to stay healthy while having an enormous sweet tooth. I mean, who doesn’t like a bowl of ice cream once and a while? I came across this article in teen vogue driving home from my lake house. It really explained the main hazards of sugar and how to avoid the types of sugar that could be harmful to your body.
Click Here To view the article at TeenVogue.com!!!
Break Your Hunger Cycle!
Working out can work up an appetite! By personal experience, after a long day of work out, it’s hard not to pig out. Follow these 4 simple guidelines, I found in Yoga Life, to resist temptations and avoid eating back everything you burned off.
^^Healthy Tip^^: Even though your “dieting” or getting yourself into shape, there’s no need to restrain yourself from all time favorites like fast food. The key is to eat in moderation and exercise!! If you must, choose a smaller order of a favorite or limit yourself to 3 or 4 times a month.
1. Eat Every 3 to 4 Hours
Yoga Life explains that, “Giving your body a steady supply of calories keeps blood sugar normal during and after exercise, and can prevent excessive insulin responses that encourage excess body fat.” In other words, eat more often, just in smaller portions. Keep meals to 500 calories or less and snacks under 200.
2. Have Protein at Every Meal
Protein helps your appetite under control and allows you to feel full! For breakfast, try: eggs, milk, soy milk, yogurt, or oatmeal. And include nuts, beans, whole grains, low-fat dairy, fish lean meats and poultry throughout the day.
3. Load Up On Fiber
Bulky foods will fill you up on fewer calories. Try having your goal set to 25 to 30g of fiber per day! You can find fiber not only in Mini Wheats but black beans, spinach, raw carrots, and apples.
4. Water, Water, Water!
Exercise is more likely to increase your thirst. Skip out on Diet Cokes and Sugary Lemonades that only bloat you. Water is calorie-free and allows you to drink as much as you want, while feeling fresh! Drink up!
For more tips and ideas, please visit Prevention.com
Diary Entry #2
Emily’s Update: 7/26
Hey all! Just a quick update on my progress. I started my morning out with some oatmeal. Sounds boring, but it was actually delicious!
I added some fresh strawberries for flavor, and washed it down with one cup of fat free skim milk. I found out that there are actually some amazing benefits to starting your day with oatmeal. What you eat for breakfast affects your overall mood and energy for the whole day! Oatmeal is definitely a superfood, and a great breakfast choice.
- Oatmeal is a great source of fiber. One serving gives you 20% of the recommended requirement (About 25 grams of fiber per day)
- Excellent source of antioxidants.
- Studies have shown that oatmeal boosts immunity.
- Lowers cholesterol.
- Stabilizes blood sugar, and keeps you feeling full for a while.
- Eating a breakfast made with “slow-release” carbohydrates, such as oatmeal or bran cereal, three hours before you exercise may help you burn more fat, suggests a recent study in the Journal of Nutrition.
I definitely feel like my breakfast gave me a lot of energy for the day. I had another great workout at the gym, and a long bike ride this evening. I discovered a cool site today www.livestrong.com. It has some interesting information regarding health and fitness, and it also has a program called MyPlate. It helps with weight loss, but I really just like to use it to track my meals and fitness. Another good site is www.fitnessmagazine.com. It has different workout ideas and other fitness related information.
Tomorrow I plan on going shopping for some healthy food at the store, so pleeeeeease let me know if anyone has any recipes or food to recommend! :)
Some more on oatmeal: http://www.naturalhomeandgarden.com/natural-health/7-health-benefits-of-oatmeal.aspx
Good Morning Meals!
As you hear over and over again, breakfast is one of the most important meals of the day. So why not start with something that’s an all time favorite while still being good for you? My recipe of the week is Oatmeal Pancakes. I first made them a few weeks ago, after reading Yoga Life, and was shocked when I liked them better then regular pancakes. Top it all off with cut, fresh strawberries or blueberries and you’re good to go!
1 cup old-fashioned oatmeal
2 cups buttermilk
1 Tbsp canola oil
1 egg
2 egg whites
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 Tbsp brown sugar
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1. Mix oatmeal and buttermilk in large bowl and let stand for 2 min. Beat in oil, egg, egg whites, and vanilla extract.
2. Stir sugar, flour, cinnamon, baking powder, and baking soda in a small bowl. Add oatmeal mixture. Stir until combined.
3. Pour 1/4 cup of batter on to skillet after spraying and setting. Cook each side till golden.
Servings 16
Per Serving 98 cal, 5 g pro, 15 g carb, 2 g fiber, 2 g fat, 0.5 g sat fat, 151 mg sodium
Interested In More Recipes? Visit Prevention.com
