Back in 1994 I made a conscious choice to switch from drinking soda (Coke, Pepsi, Dr. Pepper) everyday to drinking tea. I didn’t want to go to coffee because it tastes way too bitter and I liked the fact that tea was the cheapest alternative, besides water of course.
So, I was pleasantly surprised to read about this story in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition about the benefits of tea. It turns out that drinking all this tea may actually help my joggling efforts and achieve my dream of living until 107. Here are some of the key findings from the article.
1. Tea re-hydrates you as well as water. It is a myth that caffeinated beverages like tea
and coffee are dehydrating. In very high doses, caffeine is dehydrating but the levels from these drinks are much lower than the amount of fluid they contain.
2. Tea is good for your teeth. It contains fluoride so it can protect against plaque and help prevent tooth decay.
3. Tea can help prevent heart attacks. It has something to do with the flavonoids in the cup. You gotta love flavonoids.
4. Tea strengthens your bones. As a runner / joggler you’re going to put on a lot of miles. All that pounding can be hard on your bones. The ingredients in tea help make those bones stronger.
5. Tea prevents cancer? Well, there is some flimsy evidence for this but it hasn’t been verified yet. But heck, I’m willing to delude myself if I have to.
The authors recommend drinking 1.5 to 2 liters of fluid a day. That’ll be a lot of trips to the bathroom! Actually, I easily drink 3 liters of tea a day. My most common choice is plain old Lipton Tea , although I enjoy flavored teas too. Green, white, and red are not ones I seek but I’ll pretty much drink anything.
So next time you come home from a long run, don’t go right for that sweet flavored colored water sports drink. Chug down 32 ounces of iced tea. You’ll be rehydrate, re-energized and repairing yourself all at the same time.
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Yeh, it might have all those benefits but it still tastes like dishwater to me…
Anita, you make an excellent point! After about 2 years I finally got to the point where it didn’t taste bad anymore. I take my tea with no sugar, no cream, nothing. And I sometimes get 1 liter of tea from a single bag. My personal best is 3 liters from a single bag. I like to say, “If ya got brown, ya got tea”. Admittedly, I have been known to just drink hot water after forgetting to put a tea bag in. I wonder if the hot water has any benefits. hmmm
try some real tea, no tea-bags. it’s delicious with candy and cream. use small cups and sip it very hot. this recipe is a good one (but it needn’t be as strong – only pretenders do this).
sorry, broken link: http://www2.lingsoft.fi/~simon/mampf/frisian_tea.html
Who in their right mind makes tea with cream?
Make your tea right (or move to England) and you’ll love it!
Warm teapot, couple of tea bags or even loose tea, hot water and bobs your mothers brother.
Add sugar and lots of milk to make a comforting ‘wet day’ drink, otherwise drink it with a little milk, just enough to colour it.
A scone with jam and clotted cream makes an ideal accompaniment, although the health benefits of this addition are yet to be debated.
Someday I think I’ll start a blog just about tea. I’ll become a collector and then be known as a world famous tea guru. Right after I crack this joggling nut.
Actually, I think the health benefits of tea go down significantly if you start adding sugar and milk. Then again, if it tastes good you should eat it. Eating healthy is overrated in my book. Even if spend your whole life eating healthy you are only going to extend your life on average by 3 months to a year. Is that really worth a lifetime of denile? Think about it
I’ve been adding Splenda to my lipton tea everyday…do I still get the same benefits of drinking tea?
I‘ve learnt from Lao Tzu. Today, I find worldly answers looking through God’s eyes and not from man’s logic and lab equipment.
I see “tap waterâ€, “bottled water†and especially “fizzy drinksâ€, are man’s creation, missing essential “Godly essences†for the healthy survival of man and animals.
Natural drinking water should be from lakes and streams that have been soaked with decomposing plant leaves, branches and roots, and the occasional dead animal. There, lays in this water, very important agents that keep germs and substances in balance for healthy living.
Civilised people of course, shun drinking from lakes and streams and are doing themselves a great disservice … thus coming up with deficient defences again diseases such as cancers.
But, the Chinese knew for centuries that boiled hot clean water soaked with fermented tea leaves, ginseng roots, certain mushrooms, flower petals and barks of trees, is at least near semblance to nature’s water. They don’t drink pure water, only tea and such likes, and for long before the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition report about the benefits of tea, and that tea is better than water.
Tom,
The next time you’re looking through God’s eyes can you see if you can figure out how I can shave 30 minutes off my best joggling marathon time. I could really use the help.
And remember, God created people and thus everything created by people is ultimately created by God. People are Nature.
Come to think of it, snake venom and the radiation from Uranium is natural too. Nature kills! I think I’ll keep drinking my man-made tap water. With a little tea dunked in no doubt.
Cindy,
Splenda in your tea doesn’t reduce the health benefits. Remember, God invented chemistry, and thus synthetic sugars, right Tom?
To: justyouraveragejoggler and Cindy,
Life-Spans VS Diets:
Tortoise (Veggies Eating) 152 years
Elephant (Plant Eating) 69 years
Horse (Plant Eating) 50 years
Lion (Meat Eating) 20 years
Dog (Meat Eating) 10 years
Bee (Nectar & pollen) 4 weeks
Butterfly (Nectar only) 2 weeks
From the table above, I would be eating much more veggies than meat and would be keeping away from honey, and not waiting for the Journal of Clinical Nutrition report on the benefits of veggies over meat and that sugar is bad for you.
I see heaven created nectar inside flowers to feed bees and butterflies, which in turn effect pollination for the flowers. Human has no part in this heaven’s arrangement. Hence, there is no cause to put “goodies†in honey for the human.
I see Chemistry and the Kitchen knifes are man’s created instrument and implements, to facilitate his endeavours and livelihood. They cannot be found naturally on earth.
Sugar also cannot be found naturally on earth, but artificially produced. You can blame God for getting human hook on His delicious mangoes, peaches and oranges. After acquiring the sweet tooth, man invented sugar for his convenience to dunk it any anything he eats and drinks.
To justyouraveragejoggler September 28, 2006:
I see God created all living things and each has as much care and attention given to. So man’s share is only a tiny portion of all naturally occurring activities. Snake venom is created for the snake and human is not part of the plan. And radiation from Uranium is another saga in the Grand Creation of our Universe and human is also not part of the plan.
I also could see in your next joggling test run, when no one is looking, you press the “pause†button on your stop watch. After 30 minutes, you cancel the “pause†on your stop watch. And at the final post, you would have shaved 30 minutes off that run.
Tom, some interesting points. Although you forgot to list the billions of species of vegetarian insects that die in about 2 weeks. And the species of tortises that are carnivorous. Interesting list though.
Sugar is clearly good for people as our consumption has increased and so has our average lifespan. 200 years ago when there was a lot less sugar eaten, people were dying in their 30s. Now that we eat lots of sugar, people live well into their 80’s and even into the 100’s.
I thought knives were invented in China.
Humans are composed of chemicals, molecules, atoms, protons, neutrons and electrons just like every other thing in the Universe. When we die, we are swallowed up by the Earth and return to our rightful place with all the other particles in the Universe. We are Nature.
Thanks for the running tip. Unfortunately, time cares not what a stopwatch has to say.
One golden rule for making tea… the water *must* be boiling when you pour it onto the tealeaves/bag. Otherwise it tastes ‘orrible.
Have a look at the essay written by George Orwell (yes, *that* George Orwell!) in 1946:
http://www.netcharles.com/orwell/essays/nicecupoftea.htm
Nice link Dan, thanks! I often drink tea made from non-boiling water. Of course, sometimes I just drink hot water so my taste opinion is not quite so sophisticated.
Justyouraveragejoggler,
Most people do not eat healthy because it might give you a few more years of life (and I do believe it’s many more years than yous state). Most, including myself, we have good habits now because it adds more vitality and youth to our lives NOW.
I actually enjoy healthy food. It’s not like a choice between what tastes good and what doesn’t….healthy food can be had in a delicious way.
I agree that meat eating is detrimental. Just look at people who eat lots of fresh vegetables and little or no meat, compare them to regular carnivores. The difference is striking.
Soliel, good point. The real benefits of healthy eating is how it makes you feel in the present not in how much longer you will live. But if someone can’t stand eating carrots instead of Twinkees then they shouldn’t be made to feel too guilty about it.
And vegetarianism is a perfectly fine way to eat but there really is no proof that it is much more healthy than a carnivorous diet. You can compare Ultra marathoners that are vegan to others that eat meat and there really (in terms of health) is no difference.
oh my goodness. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this thread. Thank you. I drink tea occasionally and find it tasty especially when you don’t add anything to it. Although sometimes I add a bit of honey. In regards to the person who asked about splenda…. it has been noted that artifical sweeteners are correlated with cancer. But what isn’t these days, there are so many chemicals we ingest that are not natural. In regards to people eatting sugar and living longer, I think that had more to do with antibiotics and medical advances than our sugar intake
I’m glad to hear I’m not the only tea-guzzler. I drink a full gallon of iced tea everyday.
I’ve been brewing half-caf for a while now (half regular teabags and half decaf).
And. . .I likes my tea like I likes my women: cold and bitter! (No sweeteners please!)
As for the other points–I’m also a vegetarian, but I don’t recommend my diet since it’s heavy on junk food. There is some evidence that extremely low calorie diets can greatly improve longevity, but . . . who would want to live like that?!
That reminds me of one of the lamest arguments I’ve heard against vegetarianism: eating meat is a more efficient way of getting nutrients. Who wants eating to be especially efficient? Most of us actually enjoy eating!