Chinese Green Tea

Of historical note,tea is nearly 5,000 years old and was discovered, as legend has it, in 2737 B.C. by a Chinese emperor when some tealeaves accidentally blew into a pot of boiling water. In the 1600s tea became popular throughout Europe and the American colonies. Since colonial days, tea has played a role in American culture and customs. Today American schoolchildren learn about the famous Boston Tea Party protesting the British tea tax -- one of the acts leading to the Revolutionary War. During this century, two major American contributions to the tea industry occurred. In 1904, iced tea was created at the World's Fair in St. Louis, and in 1908, Thomas Sullivan of New York developed the concept of tea in a bag.

The Chinese have known about the medicinal benefits of green tea since ancient times, using it to treat everything from headaches to depression. In her book Green Tea: The Natural Secret for a Healthier Life, Nadine Taylor states that green tea has been used as a medicine in China for at least 4,000 years.

Calories and Carbs and Fat, Oh My!

Regardless of how much weight you might want to lose, you'll no doubt run into the same confusing issues everyone else does. Should you cut down your calories? Should you reduce or eliminate your carbohydrate intake? Or should you just cut out fat? I know I get so confused by all the different information available out there, I sometimes wonder if it would be easiest to just stop eating.

Well, obviously, not eating can and will kill you, if you keep the fast going long enough. Some forms of juice fasts and even water fasting can be beneficial, but chronic fasting will impact your health. Particularly if you do any of this for long periods of time.

The problem isn't really that there exist so many opinions, facts, and theories on weight loss, the problem is that many of these approaches work. Going on a juice fast will make you lose weight. But staying on a juice fast for too long could create further problems down the road.

Now to talk about lowering calorie intake. The body burns a certain amount of calories in any given day, so taking in less than you're using will cause you to lose weight. The problem most people run in to with this approach is they become hungry all the time. Modern day foods don't keep most of us full and satiated for very long, but they contain quite a bit of calories.

So eating three simple meals of 400 calories each will give us a total of 1200 calories for the day. This is quite low for most men and women, but it will cause you to lose weight. Unfortunately, the three meals you choose to eat may not satisfy you, so you end up hungry or even famished more often than not.

You could try eating five meals totaling just 250 calories each and that will help quite a bit. You're not going so long between meal times, and you may not feel quite as deprived in the process. You have to be careful with your meal choices when going this route though because as I've said: Our modern meals are not overly low in calories. In fact, many quick snacks come close to having 250 calories all by themselves.

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So what about cutting fat then, and forgetting the calorie intake? The downside of the anti-fat diet is that eating foods with little to no fat will leave you hungrier than eating foods based on calorie totals. Also, an extreme anti-fat diet will cause health problems down the road.

Fat helps fill you up and keep you feeling satiated for a longer period of time. But even worse, foods without fat tend to have many more "fillers" in the form of sugar and starch. Sugars and starches are processed by your body quickly, which means you're hungrier again sooner. And many people make the mistake of thinking as long as they're not eating fat, they can eat "non-fat" products anytime they'd like. In reality, they're loading up on too many calories, and too much processed sugars and chemical-laden junk.

That said, of course there are fats you should limit in your diet. These are considered to be "bad" fats, and are called saturated fat or trans fats. Too many of these types of fat can cause health problems in addition to weight problems.

Now let's look at the low carb issue. Eliminating carbs all together was all the rage years ago, but that's not a wise move, as time has shown. Most of your healthy fruits and vegetables have at least some carbohydrates in them. So a better plan is to limit or restrict your carb intake instead of trying to eliminate it all together.

In fact, you should strive to choose healthy good carbs instead of simple ones. You can still limit the total amount of carbohydrates you take in each day, but be sure to eat those which are good for you such as what you find in vegetables or organic cheese.

I bet you've heard about the program where you're able to eat as much food as they want as long as you limit carb intake. Some practioners eat 3000 calories or more each day, but as long as they're restricting the carbs, they can still lose weight.

Why this works is quite simple. Cutting out quick, simple sugars, starches, and carbs from your diet will regulate your body's insulin production. And it will force you to eat alternative foods, which fill you up better and keep you full longer.

Believe it or not, all of these common approaches to weight loss work together. And they all work best when you cut out simple starches and sugars from your diet. Cutting your carbs very low for just a few days will kill your cravings for sweets... but it may also kill your appetite. In the end you actually consume much less calories overall, because you're not hungry often and you're not getting hit with sugar cravings. So a low carb diet will turn into a low calorie diet over time.

The same applies to low fat diets. If done well, you will find yourself eating more fiber rich foods to help you feel full longer. And foods which are naturally higher in fiber are also naturally lower in carbs and calories.

It all boils down to eating well. Choose healthy fats and healthy carbs, plus eliminate simple starches and sugars, and you will lose weight.

Comparing the Big Three Fad Diets

If you've been struggling with weight and losing weight for any length of time, and if you go to the supermarket, if you watch television, listen to the radio, read on the internet or do just about anything else that brings you into contact with the world, then you know that weight loss is a national obsession. This obsession is characterized -- and has been for decades -- by the periodic acclimation of "the only diet you'll ever need!"

Fad diets have come and gone over the years. Some linger, most are forgotten by all but those who might have lost weight, gained weight or been damaged by them. Some of the diets were so unhealthy that they garnered the warnings of medical America, or were loudly decried as dangerous and unhealthy. As early as the seventies, there were diets that recommended cutting out ALL carbohydrates and consuming only meat and proteins -- or the reverse, eliminating all proteins entirely.

The current "fad diets" include some of the most famous diet names in the recent history of weight loss: the Atkins Diet, the South Beach diet, and the Zone diet. All three have come under fire for their contention that one can eat a healthy diet and lose weight without restricting the intake of protein and fat-rich foods like meats and cheese. This flies in the face of conventional medical advice to restrict fatty foods in the diet.

So what about these three diets? Do they work? Are they safe? Can each of them, as claimed, form the basis for a lifetime of healthy eating? The answers are -- surprisingly enough to all three -- very likely. On the surface, each of them makes the claim that carbohydrates are bad, proteins are good, and you can eat all the protein you want and still lose weight.

How does that reconcile with the contention that a healthy diet is low in proteins and saturated fats, derives 50-60% of its calories from carbohydrates, and emphasizes whole grains and fresh vegetables as the main source of nutrition? Take a closer look at a typical menu recommended on each of the above diets and see.

Typical Meal Using USDA Recommendations:

3 oz lean fish (brushed with olive oil and garlic and broiled)
2 cups of spinach salad with grapefruit
1 tablespoon olive oil vinaigrette dressing
1 oz slice whole grain/whole wheat bread

Contains: approx 350 calories
20 g. carbs
15 g. protein
14 g. fat

South Beach Diet Dinner Menu:

Poached salmon with Greek salad.
Organic, nonprocessed jelly with low-fat topping

Contains: approx: 300 calories
17 g. protein
3 g. carbs
14 g. fat (olive oil in Greek dressing)

Atkins Diet Dinner Menu:

Spring Salad
Green Goddess Dressing
Maple-Mustard Glazed Baked Ham
Baked Artichoke-Parsley Cheese Squares
Roasted Asparagus
Atkins Coconut Layer Cake

Contains approx: 400 calories
18 g. protein
17 g. carbs
8 g. fat

The Zone Dinner Menu:

Baked salmon with fruit salsa (kiwi, blackberries, apple)

Contains approx: 435 calories
17 g. protein
10 g. carbs
5 g. fat

Notice anything? No matter how the ingredients are counted -- calories, carbs, exchanges, and food blocks -- the bottom line is the same. A healthy diet that will lead to lasting weight loss includes a balance of protein, carbohydrate and fats with an emphasis on complex carbohydrates and lean meats.

So pick the diet that seems to make the most sense to you - and use it as the start of a new healthy eating style for a healthier, slimmer you!