This is me trying to chill out with my little Korean tea mug.
My nice acupuncturist, Dr. Jiao, is always getting after me to de-stress. In Korea, it is customary to use tea to de-stress. I mentioned to him that I really like this green tea-ginseng combo tea, but that ginseng gets me too wired because I have too much of a “yang” personality (in the yin-yang circle, yin is female energy and yang is male) and ginseng is also very “yang.” He gave me a great idea to add a little honey, which is very yin, to the tea, and yippee, I can drink it.
Even better, on one of my favorite sites, I found a great article about how green tea might even help fertility, and at the very least, can make you healthier, fight cancers, etc. Here’s a small excerpt:
Why is green tea good for you?
According to some of the doctors, switching over to green tea can help you lose weight, reduce the risk of heart disease and cancer, or maybe even get pregnant, if you’re a woman and so inclined.
The healthful properties of green tea are largely attributed to polyphenols, chemicals with potent antioxidant properties. In fact, the antioxidant effects of polyphenols appear to be greater than vitamin C. The polyphenols in green tea also give it its somewhat bitter flavor. These polyphenols are associated with anti-cancer and anti-heart disease effects. Studies are still incomplete and inconclusive, but are pointing strongly toward having a protective effect against these two deadly diseases.
In the past, women having difficulty conceiving might have been advised to limit their caffeine intake. But recent studies suggesting that stimulating drinks, and specifically green tea, might boost fertility. In a study conducted at Kaiser Permanente Medical Care Program of Northern California in Oakland, researchers found that women who drank more than one half cup of caffeinated green tea every day doubled their odds of conceiving. No significant association was found for other caffeinated beverages; therefore researchers concluded that a chemical component of tea other than caffeine might have been responsible for the increase in fertility.
The rest of the article is at http://www.babyhopes.com/articles/greentea.html.
Pretty nice! So instead of just boiling water and throwing in a tea bag, I try to use loose leaf tea and my little tea set. For some reason I’m having trouble uploading the picture of the tea set; I’ll try again tomorrow (see? I’m not even stressed about it…).
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