WHATS IN YOUR CUP OF TEA ?
"Black or white?"is a question increasingly being asked when you walk into a restaurant and ask for tea.
Black is what it sounds like black tea while white is if you would like a dash or two or three of milk.
Tea holds a special place in Kenyan households and hearts,it is the drink of choice that we give to welcome visitors into our homes and is a sign of the high esteem with which we hold them .
Tea is the preferred beverage o choice in most Kenyan households and many people will swear that their mothers way of preparing tea is the best.There have been broken hearts where tea was involved and it was brewed not quite up to perfection.
Some people do take their tea up a notch by adding spices like tea masala,cardamons,cinnamon or fresh ginger or rosemary.Al little while back I had a recipe for Chai Tea .
Tea drinking is embraced across many cultures in Africa,Europe,Asia the middle East and in the Americas.
Countries like China,Japan,Russia,England,India,Turkey,Egypt and Morocco have tea drinking traditions spanning hundreds of years.You have not really enjoyed tea until you have attended a Chinese or Japanese tea ceremony where in both of of these cultures tea holds a special seat of honor .
The tradition of tea drinking as a way to maintain a healthy lifestyle goes back hundred of years .According to early Buddhist texts,tea was described as a potent medicine for promoting good health,aiding digestion and relieving the symptoms that accompanied the common cold.
There are many varieties of tea available apart form the black tea,there is green ,white ,herbal and more recently we have been hearing of purple tea and its benefits.
For a country of tea drinkers like Kenya as well as for anyone who enjoys their tea,are there any benefits to a daily cup of your favorite hot beverage?
Apart from the effects tea has of refreshing and restoring us (I am sure you know a few people who cannot function without their favorite hot beverage),science is just now discovering the health benefits that accompany tea drinking.
According to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics,the biggest evidence in support of tea drinking has been attributed to the antioxidants it contains that have been found to improve heart health.
These anti oxidants found in both green and black tea which are different from what we get from fruits have been attributed to have disease fighting capabilities.
The work of antioxidants is to look for free radicals roaming around your body and to get rid of them.These free radicals are the cause of many degenerative diseases and also occur as a result of aging.
Antioxidants work by detoxifying the body of these free agents so that they do not cause disease through the damage of body cells.
Countries like Japan and China that have a tea drinking culture reportedly have less incidences of heart disease and some cancers according to John Weisburger, PhD, senior researcher at the Institute for Cancer Prevention in Valhalla, N.Y.
Caffeine is the stimulant found in tea as well as coffee is a mental booster ,elevates our moods and gets us started in the morning .Like all good things to be able to enjoy the benefits of tea it should be taken in moderation.
Drinking more than 3 tea cups(not mugs) of tea is advisable and it should not be given to young children and adolescents as it hinders the absorption of iron which young and growing bodies need lots of in order to grow.
Just out of curiosity I would love to know just how many cups anyone reading this takes of tea and how best they like it,brewed or instant though I must say instant tea has nothing on brewed tea(I might be biased).
As always we love reading your comments and suggestions,looking forward to seeing you in the comments later.
After having been to a couple of places where people take adult beverages and where I spend a lot of time people watching I have been struck by a few things.
There are more people drink than are consuming food.
And women are drinking nearly as much or more than men are (sometimes not always).
Drinking on an empty stomach does you no good whether you are a man or a woman and women are more vulnerable to the effects of alcohol than men.
First let start with what alcohol does to your body and let us start by watching this short video.
In many developed countries there are guidelines as to how much alcohol a woman or a man can take in a single sitting.The rest of this article is based on those guidelines.
I borrowed the guidelines from the Center for Addiction and mental health because there are many other guidelines supplied by other bodies and they recommend the same amounts of alcohol for both men and women.Research however has shown that women and men absorb and metabolize alcohol very differently.
Not more than 2 drinks a day for women,10 in a week is the maximum amount.
For men,not more than 4 drinks in a single sitting and not more than 14 in a week.
Women have less water in their bodies than men therefore their absorption rate for alcohol is higher than men with whom they may be taking a similar amount.
Research has also shown that women suffer more organ damage than men from the effects of too much alcohol intake.You may want to read this report that was done by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.
When you take alcohol, about 20% of it gets absorbed in the stomach but most of it will get absorbed in your small intestines .Your body will absorb alcohol faster than it absorbs nutrients and all of this action of absorption of nutrients from food happens in the small intestines.
Your liver is where alcohol gets metabolized and it takes an hour for the liver to process one standard drink of alcohol.A standard drink of alcohol is equal to a can of beer(5% alcohol),a glass of wine or a shot of liquor or spirit.
It is recommended not to take more than a drink in the space of an hour, more than this and your body gets saturated with alcohol and cannot absorb any nutrients from food you take as it is busy metabolizing alcohol.(A good reason to be alternating each drink with water).
What alcohol then does is that it interferes with the way nutrients from food get absorbed by the body.We have already seen that when taken together with food ,the metabolism of alcohol takes first place before anything else and interferes with how other nutrients from food get metabolized and absorbed and interferes with an individuals nutritional status.
When alcohol is being metabolized by the body it produces toxic substances that interfere with vital body organs like the liver.It is the reason why over consumption of alcohol leads to liver damage which can affect metabolism,blood clotting,drug metabolism and other body functions.
Alcohol has no nutritional value whatsoever as it consists of (mostly)water,pure alcohol(ethanol) and sugars in variable amounts which depends on type of alcoholic beverage.
Alcohol will interfere with your nutrition in two ways.
1.Through insufficient intake of nutrients.
2.Through intake of high fat diet and reduced physical activity it will lead to obesity.
Two nutrients of which alcohol intake affects their absorption and metabolism are proteins and nutrients.
Proteins are used by the body to build and repair tissues and are a major component of every cell in your body and vitamins play a very major role in your bodily functions-functions such as digestion,metabolism and immunity.
Part of managing alcohol intake as well as its effects is drinking responsibly.
1.Eating before drinking and avoiding drinking on an empty stomach.Having a high protein meal at least an hour before drinking is a good idea as well as snacking on something while drinking.
2.Not drinking more than the recommended amount of alcohol depending on your gender.
3.Alternating your drinking with water.
4.Keeping track of how much you are drinking.
5.Not drinking alcohol while on medication.
Having heard as well as seen the effects of having people's drinks spiked I thought I should add these two as well.
7.Do not just sit there drinking fro 5 hours,move around,dance take a walk and do not leave your drink unattended .
8.Go out and drink with people you know well and trust.
Has this post been helpful,we would love to hear back from you.We love and appreciate feedback.