Tea Talk for Tea Lovers, Issue #006 -- Tea & Antioxidants, Is a Tea Career for You?
Welcome to Issue 6 of Tea Talk for Tea Lovers, our monthly newsletter about the many benefits of tea for health and wellness!
-- Is a Tea Career for You?
Teas and herbal tisanes are chock-full of benefits for our health and wellness and, thanks to traditional herbal wisdom and recent scientific research, we are becoming more and more aware of the many ways this amazing, delicious beverage can help and heal.
One tea benefit that pops up regularly in the news is tea's impressive levels of antioxidants. Yes, this sounds wonderfully healthy, but have you been wondering... exactly what are antioxidants, and why should I care if tea has them?
Keep reading to learn more about why and how the antioxidants that tea provides are so important for good health and longevity.
Understanding antioxidants means getting to know free radicals and what they can do to our physical and mental health. Free radicals are harmful molecules in our bodies that wage a continuous attack on our healthy cells, and the resulting cell damage puts us at far greater risk for serious health concerns. This cellular breakdown (or 'oxidative stress') speeds up the aging process, as well, causing our bodies to age and decline more rapidly internally and externally, too.
Here is where antioxidants become so essential for good health and wellness! Antioxidants are wonderful little substances that neutralize and protect us against the damage caused by free radicals.
Why do I need more Antioxidants?
Our bodies do have their own antioxidant processes that work hard to neutralize harmful free radicals, but, in today's stressful, toxic world, our own antioxidants often become overwhelmed and need some extra support. Providing our bodies with additional antioxidants helps us fight more effectively against factors that can cause more free radicals, like high stress levels, too much sun, unhealthy dietary choices (such as processed foods), toxins and chemicals in our water and food, smoking, and air pollution.
Not only do antioxidants' protective abilities slow, prevent, and even reverse the aging process, these molecules support our bodies in a wide variety of other ways, too. Antioxidants can also boost the immune system, increase metabolism, and improve energy levels.
Healthy food and beverage choices can provide us with some much-needed additional antioxidant support. Keep in mind that a wide variety of antioxidant-rich foods and beverages is important, because different antioxidants protect against and neutralize different free radicals.
Steeping and sipping a cup of tea is a quick, inexpensive, simple, delicious way to boost your antioxidant intake. Teas from the Camellia sinensis tea plant (black, green, pu-erh, oolong, and white teas) are excellent sources of antioxidants or, if you prefer caffeine-free beverages, many herbal tisanes, such as cinnamon, peppermint, ginger, and hibiscus teas, also provide impressively high levels of antioxidants.
So, whether you prefer a refreshing glass of iced hibiscus tea, a Brown Betty filled with steamy black tea, or a green tea popsicle on a hot summer's day, enjoy! Give yourself a pat on the back, too, because those healthy antioxidants are giving your body and brain health a wonderful boost.
Please visit us at https://www.theteatalk.com to learn more about tea, antioxidants, and the many other ways tea can benefit health and wellness. And, please keep in mind that teas and herbal tisanes can have some potential side effects, so ask your herbal practitioner, naturopathic or homeopathic doctor, or other healthcare provider about the safest, most beneficial teas for you and your family, too.
Did you know... Laboratory (test-tube) research indicates that the active ingredients in ginger can effectively prevent the growth and spread of certain types of cancer cells. More study is needed, but this early research suggests that potential cancer-fighting properties may be another good reason to brew up a cup of ginger tea!
Is a Tea Career for You?
If your current job isn't a good fit for you any longer, it may be time to consider reinventing your life and choosing a new career path. The right job not only enhances your life, but is personally fulfilling, too, since it nourishes, suits, and reflects who you really are. With the right job, you'll actually look forward to going to work, and feel energized and positive about yourself and what you're contributing to your world.
So, the important question... what is that 'right job'?
As a tea lover, have you ever thought of choosing a tea-related job? If tea is one of your passions, it makes perfect sense to pursue a career in tea. Imagine spending each day surrounded by tea and others who love tea!
A career in tea is another of the many ways that this amazing, healing beverage can nurture physical, mental, emotional, social, and spiritual wellness. Working with tea, in a field you love, can ease your stress, increase motivation and purpose, encourage relaxation and happiness, and simply improve your overall quality of life.
If you think a career in a tea-related field may be for you, you'll be amazed by the many possibilities, once you begin brainstorming and researching tea careers. Have you ever thought of sharing your love of tea with others by blogging about tea or launching your own tea website? If you dream of introducing others to new tea experiences, why don't you become a Tea Sommelier or Tea Master? If you're a talented craftsperson, have you considered developing your own line of pottery teaware, tea-patterned quilts, hand-carved wooden tea boxes, or knitted tea cozies? Do you absolutely love planning get-togethers, and do others compliment you on your amazing parties and celebrations? Have you thought of becoming a Tea Party Planner?
There are endless possibilities for jobs and careers in the field of tea. Maybe it's time to follow your tea passion and live the dream of a job in tea!
Drop by our Tea Careers pages to read about some other ways to pursue your dream of making a happy living working with tea.
I love fiction, and I love tea, so novels about tea always catch my eye! A new tea novel I recently read and thoroughly enjoyed was Teatime for the Firefly by Shona Patel, a wonderful story about a young woman, Layla Roy, living in India in the 1940s. The setting - India at the end of the Second World War, where the British-owned tea gardens and the country itself were on the verge of profound change - provides adventure, drama, history, and an exotic locale for Layla's love story.
When independent, unconventional Layla leaves her home to follow her new husband, Manik, to the remote Assam tea plantation where he is employed, she finds herself in fascinating new surroundings. As she grows to know her husband, Layla also learns to navigate her new world with its written and unwritten rules, British managers and their wives, native tea workers, her husband's demanding job, and wild, unpredictable jungle on all sides.
This book was magical and absolutely mesmerizing! Patel's enticing writing brings her colorful characters to life and draws the reader into Layla's world - the Indian communities, jungles, and way of life in the tea gardens of Assam.
Teas from the Camellia sinensis tea plant do contain caffeine, so, if you're monitoring your caffeine intake, it's important to keep track of how much 'true' tea you consume each day. Various health organizations (such as Health Canada and the Mayo Clinic) have provided helpful guidelines outlining the amounts of caffeine generally considered safe to consume each day for adults, teens, children, and pregnant and nursing moms.
However, a number of factors are involved in how sensitive each of us is to caffeine - such as physical size, age, physical and mental health, and how adjusted to caffeine our bodies are. So, in addition to keeping those recommended safe amounts of caffeine in mind, it's important that we pay attention to the messages our bodies give us about caffeine, too. The amount of caffeine one person considers 'normal' may be far too much for another, causing headaches, dizziness, diarrhea, insomnia, and other caffeine side effects.
Drop by our Caffeine Facts page if you'd like to keep reading about tea and caffeine.