10 Reasons to Drink Green Tea

10 Powerful Health Benefits in ONE Drink

(AscendHealthy.com) – You may have heard something about green tea and how you should drink more of this superfood special plant to help keep you healthy. It’s all over the internet. But is it just hype? Is green tea really that good for you?

Green Tea Benefits

Green tea has been used in Eastern medicine for approximately 5000 years to treat a variety of ailments. Modern research has found that green tea consumption might even prevent some problems. Let’s look at just 10 of the many benefits of drinking green tea.

Green tea helps slow aging. Loaded with polyphenols, bioactive compounds, antioxidants and flavonoids, green tea is good for your overall immune system and health. These active compounds help slow the aging processes both internally and externally, meaning you may look and feel better if you drink green tea.

It stimulates weight loss. Weight loss due to increased metabolism is one of the most researched aspects of green tea. When you drink green tea regularly, in concert with a healthy diet and proper exercise, you lose more weight than if you don’t drink green tea. In fact, you may lose as much as 3-4% more. The caffeine increases metabolism and the catechins — Epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), especially — help burn fat: A power punch weight loss combination.

Green tea reduces the risk of cancer. Oxidative stress and inflammation are both shown in studies to lead to cancer. That’s the bad news. The good news is that green tea has antioxidants that help fight oxidative stress and reduce inflammation. Green tea, when consumed regularly and the right way, can help reduce the risk of several types of cancer, particularly colorectal cancer, breast cancer and prostate cancer.

It improves brain function. Who doesn’t want a healthier brain? Drinking green tea regularly gives your body a boost of a low dose of caffeine, which is known to help keep you alert and temporarily improves your cognitive function. Additionally, green tea contains the amino acid L-theanine that works on the anxiety and stress part of the brain. Synergistically with caffeine, these two compounds make green tea the perfect beverage to drink before an important event, like a job interview or taking a final exam.

Green tea reduces the signs of aging in the brain. This includes both physically/medically and cognitively. Neurodegenerative diseases that are known to worsen with age, such as Alzheimer ’s disease and Parkinson’s Disease, respond to those wonderful catechins we talked about earlier. They help reduce the oxidative stress in the body but also in the brain, too.

It’s good for your heart. Drinking green tea can help your cardiovascular health and lower your cholesterol. It’s a delicious addition to a heart-healthy diet. It has also been shown in studies to reduce blood pressure when consumed regularly, which also benefits cardio health.

Green tea may help improve depression. It’s not going to cure all that ails you mentally and emotionally. But with other tactics like social interaction, counseling and/or therapy, green tea might help boost theanine — which is known to have a therapeutic effect on mood.

It’s both antiviral and antibacterial. Drinking green tea regularly may help you fight off those pesky seasonal colds. It’s antifungal, which makes it great as a foot or bath soak, so it’s good for your skin on the outside too.

Green tea reduces the signs of aging. While it helps your skin externally, because of antifungal properties, it also helps skin internally, from the inside out. The antioxidants help minimize collagen aging, which causes fine lines and wrinkles. Additionally, staying hydrated will make your skin softer and healthier, reducing the appearance of any fine lines you might have.

It helps with diabetes management. Green tea is a type II diabetic’s best friend because it’s been shown in studies to decrease blood glucose levels when consumed with meals. In fact, one group of studies showed that green tea significantly reduced fasting glucose levels and fasting insulin concentrations.

There you have it: ten reasons you should add green tea to your diet. Not only does it taste good, but it just may be good for you too. It might be time to brew a cup!

~Here’s to Your Healthy Ascension!