Green Tea Anyone?

I don't know about you but I am enjoying the cool weather. I've had enough of summer, gimme some fall! Maybe it is my Russian blood speaking but I do enjoy cold weather. It makes me feel ALIVE even when cold air is burning my face, and my fingers feel like icicles. But you know what? In the end, it is all worth it... especially after getting home and snuggling under a fluffy throw with a cup of tea.

I LOVE tea. I grew up drinking it and can't imagine my morning without a hot cup of strong, black tea with - no milk, thanks. Maybe a slice of lemon. But I have recently discovered green tea, and I have to say this: I may have found a lifelong companion. It is not as strong as black tea, although if you steep it for too long, it may taste bitter. Also, stores in Chinatown sell an ABUNDANCE of loose tea which is, supposedly, the best tea to brew. It comes in a variety of flavors so you can try a new one every day and never get bored!

But it is the health properties of green tea that I find the most attractive. And so I wanted to share with you some of my findings when I decided to research just what exactly is so good about green tea.

What's in green tea?

According to a Chinese proverb, "Drinking a daily cup of tea will surely starve the apothecary". This statement may seem a bit bold but not so bold after all! It turns out that green tea has been linked to multiple health benefits, including heart health and weight loss. The key features of green tea are antioxidants called flavonoids. They attack and detoxify free radicals that can damage DNA. This, in turn, can lead to atherosclerosis, cancer, blood clots formation, and heart disease.

This is a pretty neat chart here. It shows that as compared to other beverages, green tea contains the highest amount of flavonoids! A serving of green tea contains 190 milligrams of flavonoids, as opposed to 36 milligrams in a serving of orange juice, and a zero milligrams in a serving of coffee. 

So what makes green tea good for your heart?

 

The antioxidants found in green tea act as dilators. They improve the flexibility of blood vessels, making them less vulnerable to clogging. They also can help lower the LDL (bad) cholesterol and block its oxidation, raise HDL (good) cholesterol, and improve artery function. I found a couple of articles listing the results of several studies that were performed fairly recently. All of them confirm the positive impact green tea has on the heart health. One of them, titled "Green tea may lower heart disease risk", is here. Another article, "Health benefits of green tea", is here.

And what makes green tea good for your waist? 

There are three components found in green tea that can help promote weight loss. 

An antioxidant called EGCG (Epigallocatechin gallate) is one of them. Because green tea leaves are very minimally processed (they are steamed, and not fermented, like black tea), they contain more EGCG, and it is more concentrated.

Caffeine is the second component that can aid with weight loss. While green tea does not contain as much caffeine as coffee (24-40 mg as opposed to 100-200 mg), it is still enough for a mild effect. Together, these two substances can enhance the body's metabolism thus making it burn more calories.

Green tea can also help with fighting stress, which can also be blamed for weight gain, particularly around the waistline. In a stressful situation, the body releases cortisol, a "stress hormone", which makes the body switch into a so-called survival mode and store the fat instead of burning it.  So what does green tea have to do with it? It contains L-theanine, an amino-acid that interacts with dopamine, a brain neurotransmitter that is released by the brain as a "reward" after  certain types of activities. It also has a calming and relaxing effect which stops the body's survival mode.

So what does this boil down to (pun intended)? 

The antioxidants that are present in green tea can help with both heart health and weight loss. On one hand, they improve the flexibility of blood vessels, making them less vulnerable to clogging. On the other hand, they speed the body's metabolism thus making it burn more calories.

Just writing all this made me crave a cuppa! 

How about you?

Final Thoughts

Final thoughts are always tough for me because, well, nothing is ever finite. I feel, however, that I did learn a lot during this course. I have experienced two great books, and when I say "experienced", I mean that they made me work really hard, but also made me feel very rewarded, each in their own way. I am talking, of course, about Pedagogy of the Oppressed and Lives on the Boundary. Without reading Freire dry and lengthy prose, I would not have been able to appreciate the informal and engaging language of Mike Rose. However, in spite of being dry and at times repetitive, Freire let me in on some of his revolutionary ideas about the oppressed and the ways they could liberate themselves. I feel that both these books are still relevant today because, frankly, the more things change, the more they remain the same. Mike Rose made me feel less inadequate about my place in the academia by letting me in on the fact that most students come to college underprepared and need more help developing critical literacy than they are getting. With that knowledge, I feel that the pressure is now off... or at least it is not as intense as it used to be. I guess this knowledge also made me feel less alone and more a part of a larger whole, so to say. Ways with Words was another interesting reading that helped me widen my horizons. Things that other people do -- or say -- will never cease to amaze me, but guess what? People do things differently, and usually (but not always!) there is a method to their madness. I will try to be more open-minded about things... and I think this is probably what is most meaningful to me at this point, being more open-minded and accounting for all the differences between the ways people do things and LEARN things. 

It's been a really great class.

Wynne Ferdinand's Presentation

Lives on the Boundary Presentation

And here is the flyer for our Book Club's presentation last week. I wish we had more time to talk about the book because I feel it is such a great piece of literature, both in terms of format and content.

Presentation here

Book Review: Lives on the Boundary by Mike Rose

Here is a link to my book review of Lives on the Boundary. I have never written a book review before so it probably is a bit rough... I was struggling to sound academic and at the same time express my own opinion, which calls for a bit more casual tone. So this is what came out of it.

Book Review here

Great essay by Mike Rose featuring an older Jack McFarland! :-)

When the Light Goes On

Paolo Freire and Transformative Learning Essay - Final draft

The third and final draft of my essay on Pedagogy of the Oppressed and transformative learning theory. YAY!!!!!  All the revisions I did (as suggested by prof. Gleason) made it so much better. I'm pretty excited! It's been a long journey... but quite a productive one as well. Now I, too, can say that I read Freire, and I know what he's about!

Final draft