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Tea

The next time you sip a cup of tea, think of its health benefits. For example, its antioxidant properties are purported to reduce the risk and progression of cancer, boost the immune system and increase metabolism.

There is definitely scientific evidence showing benefits of tea. There is countless research on EGCG, the antioxidant touted for its anti-cancer effect. - Holistic Nutritionist Yondi Lee, defending the scientific basis of tea and its health benefits 

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Tea contains naturally occurring compounds called catechins that are believed to have antioxidants that neutralise free radicals in the body. Some scientists believe these can slow down the ageing process.

              There are several ways to categorise tea but according to tea specialists at Tea Chapter, Singapore’s largest teahouse, most tea houses grade them into six categories – green, white, yellow, oolong, red and black.

Green Tea

One of the purest grades of tea because it does not go through the process of fermentation. It is very high in antioxidants that boost the immune system, improve metabolism and may help to reduce the risk of lung, colon and skin cancer.

              A joint United States-China study on the health effects of green tea done in China published in the International Journal of Cancer, 2001, found that people who drank one to three cups of green tea daily had a 30 per cent lower rate of stomach cancer, whilst those who drank more than three cups had a 61 per cent lower rate of the disease.

              Drinking green tea can also help prevent arthritis. According to the Journal of Chinese Medicine, researchers at the University of Sheffield in Britain found that naturally occurring compounds in green tea can help prevent osteoarthritis, a type of arthritis caused by the break down of cartilage. It blocks the enzyme that destroys the cartilage.

              In addition, green tea is said to help regulate blood sugar levels and prevents cavities and gingivitis (inflammation of the gums).

White Tea

The least fermented grade of tea which is why it is very high in antioxidants.

              It is said to have 10 times the antioxidant power of vitamin E and contain high concentrations of polyphenols and catechins.

              This helps fight the ravages of ageing caused by free radicals in the body, reduces the risk of lung, colon and skin cancer, and strengthens the immune system.

              The Journal of Chinese Medicine also said that research carried out at the Linus Pauling Institute in Oregon in the United States showed that white tea is able to prevent mutations of DNA two to five times more efficiently than green or black tea, thus giving it greater potential in preventing cancer.

Yellow Tea

Similar to green tea but it is left to ferment till it is yellowish colour.

              Little research has been done on the health benefits of yellow tea, but according to Tea Chapter’s tea trainers (specialists who conduct courses on tea appreciation), it helps reduce heat in the body, which is why it is recommended as a summer tea. It is also said to contain bacteria-killing fluoride, which prevents tooth decay.

              Websites on the health benefits of tea like the Yellow Tea Guide also claim that the antioxidants in yellow tea prevent and ease cardiovascular diseases, promote longevity and improve mental agility.

Oolong Tea

Renowned as the ‘diet tea’, oolong is semi-fermented and famous for its weight loss properties.

              Health reports by Chinese pharmacologists said that polyphenols in tea activate the enzyme that is responsible for dissolving fats in the body, which results in weight loss.

              Tea Chapter’s tea trainers also said that the tea lowers the intake of fat from high-cholesterol meals and increases metabolism rates, while the tannic acid in oolong helps to lower cholesterol levels.

Red and Black Tea

These two types of tea are fully fermented tea leaves which contributes to their darker shade and stronger flavour.

              According to the Journal of Chinese Medicine, a study of 3,430 adults in Saudi Abraida published in 2002 found that those who drank more than six cups of black tea (also known as pu er Tea) a day had a more than 50 per cent lower risk of coronary heart disease compared to those who do not drink tea, even after considering other factors such as smoking, diet and obesity.

              Red and black tea are also said to lower blood pressure and prevent heart disease and strokes, which is why tea specialists recommend them to people above the age of 40.

              “However, too much will lead to stomach aches,” said Mr Kelvin Wo, spokesman for Tea Chapter.

Floral and Fruit Tea

They are considered modern fusions of Chinese tea and are not part of the six main grades of Chinese tea. These are a combination of tea and dried flowers or preserved fruits.

              Floral tea is said to be good for eyes and skin and helps you feel relaxed.

              “Chrysanthemum tea clears your mind and gives better eyesight,” said Mr Chin Chew Seng, a traditional Chinese medicine Physician.

              Fruit tea, rich in vitamin C, is good for digestion and the complexion, sharpens eyesight and clears the taste buds, said Mr. Wo.

- Wong Mei Ling 

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Reading the leaves

Green Tea

Claims: Helps regulate blood sugar levels and prevents cavities and gingivitis.

White Tea

Claims Helps fight the ravages of ageing, reduces the risk of lung, colon and skin cancer and strengthens the immune system.

Yellow Tea

Claims: Helps reduce heat in the body and is said to contain fluoride which prevents tooth decay.

Oolong Tea

Claims: The polyphenols in the tea activate the enzyme responsible for dissolving fats in the body while the tannic acid helps to lower cholesterol levels.

Black Tea

Claims: According to a study, those who drink more than six cups a day lower the risk of coronary heart disease by more than 50 per cent

Red Tea

Claims: Both red and black tea are said to lower blood pressure and prevent heart disease and strokes.

Floral Tea

Claims: Good for the eyes and skin and helps in relaxing the body.

Fruit Tea

Claims: Rich in vitamin C it is good for digestion and the complexion, sharpens eyesight and clears the taste buds.

The Course Of Life

In nature, the withering of the flower is as important as its blooming. They are both phenomena which are a part of a series of changes called Cause and Effect. In a sentient being, such as man, there is an idealizing of one of these changes more than of the other.

Man arbitrarily divides nature’s cycles, calling the beneficial phase positive and the other, negative. He seeks to evade the decline because it is unpleasant to him. He has successfully prolonged life but he can never evade the eventual retrogression which must follow to complete the cycle of life.

As one grows older, one should, of course, endeavour in every way to lessen the severity of the impact of physical deterioration. The former pleasures of living in the physical sense, which have meant so much, should be mitigated in later years by new mental and emotional satisfactions.

In the mellowness of life, new positive living may be found in a response to the higher sentiments and psychic inclinations. The aggressive healthy younger person often finds too many satisfactions in objective living to concern himself deeply with the mysteries of life. The cosmic role that one should play in his relationship to all reality, however, usually provides a greater satisfaction to the mature mind. The physical desires which once seemed ultra-important and the notions and things associated with them lose their lustre with the passing of the years. One finds to a greater extent that the pleasures associated with them were either illusionary or evanescent. The interests of a psychic or moral nature which seemed intangible in the past and, by contrast to material satisfaction, less stimulating, can be more assuredly cultivated in the later years. One will then find much happiness in the expression of his aesthetic tastes which may have been un-awakened or unexpressed.

Instead of becoming embittered by the advance of age and its gradual physical retardment, one should reorient his interests. He should venture into the realm of his psychic inclinations and meditations. He should find in life images or symbols to objectify the reactivated feelings of impersonal love and sympathy that pour from the depth of his own being as he allows himself to be conscious of the more subtle impulses of his nature.

Detach your consciousness from the myriad changes, the events and happenings in the stream of life. Stop struggling with the tide, for a time at least. Climb up on the bank and watch the course of life which in itself has majesty and beauty. It will evoke our admiration of its pulsating power and omniscience. 

Treated

              A man walked into a bar and ordered a glass of wine. He took a sip of the wine, and then tossed the remainder into the bartender’s face. 

              Before the bartender could recover from the surprise, the man began weeping. ‘’I’m really sorry. I keep doing that to bartenders. I can’t tell you how embarrassing it is to have a compulsion like this.’’ 

              Far from being angry, the bartender was sympathetic. Before long, he was suggesting that the man see a psychoanalyst about his problem. 

              “I happen to have the name of a psychoanalyst,’’ the bartender said. “My brother and my wife have both been treated by him, and they say he’s as good as they come.”

              The man wrote down the name of the doctor, thanked the bartender, and left. The bartender smiled, knowing he’d done a good deed for a fellow human being. 

              Six months later, the man was back. “Did you do what I suggested?” the bartender asked, serving the glass of white wine. 

              “I certainly did,” the man said. I’ve been seeing the psychoanalyst twice a week.” He took a sip of the wine. He then threw the remainder into the bartender’s face. 

              The flustered bartender wiped his face with a towel. “The doctor doesn’t seem to be doing you any good,’’ he spluttered. 

              “On the contrary,” the man replied. “He’s done me a world of good.”

              “But you just threw the wine in my face again!” the bartender exclaimed.

              “Yes,” the man said. “But it doesn’t embarrass me anymore!”

You Tell On Yourself

You tell on yourself by the friends you seek, 

By the very manner in which you speak, 

By the way you employ your leisure time, 

By the use you make of dollar and dime. 

You tell what you are by the things you wear, 

By the spirit in which your burdens bear, 

By the kind of things at which you laugh, 

By the records you play on your phonograph. 

You tell what you are by the way you walk, 

By the things of which you delight to talk, 

By the manner in which you bear defeat, 

By so simple a thing as how you eat. 

By the books you choose from a well-filled shelf – 

In these ways, and more, you tell on yourself. 

So really there's not a grain of sense 

In trying to keep up a false pretense. 

- Author Unknown 

Be Yourself

Feeling good about yourself is essential to feeling good about life. If we want to be happy in spite of the ups and downs in life, we must be fair and honest with ourselves. We must accept ourselves for who we are – to know our strength and weaknesses. 

We tend to undervalue our talents and question our worth. We are hesitant about accepting a new challenge because we convince ourselves that we haven’t the resources to meet it.

We are born with the potential of achieving greatness in our own way. And it is our responsibility to find out where our strength lies in order to attain the greatness that we are capable of.

Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities! Everything you need you already have. You are complete right now, you are a whole, total person. You can do anything you think you can. 

You should remember that though another may have more money, beauty, and brains than you, when it comes to the rarer spiritual values such as charity, self-sacrifice, honour, nobility of heart, you have an equal chance with everyone to be the most beloved and honoured of all people. 

Every one of us is unique and special. No two persons are alike. We are all different, and that’s the beauty of it. Do not wish to be anything but what you are, and try to be that perfectly.

Fire

Pretty good shots of the bushfire in Victoria – Australia. The fury, the rage, the destruction ... Unfortunately, behind these pictures lie the tragic stories of lost lives – both human and wild.

The fire which enlightens is the same fire which consumes. - Henri Frederic Amiel

Coffee Drinkers Less Likely To Get Dementia

Drinking coffee may do more than just keep you awake. A new study, published recently in The Journal Of Alzheimer’s Disease, suggests it may keep dementia at bay too.

A team of Swedish and Danish researchers tracked coffee consumption in a group of 1,409 middle-aged men and women for an average of 21 years. During that time, 61 participants developed dementia and 48 had Alzheimer’s disease.

After considering numerous socio-economic and health factors, including high cholesterol and high blood pressure, the scientists found that those who drank three to five cups of coffee daily were 65 per cent less likely to have dementia, compared to those who drank two cups of less. People who drank more than five cups a day were also at reduced risk of dementia, but there were not enough people in this group to draw statistically significant conclusions. 

Dr Mia Kivipelto, an associate professor of neurology at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm and lead author of the study, does not as yet advocate drinking coffee as a preventive health measure. “We have no evidence that for people who are not drinking coffee, taking up drinking will have a protective effect.”

Dr Kivipelto and her colleagues suggested several possibilities for why coffee might reduce the risk of dementia. First, studies have linked coffee consumption to a decreased risk of Type 2 diabetes, which has been associated with higher risk of dementia.

In animal studies, caffeine has been shown to reduce the formation of amyloid plaques in the brain, one of the hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease. Finally, coffee may have an antioxidant effect in the bloodstream, reducing vascular risk factors for dementia.

Dr Kivipelto noted that studies have shown coffee drinking may also be linked to a reduced risk of Parkinson’s disease.

- The New York Times

Names and Labels

There is a reason why I find this article interesting and worthy to post. However, I just couldn’t find the words to express my thoughts. Maybe at a later date, when my mind is not too cloudy, I will be able to express what I am trying to say. 

Things of themselves do not exist according to the distinctions by which mankind knows them. This applies also to mankind himself; and on this point as to the nature of man, the creation stories – in any religious scripture – provide a variety of comments.

To us now, it may seem that names for most things have been that way from the beginning; we assume (especially as children) that our part is only to discover and learn all those names.

Yet in their origin it was mankind who created them – constituting his world according to how he sees and labels pieces of it. True, the fashion of labelling changes; much that purports to be ‘new knowledge’ is really a new way of organizing how we look at things, what we look for, and therefore what we see. This applies not only to the physical world of science but also to the world of psychical or spiritual experiences.

- Edgar Wirt 

Time To Swear

              A seven year old and a four year old are upstairs in their bedroom.

              “You know what?” says the seven year old. “I think it’s about time we start swearing."

              The four year old nods his head in approval.

              “When we go downstairs for breakfast, I’m gonna swear first, then you swear after me, OK?”

              “OK.” The four year old agrees with enthusiasm.

              The mother walks into the kitchen and asks the seven year old what he wants for breakfast.

              “Oh, shit mum, I guess I’ll have some Coco Pops.”

              Whack! He flew out of his chair, tumbled across the kitchen floor, got up and ran upstairs crying his eyes out.

              She looked at the four year old and asked with a stern voice, “And what do YOU want for breakfast, young man!?”

              “I don’t know,” he blubbers, “but you can bet your fuckin’ ass it won’t be Coco Pops.”