http://www.care2.com/greenliving/green-tea-for-health-and-beauty.html
Green Tea for Health and Beauty
Adapted from The Book of Green Tea, by Diana Rosen (Storey Books, 1998).
Green tea does so much more for us than provide a few minutes of tea-sipping pleasure! Did you know that green tea has been shown to have many health benefits, including fighting the effects of aging and reducing the risk of some cancers? And green tea can also be used externally to make your skin glow, heal blemishes, cuts, and rashes, soothe strained or tired eyes, fight body odor, and more.
We’ll tell you more about the health benefits of drinking green tea, and give you the formula for a wonderful all-purpose Green Tea Soother Spray (you can use it as a mouthwash, a blemish-healer, and a whole lot more), as well as a great tip for keeping shoes and feet fresh. Learn the secrets of green tea for better health and body care. It‘s all right here:
Green Tea for Health
According to Professor Takuo Okada, “Vitamin E reduces the number of peroxide lipids, which slows down cell degeneration and the aging process. Green tea has been shown to be twenty times more active in this respect than Vitamin E.”
The polyphenols in green tea appear to reduce the risks of certain cancers. These powerful antioxidants help control the activity of free radicals, the unstable compounds that can destroy cells and are implicated n a host of diseases, not just cancer.
Researchers in Great Britain discovered that drinking four or five cups of green tea a day might help reduce both high cholesterol and high blood pressure, and that both black and green teas were shown to inhibit ultraviolet B light-induced skin cancers.
Green tea fights against flus and other viral diseases, strengthens capillaries, and prevents infection.
Green Tea for Beautiful Body Care
Green Tea Soothing Spray
This great soother has many uses (see below). Use unflavored, unscented plain green tea.
INGREDIENTS
1 cup green tea leaves
1 quart spring water
1. Steep the tea leaves in boiling water for 20 minutes.
2. Cool and strain the liquid into a sterilized bottle and refrigerate.
Uses for Soothing Spray:
1. As a cooling, refreshing bath splash.
2. As a perk-up for tired feet.
3. As an anti-fungal foot soak. Soak feet in a quart of soother and do not rinse.
4. Use as a mouthwash.
5. For minor cuts, rashes, or abrasions: saturate a cotton pad with soother and apply to injury for five minutes. Repeat. This can be done up to 4 times a day.
6. To soothe minor sunburn, soak a cloth in the soother and place on sunburned area. Keep on for about 15 minutes.
7. To freshen strained or tired eyes, soak cotton pads in green tea solution, squeeze out excess, and lay gently on eyelids. Let pads rest on lids for about 10 minutes. Repeat if necessary. This reduces puffiness and red eyes.
8. Use as a blemish remedy. Splash on face or dot on blemish with pure cotton. Do not rinse.
Great Idea for Fresher Shoes and Feet
A great use for leftover leaves after brewing:
Allow spent tea leaves to dry, then crush them and sprinkle in shoes and socks to help keep feet healthy. Or fill an old nylon stocking with the dried leaves and place in your shoes.
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31 comments
add your comment »i drink green tea every day -- have done so for MANY years now -- somewhere around 13 years. it's great stuff.
my favourite is tazo china green tips.
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I love using green tea on my face. I simply steep one bag of green tea in a little bit of warm water until done, apply the tea bag directly to my face, and freeze the leftover tea for the next application. It works great!
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I KNOW THIS ASIAN LADY WHO IS 10 YRS OLDER THAN I YET LOOKS 10 YRS YOUNGER!!!! IT'S ALL COMPLIMENTS TO GREEN TEA :-) THANKS FOR THIS ARTICLE!!! REALLY ENJOYED IT :-)
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I was wondering the same thing as Maryjane, did some research, and found you can get a green tea supplement, standardized and tested (and decaffeinated!) from http://researchedproducts.com/, under the name ImmuneGuard - it contains the Sunphenon brand of extract which is what all the studies use. I've been giving it to my dog (he has an untreatable cancer), and he's doing really well.
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In the good old days, Japanese used the wet tea leaves spread over the tatami mats to pick up the dust that came from broom sweeping. Now it's a vacuum sweeper. Oh, progress.
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Richard, I don't understand why you refer to Green Tea, purchased from Chinese groceries, as 'polluted produce'. Please, tell me more...
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I have seen green tea tablets, green tea gum, green tea nail polish. How do we know we are gettng the 'real thing"? I would like to take an extract, but don't want to waste my $$ on something that is only a 'come on'. Appreciate any advice...
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Most people don't know this, Darlene, but sarcasm *can* be constructive. And btw, the post didn't "bother" me. Did mine bother you?
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WOW! Richard........ How about being constructive...we are all here to learn not to get sarcasm! If things posted bother you that bad maybe you shouldn't read them or drink some chamomile tea first!
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Virginia, by all means, buy green tea from China, if you don't mind drinking polluted produce.
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