Green Tea - healthful choices:
Green Tea - to replace coffee?
Many coffee drinkers have a hard time switching to green tea - with a mild flavour, and prone to tasting bitter if boiled. Coffee may be working well for you, but for many people it is overly stimulating and can increase anxiety and systemic inflammation too much. If you don't want to give up coffee, but want to know if you could benefit from incorporating green tea, read on too!
**Note: if you use coffee as a laxative to support daily bowel motility, know there are other options worth investigating! Try herbal teas like ginger and chamomile to support bowel motility, and check that you are getting enough fiber and fluids! If bloating or stomach pain are fairly regular occurrences, let's investigate and resolve your issues - this may be a sign of SIBO or fungal overgrowth like Candida.
Green tea - medicinal effects for many health issues: offers a high antioxidant boost - from polyphenols (catechins - including EgCG), vitamins (C, E, carotenoids) and amino acids (L-theanine). There are many studies on the benefits of green tea, including for:
calming anxiety, supporting sleep/insomnia, improving working memory/ cognition (L-theanine extracts - modulate glutamate, boost GABA, and gently support dopamine and serotonin),
migraines (antioxidants & polyphenols - reduce neuroinflammation, stabilizes serotonin in hormonal/
cyclic migraines)
metabolic health (fatty liver, pre-diabetes/insulin resistance, high cholesterol/triglycerides), PCOS, fibroids, endometriosis (EgCG extracts and other polyphenols) *see lab testing recommendations below to monitor metabolic health!
Drinking a cup of green tea is a simple way to get all of these in one place - about 10-60mg of L-theanine and 50-140mg of EgCG per cup (most in gyokuru).
Green tea - choosing a variety & brewing tips: Choose Japanese sourced for the cleanest option (lowest toxins - including lead, other heavy metals) - organic is less important that choosing Japanese. There are number of varieties, from sencha to finer fragrant variants like gyokuru which is highest in antioxidants. The best temperatures to steep green tea is "drinking temperature" or ~ 140 F (for gyokuru) to 180 F (for sencha) - or you can let freshly boiled water sit for about 15 minutes before adding the tea. The tea should steep for only 2-3 minutes.
Avoiding really hot drinks: There is research to say that hot beverages over 149 F is probably carcinogenic to humans (esophagus). So let all your hot drinks cool sufficiently before drinking them! Brewing green tea at low temperatures to start with can help!
What about matcha? I would recommend gyokuru green tea over matcha for best anitoxidant value and lowest risk of toxins. However, consuming the whole leaf in match can increase total antioxidants compared to a sencha variety. If opting for matcha, be sure to choose a clean Japanese source, since consuming a whole leaf can increase the absorption of any toxins absorbed in the plant (lead, heavy metals, fluoride). Matcha also has the highest caffeine (up to 80mg/cup) as well. Most brewed green tea is only about 1/3 the amount of caffeine as in 1 cup of coffee.
If you order a matcha from a coffee shop, watch out for excess sugar added to your matcha! You can choose to have it sugar-free or less sugar. I generally avoid agave as a sweetener because it is naturally very high in fructose which causes higher metabolic strain that cane sugar (glucose) and because fructose is metabolized almost exclusively by your liver, can increase fat accumulation in your liver when consumed in excess.
Lab tests & your metabolic health:
A regular lipids panel, liver enzymes and blood sugar assessment (including a fasting glucose test) can help to monitorClick Me your metabolic health and take a proactive approach to your wellness! These tests are also a first step I recommend for monitoring hormonal health when feeling cyclic fluctuations in mood and pain. When to test? Get a baseline of these blood tests in your 20s or 30s - then every 1-3 years from your 40s or if monitoring borderline levels. Naturopathic testing is available to you through LifeLabs!
*Drink your green tea at no hotter than 149C - and enjoy all the antioxidant and calming benefits!
As always, these tips are for general informational purposes and not intended as medical advice! I highly recommend seeking out professional support to tailor support for your own healht needs and ensure there are no contraindications to you following the tips listed here.
Dr. Natalie Senst, ND
Comments