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Green Tea – Part II

May 29, 2014
Green Tea - Part II

The long-awaited sequel to my first post on green tea has finally arrived!

Green Tea – Part II

Green Tea - Part II

Sorry about the long wait .. I have been so busy these past few months and I have had so many idea’s for posts which I just had to share with you. So I kept on pushing this post to the next week, and the next week .. So I do apologize and I hope you thoroughly enjoy part II of my post on green tea!

Part I focused on what exactly made green tea so healthy, and this post will focus on how much green tea we should be drinking to reap the full benefits, and my own experience with green tea consumption.

As we learned from part I, green tea contains catechins, which is a naturally occurring antioxidant, in addition to a slew of other health benefits. Green tea has a fairly bitter taste that can take a while to get used too. I never found the taste too overwhelming although I still find it a little bitter sometimes, although I honestly quite like the bitter taste of it. Which brings us to the question of ‘How much green tea do we actually need to drink to reap the full benefits?’

Good question – There have been several studies on this and it is quite confusing as they all say different things .. the only thing they can seem to agree on is that you should be drinking green tea! The studies vary greatly – an article written in 1999 stated that 10 cups of green tea a day helped delay the onset of cancer whereas a follow-up study found that patients with stage I and II cancer saw a longer disease free period and a lower recurrence rate when they drank over five cups a day than those who drank less than four cups a day. I found a more recent article written in 2012 by the same man who wrote the 1999 article which basically confirmed the idea that drinking 10 cups of green tea a day was significant in preventing cancer. The only problem with the fact that the two articles are from the same author is the fact that the author could have a bias … I mean come on, why would anyone willing refute their life’s work?

Honestly, it would be safe to say that drinking green tea, whatever the amount is better than drinking none. I would aim to have at least 3 cups a day but you know, don’t stress it if you just had one. I typically like to start my day with a cup of green tea and I have started bringing green tea bags to work so I can have some throughout the day. Do remember that green tea does contain a small amount of caffeine, so if you are sensitive to caffeine, start with one cup of green tea a day and increase it slowly and take not of how you feel.

Green Tea - Part II

In terms of steeping the green tea, I have read several (non-scientific) articles claiming that the longer you steep the tea bag, the more antioxidants will get released into the water. If anyone has links to scientific articles about this, please link me to them in the comments 🙂

All in all, I hope my green tea post series has made you want to give drinking green tea a go and/or has educated you about its health benefits. I love drinking green tea and I have found that it helps me control my cravings to a certain extent and because it is a diuretic, it does help debloat me if I have eaten a little bit too much! Any feedback or comments would be much appreciated!

Honestly yours,
Alice

References

Cooper, R. (2012). Green Tea and Theanine: Health Benefits. Journal of Food Sciences and Nutrition, 63(S1), pp.90-97.

Fujiki, H. (1999). Two Stages of cancer prevention with green tea. Journal of Cancer Research and Clinical Oncology, 125(11), pp.589-597.

Fujiki, H., Imai, K., Nakachi, K., Shimizu, M., Moriwaki, H., & Suganuma, M. (2012). Challenging the effectiveness of green tea in primary and tertiary cancer prevention. Journal of Cancer Research and Clinical Oncology, 138(8), pp.1259-1270.

Fitness, Health, Sunday Summary

Game Plan

May 26, 2014

Hey everyone!

For all of you who are in America, I hope you are having a lovely weekend and enjoy this long weekend for Memorial Day. For everyone else, I still hope you had a fab weekend 🙂 I totally had this post all ready to go last night but I went to Kokkari Estiatorio (a really nice Greek restaurant in San Francisco) and it was so late by the time I got back that I just went to bed haha.

Anyway, I want to be really honest with you all in this blog post. Even though I did see progress and improved muscle tone, I did not get the results I wanted after completing Kayla’s bikini body guide. I am extremely proud of the progress I have made and the fact that I can now do a bazillion push ups, jumping lunges and all the other extreme exercises buuuut … I still have a long way to go. I have been musing about what it is exactly that is making it so bloody hard for me to lose the last 5-8 pounds. I exercise smart and I watch my portions and eat healthy foods. I suppose I tend to go overboard whe I eat out and have the mentality of ‘oh it won’t hurt if I take a small bite …”.

Therefore, even though my mantra is about balance (which I am STILL for), for purposes of eliminating the extra few pounds once and for all, I believe I have to be rather strict and reflective with myself. Going crazy when I eat out and having those extra few bites does make a difference in the long run. If I was at a happy weight and body composition then no, being a little silly at times would not matter. But the fact of the matter is that you have to be smart when embarking on a weight/fat loss journey. Eating for weight/fat loss is not the same as healthy eating, and that is something I really need to just tattoo into my brain.

Which is why I am creating a game plan for myself! As part of a year long process of reforming my eating habits I will be keeping an eye and trying to implement the following:

  • Do not nibble mindlessly – this is my biggest problem, because even though I am full, I tend to pick at food if it is in front of me. This will prove to be hard at restaurants so I will let you all know what works for me (usually drinking loads of water helps)
  • Incorporate more veggies throughout the day
  • If hunger pangs strike at night, drink tea and make some veggies such as celery sticks with a dip such as tzatziki or hummus
  • Stop buying lattes! During the semester time I genuinely need some coffee to tide me through my late classes, but I should probably just stick to plain coffee or an espresso. Or at least only drink latte’s on days when I have class and not otherwise.

I am going to stick with these for now. They are not rules but more of a general guideline. I have also been working on decreasing the amount of alcohol I drink (which is not much at all, usually no more than once or twice a month) and eating out less. For the most part, my friends are incredibly supportive of my lifestyle and do not peer pressure me to eat differently at all which I am SO grateful for. The people who surround you have a profound impact upon you; if they are eating crap, chances are you will tend to eat worse than you normally are.

I genuinely look forward to the future. I have come a long way in the past few years and I am proud that I have become someone who genuinely craves healthy foods and loves to exercise. I can only improve!

What is your biggest obstacle in your quest to be fit and healthy?

Honestly yours,
Alice

Health, Products I love

Bisogno Pasta: Gluten-Free & Vegan

May 21, 2014

Bisogno Pasta: Gluten-Free & Vegan

What a treat I have in store for all of my readers who suffer a gluten intolerance or happen to be following a vegan diet 🙂 Today I want to introduce you to Bisogno Pasta! They are a California based brand and currently sell their products in Southern California. Luckily for all us Northern Californians, Bisogno Pasta are currently expanding to the Bay Area, woo hoo!

Bisogno Pasta: Gluten-Free & Vegan

I came across Bisogno Pasta and was instantly intrigued by them. Why? Because they are the only fresh gluten free and vegan pasta currently on the market. Their nutritional values were super impressive, boasting 20g of protein (as much as 4 ounces of chicken) and 23g of fiber (basically fulfilling how much fiber you need in a day). Their pasta is made from lentil flour and water and so absolutely no gluten, wheat, corn, rice, soy, dairy OR eggs were used at all!

I really wanted to try Bisogno Pasta because I have tried a few gluten-free pastas for fun but honestly, they were all kind of … lacking. Bisogno Pasta kindly sent me samples of their three flavors of pasta: beet, lemon parsley, and spinach. My boyfriend and I had a lot of fun thinking up some recipe’s to try out the pasta and were seriously so impressed. The texture and taste were both fantastic, and I would never had known that it was missing wheat and eggs if I had not known beforehand. I think my favorite was the spinach pasta (who doesn’t want a way to incorporate more veggies into their diet?) but my boyfriend preferred the lemon parsley. All flavors were fantastic though, and I encourage you to try them!

Here are some photos of what we made followed by the recipes 🙂

Spinach and lemon parsley pasta with cashew pesto and smoked salmon

Ingredients

1 serving of spinach bisogno pasta
1 serving of lemon parsley bisogno pasta
4-8 ounces of smoked salmon (I used honey smoked salmon)
Cashew pesto – I used walnuts instead of cashews in mine however because I had run out of cashews!
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese to garnish
A few basil leaves to garnish

Serves 2 people

1. Prepare the cashew pesto first and then set aside for now.
2. Prepare the bisogno pasta according to instructions – boil in hot water for 4 minutes.
3. Serve pasta and top with a generous serving of cashew pesto, smoked salmon and parmesan cheese. Enjoy!

Bisogno Pasta: Gluten-Free & Vegan with pesto

Bisogno Pasta: Gluten-Free & Vegan with pesto

Bisogno Pasta: Gluten-Free & Vegan with pesto

Beet pasta with Thai style chicken

Ingredients

1 serving of beet bisogno pasta
16 ounces of chicken
1 can of coconut milk
1 cup chicken stock
1 sliced carrot
2 cups of cauliflower
2 cloves minced garlic
1 tsp salt
1 tsp fish sauce
1tsp red chilli flakes (feel free to add more if you like spice!)
OPTIONAL – 1 cup enoki mushrooms

Thai style chicken will serve 4. Make 4 servings of bisogno pasta to use all of it or store the rest away as leftovers.

1. Prepare the thai style chicken 1 day in advance. Using a slow cooker/crockpot, put all of the ingredients (minus the bisogno pasta) into your slow cooker and set on ‘LOW’ for 7-8 hours. Keep in slow cooker on ‘WARM’ setting until you make your pasta.
2. Make bisogno pasta according to directions – boil for 4 minutes.
3. Serve pasta with 1/4 of the chicken that you made. The chicken will serve 4 people and is a great leftover meal!

Bisogno Pasta: Gluten-Free & Vegan with thai chicken

Bisogno Pasta: Gluten-Free & Vegan with thai chicken

I cannot waaaait until Bisogno Pasta expands to the Bay Area. When it does it is going to be a constant in my kitchen! Can’t wait to make people think they are eating normal pasta and then tell them the nutritional profile hehe.

I am curious, how many of you are actually gluten-free and vegan?

Honestly yours,
Alice

DISCALIMER: I was not paid to write about bisogno pasta. I only ever write about brands which I believe in and have high quality and healthy products.