Green Tea

My Medical Minute

I remember my first cup of green tea. Actually, I remember the first sip. I guess I thought that it should taste somewhat similar to black tea. What a shock! It had this horrible taste, a taste that reminded me of a certain odor. I have been in the pasture a few times when the cow has dropped her tail and walked away. There is this certain odor you know and the taste in my mouth reminded me of this odor. "How in the world will I ever get to like this stuff if it tastes like that?" I wondered. I struggled valiantly through this cup and a few more before I hit upon my answer. Half a teaspoon of honey works wonders. A little bit of honey really does sweeten things up!

I had been reading about green tea in a magazine and the magazine said that one cup of green tea had about 400 times the antioxidant punch of an orange. So if its even half that good I've got to have it. Antioxidants are that wild bunch that mellow out the free radicals. So what's a free radical?

Every atom has a nucleus and a certain set of electrons circling around it. Molecules are just a cluster of atoms bonded together. If an atom or a molecule loses an electron it becomes unbalanced and it goes cruising through the body trying to get another electron. Any electron will do. In its desperate attempt to grab another electron, it may pull other electrons from other atoms making them unstable and doing the same thing. These unbalanced atoms or molecules are called free radicals. Now there are some molecules like vitamin C that have more electrons than they need to remain balanced. They can give up an electron without becoming unbalanced themselves. They are called antioxidants and when they give up an electron to a free radical they stabilize it so that it doesn't cruise through the body causing all kinds of damage.

Now do you understand the saying, "Always make your antioxidant cocktail as powerful as possible"!


MORE SECRETS ABOUT YOUR ANTIOXIDANT COCKTAIL HERE!