That's Fit

Got a spare tire attached to your midsection, guys? Want it gone? Then try green tea. In one recent study, extracts from the beverage helped men burn 17 percent more fat during a 30-minute cardio workout.

Green tea is a sort of metabolism booster. It's not clear exactly why, but researchers suspect that something in the healthy drink makes fat turn to fuel during exercise. It doesn't happen without the exercise, though, because the only way to shrink a spare tire is to lose weight. Tea just helps you do it.

Tea helps in other areas too. Check out these six reasons to go green.

A growing body of research suggests that drinking hot tea has numerous health benefits. From reduced risk of heart disease, to improving spatial cognition and mental acuity, tea is a liquid powerhouse for your health.

Most recently, a study published in the International Journal of Cancer revealed that hot tea can lower your risk of kidney cancer by as much as 15 percent. Men's Health magazine suggest trying pu-erh tea, a lesser known kind that is more effective at preventing DNA damage than black or green tea.

Whatever variety of tea you choose, there's a good chance you'll be doing your body a great favor by drinking it. And, as former British Prime Minister William E. Gladstone once said, tea is the perfect drink. In his words, "If you are cold, tea will warm you. If you are heated, it will cool you. If you are depressed, it will cheer you. If you are excited, it will calm you."

America runs on Dunkin', at least that's what the advertisements for Dunkin' Donuts coffee tell us. And if it's not Dunkin' Donuts, it's Starbucks, Seattle's Best, The Coffee Bean, or Tim Horton's that provides us with our daily cup of joe. However, our friends across the pond apparently still prefer to get their caffeine fix from the more traditional spot of tea. Perhaps making this switch is something us Yanks should consider, since researchers have discovered that drinking tea may help reduce stress.

In a U.K. study, researchers had a group of men drink either 4 cups of black tea daily. Another group drank a placebo beverage that contained the same amount of caffeine. After six weeks, the men were asked to engage in stressful activities while scientists kept record of their behavior and anxiety. It turned out that the tea drinkers had 20 percent lower stress levels than the men drinking the caffeinated placebo. What's more, the tea drinking men stated that they also felt more relaxed.

Don't worry, if you make the switch to tea, it doesn't mean that you also have to start calling soccer football, using the letter U when spelling certain words that normally wouldn't contain it, or insist that Oasis is still the greatest band in the world.

If water isn't enough to quench your thirst, you're in luck. A new UCLA study reveals the top 10 healthiest drinks, and AOL News features the nitty gritty on the whole lot right here. And guess what? Nine of them are fruit based. Here they are.

• Apple Juice
• Tea
• Orange Juice
• Cranberry Juice
• Acai Juice
• Black Cherry Juice
• Blueberry Juice
• Concord Grape Juice
• Red Wine
• Pomegranate Juice
  

What makes these drinks so healthy? Antioxidants, mostly. The more vivid the color, the more antioxidants there are. No wonder so many berry drinks made the cut.

Why is that people are willing to pay extra for an iced coffee, yet they complain if their hot coffee is served cold? Shouldn't they feel like they got a deal?

Does the same thing happen with iced tea? If so, the complainers might actually have a reason for complaining, because hot tea contains more catechins -- disease-fighting antioxidants linked to a reduced risk of heart disease and certain types of cancer -- than iced (or just cold) tea.

Brewing the leaves in steaming water releases these catechins, and they tend to become less and less potent as time passes and the water temperature cools. Don't worry, though, they stick around for a few hours, so it's not necessary to down your spot of tea while it's boiling hot in order to obtain the health benefits.

And, on a separate but very related note, try adding a squeeze of lemon to your tea. Research shows that consuming vitamin C with tea greatly impacts the body's ability to absorb catechins.

The American Cancer Society tells us that the hot dogs, burgers, and chicken we take on our picnics should be kept at 140 degrees F or higher and that our cold food should stay chilled at 41 degrees F or colder. Real Simple magazine weighs in on a few temperature matters too.

There are the basics: Normal body temperature is 98.6 degrees F, water boils at 212 degrees, and it freezes at 32 degrees. But what's the ideal temperature for wine? Well, 45-50 degrees F for white wine and 60-65 for red. What about that relaxing bath that's calling your name? Water temp should be 96-104 degrees. Make it any hotter and you may break down your skin's protective barrier, which guards against pollution, germs, and bacteria. Who knew?

Did you know your fridge should be set between 32 and 40 degrees and your freezer should register at a big fat 0? Food will spoil faster in warmer temps, and the quality of food will change if it's too cold. What about green tea? Your water should reach 170 degrees. This is lower than what you need for black tea because green leaves burn more easily. An omelet? You want an internal temperature of 160 degrees. And when your day is coming a close and it's time for a little shut-eye, snuggle in at a nice 68 degrees. A good sleep requires your body temperature to drop by losing heat into the environment. Sticking your arms and legs outside the covers and removing your bedtime socks will help the heat escape.

Hundreds of studies have demonstrated that drinking tea offers myriad health benefits. From oolong to green, black to English Breakfast, each variety makes for a great way to start the day -- especially since a new study from Newcastle University in England discovered that doing so may improve memory and protect against Alzheimer's disease.

An easy fix, thankfully. Throw some hot water on, drop a teabag in a mug and enjoy. Easy, peasy, lemon squeezy, right? It may appear to be, but the Royal Society of Chemistry actually outlines the steps to making perfect tea.

1. Use fresh boiled water, as pre-boiled lacks sufficient oxygen to properly infuse the tea

2. Use a warm pot

3. Add one rounded tablespoon of tea in the cup

4. Pour the water from the kettle as it boils

5. Allow three to five minutes brewing time

6. Use a large ceramic mug

7. If using milk, add it before the tea

8. Drink at around 60 degrees Celsius (which is about 140 degrees Fahrenheit), or three minutes after pouring

What smokers really need is to quit smoking. Well, if better health is a goal, anyway. Short of kicking the habit, though, there is something smokers can do to protect themselves against lung cancer: Eat three servings of fruits and vegetables per day and drink green or black tea.

That's what UCLA cancer researchers say now that they've completed their first-of-its-kind study. They found that high levels of natural chemicals called flavonoids in smokers' diets translated into a lower risk of lung cancer. This is a promising finding since 90 percent of lung cancers are caused by tobacco smoking.

Smokers most protected from the disease are those who ate catechin, found in strawberries and green and black teas, kaempferol, found in Brussels sprouts and apples, and quercetin, found in beans, onions, and apples.

Each week, we'll be naming a Super Food and offering unique ways to use those Super Foods that pack nutritional power. After all, you are what you eat -- make it count!

When I feel sick, when I feel nauseated, when my stomach hurts, I hit the bottle -- of ginger ale, that is. My mama always told me that ginger would make me feel better, and it does. It's not just all in my head either -- it's a well-known fact that ginger can provide relief to nausea, ulcers and other digestive issues. But that's not all -- in addition to spicing up your food and adding a one-of-a-kind flavour, ginger has lots of great health benefits.

In studies, ginger has been shown to alleviate many common ailments, including pain, swelling, inflammation and even the common cold. Got menstrual cramps? Have some ginger. Headache? Grab some ginger. Gas? Yep, you guessed it -- ginger will help. It can reduce your fever and reduce your LDL (bad) cholesterol. It's also widely believed to help slow down or even stop the spread of some cancers. Pretty impressive, huh?

I would rather throw up than have a sore throat. I know, TMI. But it's true. Having a sore throat, for me, is worse than just about every other minor ailment you can think of.

I've finally discovered something -- actually, two -- that work for me to calm the soreness without numbing my whole mouth. (I hate that, too.) And they are both herbal remedies. (I love those.) Slippery elm and licorice root. The former comes in lozenge form. The latter, usually in tea. They are among the remedies mentioned in this article.

So, I'm certainly not the first to discover these. But if this is news to you, give them a try. If you like them, great. You don't have to sing. Just spread the word.

As healthy at green tea is by itself, there's a growing body of evidence that suggests adding citrus to your daily spot will promote even greater antioxidant absorption.

Fewer than 20-percent of catechins (antioxidants found in green tea) are able to survive their passage through the small intestines. When combined with citrus -- specifically, and conveniently, lemon juice -- 78-percent of catechins were able to survive this perilous journey. Tea combined with orange juice (or drinking a glass of O.J. along with your cup of tea) kept 71-percent of catechins alive as they passed through the non-acidic environment of the small intestines.

The full study can be read in a 2007 issue of the journal Molecular Nutrition & Food Research.

For several days now, I've been writing an ongoing series of diet and fitness posts titled "Why the Pounds Are Sticking Around," which are a collection of tips sourced from the health magazine Self. Since the response has been so positive, I decided to forge ahead with an idea I had for a series of healthy living posts. Since exercise and training are more my forte, I sought out information from an outside source -- Men's Health magazine. To that end, I found ten great health and wellness tips that I thought would be perfect for pieces on healthy living.

So, just as I have been doing with the diet and fitness posts, I will also be posting one healthy living tip per day as part of a series I think I'm going to call "Living Well." I think you'll find these tips to be as interesting and as helpful as I did.

Healthy Tip #1 - Tea for two

A body of research suggests that drinking hot tea has numerous health benefits; from reduced risk of heart disease, to improving spatial cognition and mental acuity. Most recently, a study published in the International Journal of Cancer revealed that hot tea can lower your risk of kidney cancer by as much as 15 percent. The folks at Men's Health suggest trying pu-erh tea, a lesser known kind that is more effective at preventing DNA damage than black or green tea.

We all know the foods that help us pack on the pounds. It's time to focus on those with the power to help us drop a few. Check out these four.

Walnuts
They're high in calories but have lots of protein, healthy fats, and omega-3 fatty acids which will keep you feeling full. They can also help lower cholesterol. Don't go overboard but try 10-12 walnuts for a mid-afternoon snack. Or add a few on top of your salad at lunch.

Whole Grain Cereal
This high-in-fiber food takes longer to digest and keeps you feeling full longer. Oatmeal, also a cholesterol-lowering food, does the same.

Watermelon
The water in this fruit -- try lettuce, cantaloupe, and cucumbers too -- will fill you up without a lot of calories. The vitamins and antioxidants in this treat will also boost your immune system.

Green Tea
Green tea can help you lose weight because of compounds called catechins which increase metabolism and help your body burn fat more quickly. Forget the milk and sugar and this tea has no calories.

Check out this AOL Body site for more diet basics.

Did you just eat a Big Mac? If so, what should you do next? According to new research, the answer to that question is to grab yourself something else to eat right away -- only this time, make sure that it's healthy!

Eating antioxidant-rich foods like kiwi, blueberries, cherries, nuts, tea, and grapes during meals can help reduce the oxidative stress caused by foods containing high amounts of saturated fat and fast-digesting sugars, say researchers from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Vascular inflammation and a number of other diseases can result from consistently high oxidative stress levels, which is why it may be a good idea to add an antioxidant-rich food to your next order of Chicken McNuggets. However, the calories and fat will still do a number on your waistline, as there's not much the antioxidant-rich foods can do to help you in that regard.

If you've ever needed an excuse to jump on the green tea bandwagon, look no further. Here's a list that compiles seven reasons to take up the habit. It sums up all the really popular benefits you can get from regularly consuming this cultural brew.

Lowering your risk for cancer seems like a pretty solid reason. An abundance of antioxidants has been shown to lend a hand against fighting cancer of the breast, stomach, esophagus, colon, and prostate. The same polyphenols you can credit for this benefit also help keep blood pressure in check.

One statistic suggests that less than a cup per day helps people reduce the risk of hypertension by half! Not that an entire diet can be created around green tea, but a strong cuppa has also been shown to help speed up metabolic processes. That means subtle improvements for calorie-burning gained just from tea. If you haven't heard enough, head on over to the full list and read more.