What’s In The Blue Tea!!

As you may know weight loss teas are all the rage on the internet these days. From Golden OOlong Tea, to myriads of other detox teas claiming things from weight loss to healing hard to treat diseases.

This blue tea is nothing new, but it’s new to many of us who are necessarily tea connoisseurs.

With it’s vibrant color, the tea is sure to pique the curiosity of those who see it.

The tea is made from butterfly pea-flower, a plant from the pea family. Its origins are traced back to tropical Asia. It’s a fridge dried whole flower which is caffeine-free.

The Tea is Amazing for Diabetics

The tea helps regulate blood sugar levels. It is suggested that you drink a 4 to 8 ounce cup of the tea in between meals. Doing this will lower the insulin spike that we get from eating.

Weight Loss Without the Caffeine

The major player in the fat loss game in blue tea is the catechin epigallocatechin or EGCG. This catechin speeds up calorie burning and boosts the metabolism. How it does this is simple. In order to burn fat, our body must first break it down in the fat cell and move it out to the bloodstream. Our bodies have hormones that burn fat really well. Hormones like norepinephrine aka adrenaline, burn fat. EGCS can inhibit an enzyme that breaks down the hormone norepinephrine. When this enzyme that breaks down our fat burning friend is blocked from doing its job, our norepinephrine increases, and our bodies are able to burn more fat. In fact studies have shown that blue tea has more EGCG in it compared to other teas.

Antioxidant Rich Tea

The tea is full of antioxidants, this makes the tea a great for anti-ageing. The tea also is said to be great for the skin, hair and nails, because of it’s high antioxidant content.

The Blue Tea That I’m Using

My blue tea is extra special if you ask me. That’s because on top of the natural detoxing elements that blue pea tea naturally has. This particular company added some other heavy hitters in the tea to shake things up a bit. Ingredients like

  • Blessed Thistle (Cnicus benedictus)
  • Senna Alexandrina (Cassia acutifolia)
  • Pawpaw (Carica papaya)
  • Marshmallow (Althaea officinalis)
  • Ginger
  • Myrrh

add an extra boost to cleansing/detoxifying effect of the tea.

Blessed Thistle: Blessed thistle has been used for more than 2,000 years to stimulate appetite, support bile secretion, support liver health, support circulation, promote hormone balance, and more. Historically, herbalists used blessed thistle as a general stimulant and as a tonic to support the digestive tract. Bitter herbs such as blessed thistle help stimulate organs into a reflex action, especially in the liver and female reproductive organs. It also has an expectorant effect on the upper respiratory system, which may temporarily ease symptoms related to seasonal health challenges.

Senna: It is used to treat constipation and also to clear the bowel before diagnostic tests such as colonoscopy. Senna is also used for irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), anal or rectal surgery, tears in the lining of the anus (anal fissures), hemorrhoids, and weight loss. 

Paw Paw: The pawpaw or papaya is reputed to carry the most health benefits of any fruit and grows in abundance around the Pacific Islands. It’s been touted as been good for raising immunity levels, improving vision, relieving menstrual pain for women, and even anti-cancer properties.

Marshmallow: Marshmallow root (Althaea officinalis) is a perennial herb that’s native to Europe, Western Asia, and Northern Africa. It’s been used as a folk remedy for thousands of years to treat digestive, respiratory, and skin conditions.

Ginger: Ginger contains powerful properties, calledgingerols, shoals, gingerdiones, which are rich with antioxidant, antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties that may help to ward off these diseases.  Ginger is also rich with phytochemicals that help aid digestion and settling upset stomachs.  These digestive properties help to stimulate the body’s natural cleansing and detoxifying process by eliminating waste and toxins.  These properties may also thin blood, improve blood circulation and prevent blood from clotting. Not to mention ginger is known to aid with inflammation, menstrual cramps, and it also has anti-cancer properties too.

Myrrh: You know that if they brought this stuff to baby Jesus it’s some powerful stuff. In fact it would take another article to dig deep into the benefits of using myrrh. It’s great for immune health, because it was used in ancient times to purify the air. In recent studies, it has been found that myrrh can directly kill bacteria, as well as stimulate the immune system to make more white blood cells, which also kill bacteria. Myrrh helps with pain management. Myrrh oil contains compounds that interact with opioid receptors and tell your brain you’re not in pain. Myrrh also blocks the production of inflammatory chemicals that can lead to swelling and pain. It’s also a powerful antioxidant.

The formulators of this tea did their thing if you ask me. They placed ingredients in the tea that matter to us regular folks that need that competitive edge. I look at like this. Blue tea was already a star on it’s own, but when you add other allstar ingredients in the mix, you have just turned the tea into a Health Superhero.

You can find out more or purchase Here

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6 Reasons Why You’re Not Losing Weight Even Though You’re Exercising

Although diet and exercise have been touted as the holy grail when it comes to losing stubborn weight. In reality we know that this is not altogether the truth. Yes, diet and exercise play a major role in weight loss and management. Those two cousins are not the only things that play a major role in us reaching our weight loss goals.

In this brief article I’m going to mention a few other reasons why diet and exercise aren’t the only things we need to concern ourselves with when it comes to our weight.

  1. You are not getting enough sleep

There is definitely a relationship that exists between the quantity and quality of the sleep that we get. When we lack sleep, our bodies try to compensate by sending us signals to eat more. The reason for this is because, basically we losing precious energy, and the body has to make up for that loss somehow.

The caveat to this is this, we don’t generally reach for some grilled vegetables or baked chicken. No, instead we reach for potato chips, soda, and sugary foods that we know were not supposed to eat. Hey, here’s a bit of good news. You don’t have to beat yourself up to much about this. Our bodies are actually trying to get the fastest form of energy that it feels it can get. High glycemic foods, sugars, and salts meet that description. On top of that, we are chemically hooked on our junk food selections. I know this is a dirty game.

2. You are Stressed Out

When we have too much pressure, and we all can feel that way sometimes. Our bodies release excess stress hormones like cortisol. Cortisol can cause the body to actually resist insulin. This in turn, raises our blood sugar levels and causes the body to increase its fat storage. So instead of burning off fat, our bodies are holding on to it, because it thinks it needs it to survive. Believe it or not we are still pretty much cave men physiologically. We are cave men that have too much food to eat (LOL)

Psychologically, stress eating is a real thing. Too much stress can trigger a sudden drop in our blood sugar and that can stimulate our appetites.

3 You Are Getting Older

As we age our metabolisms tend to slow down and the body is less able to produce muscle. Muscle burns fat. So we need muscle in our weight loss pursuits.

4 You Are Dehydrated

Water helps to regulate our metabolism and digestion. Dehydration actually increases our appetite. The body is trying to get it’s precious fluids from somewhere. A lot of times our bodies are telling us that it needs more water. Unconsciously, we reach for food instead of water. Of course this can cause weight gain.

5. Your Medication

Many medications are known to have weight gain as a side effect. If not weight gain directly, then indirectly, by increasing stress which can lead to “stress eating”. Medications like beta-blockers (for hypertension and high blood pressure), antidepressants, anticonvulsants (seizures), antipsychotics, diabetes medicines (e.g. insulin), and steroids. I know first hand how steroids can cause major weight gain.

6. Your Underlying Medical Conditions

Conditions like diabetes, fluid retention, polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), underactive thyroid, and other issues that can effect the bodies endocrine system.

I wrote all of this to say that there are more reasons than willpower, discipline, diet, and exercise that effect our ability to lose weight. My hope is that we become more loving with ourselves and others on their journeys. I believe that real love brings about healing. This healing is not something that is airy fairy, but this is something that is real. I don’t know about you, but I believe in miracles. I believe in hard work, I teach it, I live it. But there are some things in life, that need a supernatural touch on them if you will.

Let’s work hard, train hard, eat smart, but above all else, Love Harder. Until next time God Bless

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3 Things You Should Know About Turmeric

This native Indian plant from the ginger family is mostly known for its use as a spice in various foods, but this spice is more than just a spice. It’s a nutritional powerhouse.

Turmeric is also considered one of the world’s healthiest herbs. The reason for this is due to the fact that for thousands of years people from Asiatic countries have used turmeric to treat all sorts of health related conditions.

Here are a few things that can happen if you consume Turmeric regularly:

#1 Brain Optimization

One of turmeric’s main compounds is curcumin. Researchers have found that curcumin has the ability to enhance our ability to learn and even process in different environments. There’s also some research that suggests that curcumin could help fend off neurodegenerative conditions such as dementia or Alzheimers.

Researchers studied rats for a 12 week period. They fortified their diets with curcumin. They found that the rats had an enhanced spatial and non spatial memory. Also, there were some hints the curcumin may aid in neuroplasticity ( the development of new brain connections).

Let’s dig a little deeper into this neuroplasticity thing.

Science used to believe that neurons weren’t able to divide and multiply after our early childhood. We now know that that’s not the case.

(BDNF) , or brain – derived neurotrophic factor, which is a type of growth hormone that functions in our brain. It is one of the main reasons our brains neurons can continue to multiply and divide after early childhood.

Many of our commonly known brain disorders like Alzheimers and depression report having decreased levels of BDNF hormone.

This means that curcumin may be effective in delaying or even reversing many brain diseases.

Also, curcumin may make you smarter. Basically, curcumin boosts BDNF levels which in turn increase the growth of new neurons. This process fights various neurodegenerative processes in our brains.

#2 Improves Heart Health

Curcumin can help with ensuring a healthy heart. Plaque builds in our arteries, and that build up can lead to us having heart attacks and strokes. Curcumin has been shown to help aid in plaque removal.

LDL aka, bad cholesterol is reduced with the use of curcumin. Turmeric can also help prevent blood clots. Conversely, turmeric may interact with certain blood clot medications,- so please be sure to check with your doctor.

Heart disease is the #1 cause of death in the world. There are various factors that contribute to heart disease.

Here’s an interesting benefit of curcumin when it comes to heart disease. Curcumin has been shown to improve the function of the endothelium; (the lining of your blood vessels)

Endothelial dysfunction is a major culprit in the heart disease game. If the endothelium is not working properly, it can’t properly regulate blood pressure, blood clotting and various other functions.

There are studies that show that using curcumin can improve endothelial function. One study from the Dept of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences, show that curcumin works as well as the drug Atorvastatin. Note: Patients took 150 mg of curcumin twice a day for 8 weeks.

To add to this, curcumin reduces inflammation and oxidation in the body, which also contributes to heart disease.

#3 Reduces Inflammation

Inflammation has a bit of a bad reputation. It’s commonly associated with pain and illness. Funny thing is, that inflammation actually helps our bodies fight foreign invaders and has a role in repairing damaged cells. If we didn’t have inflammation, pathogens like bacteria could easily take over our bodies and kill us.

While short term inflammation is good. You get a cut, it hurts, and the body’s inflammation process goes to work. Inflammation becomes a problem when it becomes chronic. The phrase, “Too much of a good thing”, comes to mind.

Did you know that it is commonly believed in medical circles that chronic low level inflammation is at the root of almost every disease.

Now here’s some good news. Research has shown that curcumin has been shown to match the effectiveness of some anti- inflammatory drugs, without the harsh side effects.

All in all Tumeric is a powerful ally to have in your health arsenal. I use it often because I put my body to the test and I want to make sure that I am giving myself the best chance to not only recover properly, but also, to live optimally. If you want to know the type of Turmeric that I use, I placed a link below. It has 300 mg of curcumin in it, which has been found to be effective in studies. Plus, it has collagen and some other good stuff in it. It doesn’t hurt that it doesn’t taste bad either.

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