Tea For Health

Regarded for thousands of years in the East as a key to good health, happiness, and wisdom, tea has caught the attention of researchers in the West, who are discovering the many health benefits of different types of teas.

  

Studies have found that some teas may help with cancer, heart disease, and diabetes; encourage weight loss; lower cholesterol; and bring about mental alertness. Tea also appears to have antimicrobial qualities.

“There doesn’t seem to be a downside to tea,” says American Dietetic Association spokeswoman Katherine Tallmadge, MA, RD, LD. “I think it’s a great alternative to coffee drinking. First, tea has less caffeine. It’s pretty well established that the compounds in tea – their flavonoids – are good for the heart and may reduce cancer.” Time.com listed the following as benefits of drinking tea. 

1. Tea can boost exercise endurance. Scientists have found that the catechins (antioxidants) in green tea extract increase the body’s ability to burn fat as fuel, which accounts for improvedmuscle endurance.
2. Drinking tea could help reduce the risk of heart attack. Tea might also help protect againstcardiovascular and degenerative diseases.
3. The antioxidants in tea might help protect against a boatload of cancers, including breast, colon, colorectal, skin, lung, esophagus, stomach, small intestine, pancreas, liver, ovarian,prostate and oral cancers. But don’t rely solely on tea to keep a healthy body — tea is not amiracle cure, after all. While more studies than not suggest that tea has cancer-fighting benefits, the current research is mixed.
4. Tea helps fight free radicals. Tea is high in oxygen radical absorbance capacity (“ORAC” to its friends), which is a fancy way of saying that it helps destroy free radicals (which can damage DNA) in the body. While our bodies are designed to fight free radicals on their own, they’re not 100 percent effective — and since damage from these radical oxygen ninjas has been linked to cancer, heart disease and neurological degeneration, we’ll take all the help we can get.
5. Tea is hydrating to the body (even despite the caffeine!).
6. Drinking tea is linked with a lower risk of Parkinson’s disease. When considered with other factors like smoking, physical activity, age and body mass index, regular tea drinking was associated with a lowered risk of Parkinson’s disease in both men and women.
7. Tea might provide protection from ultraviolet rays. We know it’s important to limit exposureto UV rays, and we all know what it’s like to feel the burn. The good news is that green tea may act as a back-up sunscreen.
8. Tea could keep waist circumference in check. In one study, participants who regularly consumed hot tea had lower waist circumference and lower BMI than non-consuming participants. Scientists speculate that regular tea drinking lowers the risk of metabolic syndrome (which increases the risk of diabetes, artery disease and stroke), although it’s important to remember that correlation does not equal causation.
9. Regular tea drinking might also counteract some of the negative effects of smoking and might even lessen the risk of lung cancer (good news, obviously, but not a justification forcigs).
10. Tea could be beneficial to people with Type 2 diabetes. Studies suggest that compounds in green tea could help diabetics better process sugars.
11. Tea can help the body recover from radiation. One study found that tea helped protect against cellular degeneration upon exposure to radiation, while another found that tea canhelp skin bounce back postexposure.
12. Green tea has been found to improve bone mineral density and strength.
13. Tea might be an effective agent in the prevention and treatment of neurological diseases, especially degenerative diseases (think Alzheimer’s). While many factors influence brain health, polyphenols in green tea may help maintain the parts of the brain that regulate learning and memory.
    

Back To Yoga in Miami

  I won't lie, I was scared, would my body hold up, would I strain myself, push myself?? Well I decided to wrangle out of my routine and give it a go! I'm talking about getting back into yoga after 6 years!

In my late 20's I discovered the power of yoga, in Miami at that time Madonna was practicing with a teacher and making yoga cool, that's not exactly why I tried but hearing yoga in the NEWS here and there interested me. The yoga I began practicing I can best describe was showy, I know that sounds weird, so I'll explain. The mostly women in class were blessed with outstanding bodies and since it was Miami wore little to cover those bodies, our ( also Madonna's ) teacher who became quite notorious was quite the character, completely full of his own ego, he controlled his classes with a strange sexual energy spiked with obscenities. I truly doubt he was like that with Madonna, she wouldn't have dealt with any one else's ego, and to be honest after a dozen or so classes I'd had enough myself. 

I flowed in and out of yoga classes for the next decade and a half from Hot Yoga ( Bikram ) power yoga, flow yoga, alignment yoga, on and on, settling mostly into Power Yoga, a vinyasa based yoga that is done repetitively and quickly enough to bring on a serious sweat, develop a nicely toned body especially arms and back since you are basically doing a series of modified push-ups. 

At the same time I was injuring myself frequently, pushing myself too hard, looking at other students in class wrapped up like pretzels and trying to duplicate with painful consequences. It was my Ego this time, instead of being in my own space and enjoying my own yoga practice I allowed myself to quietly compete with other students, who could stretch further, wrap further, stand still longest. How embarrassing and ridiculous looking back now, but hey that was then today I'm older and wiser!

 I had a baby five years ago and even during my pregnancy didn't practice yoga for fear of miscarrying, I had miscarried a year before my son was conceived at 43.

So to make a long story short I decided to begin my new foray into yoga with a wiser approach to my body that I am determined to take care of and nurture through yoga instead of torture. 

The class was amazingly beautiful, easy to follow, and yet I felt relaxed, strong, confident, and aligned.

If you're ever in Miami check out the Green Monkey Yoga Studios, Allaine Stricklan is my teacher for Alignment Yoga, Love Her!

Another Day in Paradise

The other day I was at my sons elementary school picking him up early when I started talking to another mom, as we were walking towards our cars she said something like, "what a beautiful day" that's when  said, "yes it's another beautiful day in paradise" and she said, "paradise"?? I'm not sure we live in paradise. I kind of shrugged and got into my car, I didn't think too much about our short conversation until a couple days later, when I was driving on our beautiful Miami Beach causeway over turquoise water under a stunning blue sky, hmmm I thought, isn't this paradise ??!!

 Ok this city isn't perfect, sure I get that, I was raised in the northeast, surrounded by beautiful country side , horses, cows, farms, acres of land, and bitter cold winters that went on and on, I dreamed of living in a place like Miami Beach when I was a kid, and here I am now, I feel pretty lucky! 

Besides that I started to think about what else makes this place paradise, maybe it's not just the place but the gifts, the blessings we are afforded that create the paradise?

So I started to make my list, here I go again....

I didn't need the list at all this was easy, paradise is having people to love and who love you back, good health, and well all the other stuff is icing on the proverbial Cake, so yes it's true, another Beautiful Day in Paradise.

Comfy Shoes With STYLE

If you ask most women ( and I've asked a lot ) comfortable, cute and sexy shoes do NOT go in the same sentence, but I was on a mission to prove them wrong and wrong I did, or did I?

Ok you can't compare Kork Ease or Taryn Rose to Christian Louboutin and Jimmy Choo, I get it, for that kind of sexy you will have to suffer, unless you do as I have done and bought all kinds of gel insoles, foot beds and the such, which give me a few hours of somewhat comfort in some designer brands, but all in all it's not good I end up throwing the shoes across the floor as soon as I enter my house, ok not really throwing just sort of sliding ( too expensive to throw) but I do feel like throwing these over priced torture bearers!!

I have been doing my own serious research in the hope to find this oxy moron of a statement, sexy comfy shoes. I live in Miami where women on a daily basis pry their delicate feet into 5 inch and higher heels, and not just a night, our jewelry Store (Turchin Love and Light Jewelry, www.turchinjewelry.com) is in the heart of Miami's Design District across from a very famous restaurant, Michaels Genuine and I see women who lunch daily come strolling in with their (gorgeous mind you)7 inch torture chamber Christian Louboutins, extremely pointy and spiked and deliciously sexy Valentino's, and I first lust at the sheer beauty, come to my senses then gawk at how they manage to get around, obviously they can't be going back to the office, I secretly imagine (like me) that they have a stash of flip flops and cushy sneakers in the back seat if their cars that they eagerly slip into after a luncheon with the girls.

Then I remember how I used to treat my feet in my teens and twenties, and how I could stand for hours in a club with terribly made five inch heels on, God must give us the energy and pain tolerance in these years to ignore our aching feet, but wakes us up to the truth later in life, how unfair! 

So my hunt goes on, and I am happy but sad to say although I found some very cute, even slightly edgy styles I didn't find anything that is all out sex kitten. So that being said some of my favorites I've tried and loved ( my feet too! ).

Andre Assous make a very cool shoe, his foot bed is cushioned and he uses elastic banding on some of his styles that doesn't look granny, I have had compliments in Miami on his shoes, I really like his black suede and rivet styles for fall.

I have never tried Gentle Souls but Freind's have and Love their comfortable and vintage inspired designs, I love the tall gladiator myself!

Kork Ease are very light and also cushy to walk in though pretty high, I'm not afraid of some height so love these styles for spring and summer.

Rock port is a more conservative brand that delivers comfort with style, check out their cheetah print booties, I would give them a go, anything animal print I always say!

Good luck in the Hunt for your comy cute shoes and please let me know what Yiu find I would Love to hear from you. 

Hugs, Luv, and Comfort....ahhhh

Theresa