The Ultimate Tea Diet - The Book

The book arrived a couple of days ago (thanks, Chapters!) and I've read it.  It didn't take me long, because I skipped over a lot of it.  It's not the worst book I've read.  For $5.99, I'm happy.

Basically, the book can be summed up like this:

1.  Drink tea that you love, and lots of it, all day.
2.  Believe in yourself.
3.  Engage in a healthy lifestyle and diet.
4.  Drink more tea.  And if you can't drink any more, cook with it.  Recipes included.

So that's fine.  All good stuff.  Not necessarily life-altering or anything, but a good, basic outline for how one should live their life.  Hey, I can't argue with the drinking tea stuff.

I was a little put off at how the author, Mark "Dr.Tea" Ukra (not an actual doctor), considers himself a pioneer in the booming tea industry,

Although tea has been around for thousands of years, there has never been a face and voice of tea until tea found me and I found dr.tea's.

Also, he didn't exactly conduct any scientific experiments himself...he surveyed 18 TEAmmates and gets "hundreds of tesTEAmonials" (how annoying is that?), although he does cite many sources at the end of the book to support the majority of his claims.

Also, he writes that white tea has the least amount of caffeine.  I read the opposite in Harney & Sons Guide.  Who to believe?  (Actually, I really don't know who to believe.  I've heard both elsewhere, and need to get to the bottom of this.  More later.)

Also, a lot of it seems to be geared toward reforming coffee addicts.  I've never been addicted to coffee my whole life, so that doesn't interest me in the least.

I can't say that this is all bad.  After all, The Ultimate Tea Diet is renewing my interest in drinking tea for health's sake.  It has given me some new ideas - such as mixing my teas with different ingredients, or different teas for that matter.  And, it has made me steep my leaves many times over (so that you still get the "good stuff" without too much caffeine with the added benefit of getting more bang for your buck. There is also a decent section of recipes which use tea as an important ingredient.  I plan on trying low-fat yogurt with green matcha, and perhaps an oolong chicken and steak rub.  These are fun and healthy meals to try, so if you wouldn't be losing out on much money if you bought the book just for that section.

You'd think, with all the not-so-good stuff I've written about The Ultimate Tea Diet, that I wasn't recommending it.  Not true.  Go get the book if you are actively trying to lose weight and want another tool by your side.  Certainly no harm can come of it, and maybe it will help you.  For such a low price, I'm glad to have this book on my shelf.  I want to lose weight, and I'll be overjoyed if tea plays a part of that.

Good night!  I'm off to brew another pot (re-steeped) for the evening.

The Ultimate Tea Diet (Now We're Cooking with Tea)

Ehm, so I've gained weight again.  It is quite depressing to think that just a few short months ago I was thirty pounds lighter (and looking fairly decent, I might add).  Although I needed to lose another, say, 20 lbs to be at an "ideal" weight, I went the other direction and pigged out with a passion.  I don't know why, really.  Because I was feeling really good, I was in shape - exercising daily, eating anti-oxidant packed nutritious foods - and I loved the way I was looking.  But anyway, here I am.  And it's time to get that scale needle to budge downwards again.

What better way than to get my beloved beverage on board?  I have no idea if tea can help someone lose weight, although there are many who believe that it can.  I'm not talking about swallowing "green tea extract" pills (I think that might be dangerous, actually).  Besides, that just takes out all the enjoyment of drinking it, n'est-ce-pas?

I do believe that tea can play an important role in a healthy lifestyle, however, so I'm going to ramp up my use of Camellia Sinensis leaves in my day-to-day diet.  I'm going to drink more cups during the day, and I'm going to start cooking with it as well.  I've already started, in fact!  Today I made my newest and neatest culinary experience - Chai Oatmeal.  I prepare the masala brew minus the milk, and add quick-cooking oatmeal to the pot for 5 minutes.  It's really, really good.  And good for you.

I've also ordered a really cheap book from Chapters.  It's called The Ultimate Tea Diet, and although I have some misgivings (I'm hoping that this book doesn't condone tea fasting or anything), I've heard that this book contains recipes that include tea.  That makes me excited.  I'll let you know what I think when I receive it in 4-8 days.

So while this is not a weight-loss blog, I'll be chiming in from time to time about my progress and what I find works when it comes to tea.  Who knows, maybe I'll start a project a la Julie Powell, testing out tea recipes.  We'll see. 

In the mean time, I'm open to suggestion - if you have any favorite tea recipes or ideas of how to incorporate tea into a weight-loss diet that you'd like to share, please let me know!