Very highly recommend trying green tea. I buy the organic stuff from either the supermarket or health food stores and have been drinking it for years. It's especially great when you first get up in the morning, mixed with freshly squeezed lemon juice. Really helps to get your digestive system fired up and moving. The bitter taste of the green tea helps stimulate your intestines into action and the sour of the lemon stimulates your liver (especially useful for those who drink a lot of alcohol and want to be able to continue to do so). Can really help you feel "clean" inside and feeling good at the start of your day. I think I also heard of a study that found it to be really effective taken immediately after exercise. Don't remember what effect it had then, but I remember it was worth remembering to do it.
Edit: Here it is, or at least one: http://thyroid.about.com/b/2005/02/09/green-tea-extract-boosts-exercise-endurance-8-24.htm
Something else that I found to be a fantastic thing to add to your water (but not your green tea water, as the tannins in tea and things high in iron don't necessarily work well together: http://www.amazing-green-tea.com/green-tea-and-iron.html- a very interesting read) is blackstrap molasses (best one to buy is unsulphured). It's one of the main ingredients in licorice lollies and is the by-product of sugar cane refinement. The reason white sugar is considered so harmful to you is that it basically doesn't have any nutrients left in it, so when you eat it, your body has to use the nutrients you already have in you, to digest it, or whatever, because the white sugar doesn't provide them. (It's the same as what purely chemical fertilizers do to soil. They add no nutrients to improve the soil, so the plants use up what is already in the soil, leaving it depleted over time, if no other beneficial nutrients are added).
The blackstrap molasses is what is taken out in the 1st or 2nd step of the sugar cane refinement process and is where most of the nutrients and goodness are. (One of the reasons it's fed to livestock, in their water) That is the reason it is black as tar. It's loaded with things like iron, potassium, calcium and all kinds of other minerals and so on. It tastes OK (about one teaspoon of it in a glass of water), as it's a natural sweetener, but if you want to improve/sweeten the taste more, I recommend mixing it with some raw honey. Unlike most vitamin and mineral supplements from the shops, it's also completely organic/natural and not made in a lab, so is more likely to be well absorbed and used by your body. If you don't have a healthy diet, it's an easy way to add some nutrients to help keep you from getting unwell/unhealthy.
Another benefit of it is that its PH is pretty much neutral, whereas most things drunk in the western world are quite acidic (have an acidic effect on your body), such as alcohol, processed fruit juices, things like Gatorade and soft drinks, sugar-filled drinks, etc. Unless you're consuming plenty of things that are PH neutral, or alkaline, to balance out all the acidic stuff (which is made worse if you're eating lots of processed foods and dairy products and meat, grains, breads, etc, which are also mostly acidic) then you'll most likely be too acidic inside and not feel anywhere near your best, of be as healthy/fit/strong/energetic as you can be.
When you've got a cold or the flu and you're spitting and blowing out all kinds of nasty s**t, that is the effect of too much acid and junk in your diet. When I had a serious health problem in the late 90's I cut out all junk food and most processed food and most of the acid forming foods I mentioned earlier and I basically didn't get a cold or flu for the two years I was eating that way and the chronic catarr, acne and asthma problems I'd had in recent years also completely went away. It was phenomenal in that regard and I felt so much better for it it wasn't funny (also started sleeping like a baby, which had been a problem for a long time). I had previously had a terrible diet (didn't really realise what effect what I ate had on my health and energy levels, etc) and it made a massive difference to health problems I had had for years, as well as my energy levels and moods.
Another benefit I found with blackstrap molasses, that I was completely not expecting, was that it pretty much completely got rid of my sugar cravings when I started taking it (a couple of years later, when I was not eating so well anymore). At the time I was basically addicted to lollies and was eating a heap of them (ended up costing me a couple of teeth), but within 15 minutes of taking my first drink of the molasses water, the cravings went away and have basically not returned in the 10+ years since (I still take the molasses most days). I had no idea it would/could have that effect and it wasn't the reason I started taking it (I started taking it because I'd read so many good things about it, like what I said earlier about it), but that was a great side benefit. I'm not sure what in it made the cravings go away, but I take it it has something in it that scratched that "sugar itch" in my pancreas, without the negative, addictive effects the lollies had. I'm very grateful for that, as I might not have too many teeth left now if that hadn't happened.
It's top stuff.
(On a side note, BM is also regarded as a fantastic addition to the soil/pots/compost in the garden, as the natural sugars feed the beneficial bacteria in the soil, apart from all the other benefits. It can also be used to fertilize plants, as it has good levels of nitrogen (N) and potassium (K), two thirds of the NPK that dominate fertilizers, plus other beneficial minerals and nutrients. (P is phosphorous, which it doesn't have much of, so that means it can be great for native plants, which don't like, or need P). If you look up the marijuana growing websites, they all tend to rave about blackstrap molasses' effects on growing their plants! Again, unlike chemical fertilizers, it feeds both the plant and the soil and without the chemical side-effects. (If you want a natural source of P, you can get it from used coffee grounds (which also have good amounts of K and other nutrients), which you can get from your local coffee shop, as they throw it out by the garbagebagful. Again, it feeds the soil as well and the worms love it, helping to turn it into dark, rich, fertile soil.).
Edit: Here it is, or at least one: http://thyroid.about.com/b/2005/02/09/green-tea-extract-boosts-exercise-endurance-8-24.htm
Something else that I found to be a fantastic thing to add to your water (but not your green tea water, as the tannins in tea and things high in iron don't necessarily work well together: http://www.amazing-green-tea.com/green-tea-and-iron.html- a very interesting read) is blackstrap molasses (best one to buy is unsulphured). It's one of the main ingredients in licorice lollies and is the by-product of sugar cane refinement. The reason white sugar is considered so harmful to you is that it basically doesn't have any nutrients left in it, so when you eat it, your body has to use the nutrients you already have in you, to digest it, or whatever, because the white sugar doesn't provide them. (It's the same as what purely chemical fertilizers do to soil. They add no nutrients to improve the soil, so the plants use up what is already in the soil, leaving it depleted over time, if no other beneficial nutrients are added).
The blackstrap molasses is what is taken out in the 1st or 2nd step of the sugar cane refinement process and is where most of the nutrients and goodness are. (One of the reasons it's fed to livestock, in their water) That is the reason it is black as tar. It's loaded with things like iron, potassium, calcium and all kinds of other minerals and so on. It tastes OK (about one teaspoon of it in a glass of water), as it's a natural sweetener, but if you want to improve/sweeten the taste more, I recommend mixing it with some raw honey. Unlike most vitamin and mineral supplements from the shops, it's also completely organic/natural and not made in a lab, so is more likely to be well absorbed and used by your body. If you don't have a healthy diet, it's an easy way to add some nutrients to help keep you from getting unwell/unhealthy.
Another benefit of it is that its PH is pretty much neutral, whereas most things drunk in the western world are quite acidic (have an acidic effect on your body), such as alcohol, processed fruit juices, things like Gatorade and soft drinks, sugar-filled drinks, etc. Unless you're consuming plenty of things that are PH neutral, or alkaline, to balance out all the acidic stuff (which is made worse if you're eating lots of processed foods and dairy products and meat, grains, breads, etc, which are also mostly acidic) then you'll most likely be too acidic inside and not feel anywhere near your best, of be as healthy/fit/strong/energetic as you can be.
When you've got a cold or the flu and you're spitting and blowing out all kinds of nasty s**t, that is the effect of too much acid and junk in your diet. When I had a serious health problem in the late 90's I cut out all junk food and most processed food and most of the acid forming foods I mentioned earlier and I basically didn't get a cold or flu for the two years I was eating that way and the chronic catarr, acne and asthma problems I'd had in recent years also completely went away. It was phenomenal in that regard and I felt so much better for it it wasn't funny (also started sleeping like a baby, which had been a problem for a long time). I had previously had a terrible diet (didn't really realise what effect what I ate had on my health and energy levels, etc) and it made a massive difference to health problems I had had for years, as well as my energy levels and moods.
Another benefit I found with blackstrap molasses, that I was completely not expecting, was that it pretty much completely got rid of my sugar cravings when I started taking it (a couple of years later, when I was not eating so well anymore). At the time I was basically addicted to lollies and was eating a heap of them (ended up costing me a couple of teeth), but within 15 minutes of taking my first drink of the molasses water, the cravings went away and have basically not returned in the 10+ years since (I still take the molasses most days). I had no idea it would/could have that effect and it wasn't the reason I started taking it (I started taking it because I'd read so many good things about it, like what I said earlier about it), but that was a great side benefit. I'm not sure what in it made the cravings go away, but I take it it has something in it that scratched that "sugar itch" in my pancreas, without the negative, addictive effects the lollies had. I'm very grateful for that, as I might not have too many teeth left now if that hadn't happened.
It's top stuff.
(On a side note, BM is also regarded as a fantastic addition to the soil/pots/compost in the garden, as the natural sugars feed the beneficial bacteria in the soil, apart from all the other benefits. It can also be used to fertilize plants, as it has good levels of nitrogen (N) and potassium (K), two thirds of the NPK that dominate fertilizers, plus other beneficial minerals and nutrients. (P is phosphorous, which it doesn't have much of, so that means it can be great for native plants, which don't like, or need P). If you look up the marijuana growing websites, they all tend to rave about blackstrap molasses' effects on growing their plants! Again, unlike chemical fertilizers, it feeds both the plant and the soil and without the chemical side-effects. (If you want a natural source of P, you can get it from used coffee grounds (which also have good amounts of K and other nutrients), which you can get from your local coffee shop, as they throw it out by the garbagebagful. Again, it feeds the soil as well and the worms love it, helping to turn it into dark, rich, fertile soil.).
