DR. TEA'S BLOG

dr. tea, i am very sensitive to caffine. what r the best teas to drink that are flavorful and yet without caffine. and i'm going to start the tea diet. i just got your book and am starting to drink tea all day. but i need to know the best teas to drink. i also like the fact that u can use the teas as rubs on meats and other ways to make specialty drinks. wow i'm very excited to try these. thanks will let u know my results!
xoxo
 

are there any teas that will help with getting to sleep at night? i find it very hard to fall asleep. or i will sleep for 10 min. and then wake up and can't fall back to sleep for sometimes hours!! any help?
maxine
 

Hi Dr. Tea!
Just figured I'd tell you about my latest cooking adventure involving tea, and share a meal suggestion with everyone. I'm very excited about the diet, reccommend it to all my friends who have interest in losing weight.
As per long standing New Mexico tradtion of making green chile stew every fall when the chiles ripen (you can tell summer's over when you smell them being roasted), I made a great Green Chile Tea Stew (ok, it was more like a veggie soup with beef and fresh-roasted green chile plus the contents of a cheapie tea bag since I wanted the tea to be very fine.) Can't give anyone the recipe, because soups are something I make up as I go along.
If you want to make it just google "Green Chile Stew Recipe" and add a bit of fine ground tea. I would suggest adding posole (google it for a definition, I think it's sort of like hominy, I've only ever known it as posole though.) to whatever recipe you find, if it doesn't already call for that.
Oh, yeah, just realized some of you from other parts of the country might be wondering about the fresh green chile. It's a New Mexico/southwest thing, b/c most Hatch green chile is grown in NM, the factory that cans it is in Albuquerque, and every fall people buy it by the burlap sack to have roasted fresh....so much better than canned. Don't worry if you can't get fresh, though, just find the canned green chile (not jalapenos) near the salsa.
Hot pepper based dishes are great for weight loss: the capsaicin (spicy chemical in peppers) is a metabolism booster just like the tea.
 

Hi dr. tea

If I drink tea will I be able to poop really big?
 

Maxine/Katherine/William:

I do apologize for not getting back with you sooner as I have had computer troubles.

Maxine:

you can use Rooibos which is a decaffeinated pant from South Africa.

I have recipes in my book using tea and have tea rubs already prepared which are fanatastic.

Sleeping: Take a look at Chamomile. It is not a tea but an herb that assists with sleep.


Katherine:

What can I say? Another great recipe and looking great.

William: I am sure tea will assist with your needs. please e-mail and let me know how you are doing now 2 weeks later?
 

Hello Tea Lovers:

I would like to know if anyone has had a great tea moment recently? Drinking, cooking, or perhaps a romance around tea?

doc
 

Great tea moments? Like when you finally decide to quit the coffee 100% because you got caffine jitters at work? I had a large mug of coffee and milk (maybe 1/2 cup milk, 1.5 cups coffee) due to my difficulty waking up...too much caffine! I was shaking like a leaf in a hurricane, couldn't sit still! And I work with my hands, so the shakiness was extremely bad. I may even give my coffepot, beans, and supplies away on FreeCycle. I had been drinking just tea, but then relatives came to visit who like coffee, so I brewed it for them every morning and got back into the coffee habit. Now I'll be able to have the willpower to stop drinking coffee completely after what happened at work.
Oh yeah, the specialist who treats me for Irritable Bowel Syndrome (which has gotten better on the tea; that's how we ended up discussing weight loss, caffine, and coffee vs. tea) said that there are very new studies that say you should have as much caffine as your body can handle. What does everyone think of that? IMHO, most people drink more than their bodies are supposed to handle!
God bless!
-Katherine
 

Hey Dr. Tea-
how much tea do I have to drink per day if I want the mental health benefits? Same as for weight loss? (I've been slipping up with the diet the past week or two...back on the wagon!) I occasionally end up not sleeping due to the brain chemical issues...I'm one time zone different from you (you're in Pacific, I'm in Mountain) so you can tell by post time that I'm keeping weird hours tonight either due to the coffee I had at work or the weirdness of not enough tea. You said tea helps that. So how much should I have ("decaf" after 3:00, of course) to regulate everything upstairs?
 

Katherine:

Great to hear from you.

WOW what a great tea moment! LOVE it!!!!!!

Now, I am so pleased yo are back on the wagon, and that is why tea is so great because when you fall off you can go right back onto the wagon.

I would say that removing the coffee will be the first step to your better sleep. Next, I would have the first steep of tea not later than 3PM. then after that be sure to have subsequent steeps as they have next to no caffeine left but you do get the L-thenaine and EGCG antioxidant.

As far as the mental aspects and weight loss we need 6-8 cups of tea a day. this can be one portion used many times.

Now to your IBS MD. I understand what he is saying, but sadly I do not agree as we have a caffeine epidemic in our country and promoting as much caffeine as possible to me is so detrimental to ones health and feeling of well being.

You are doing great and stay in touch!

doc
 

Hi Dr. Tea,
First off, my post is not well organized : ) it is just stream of conciousness writing.
Agree with pretty much everything you've said.
a little caffine is good, a lot is bad...maybe it's kinda like red wine? or fat? or sodium?
Thanks for clearing up that I need the 48 fl. oz. plus of tea for both the mental and weight loss benefits. Yeah, the coffee I had was probably still in my system last night (I know that I metabolize large amounts of the drug slower than average) and 3:00 seems to be a good cutoff for my caffine consumption. I know that good sleep is essential to weight loss. So last night was a bad start, but there's always tomorrow.
I don't know how to break it to my family that they won't be waking up to the smell of coffee for a loooong time. IDK, I'm the only one who comes close to liking it, so maybe they'll be happy. Now comes the question of how to get rid of the darn thing. Trying to decide between FreeCycle and thrift store donations.
Haven't weighed or measured myself recently. I'll do that tomorrow to see what the damage of falling off the wagon was, then I'll give you an update for my weekly loss next Saturday!
I'd love to lose 2 or more pounds a week until the new year. It would be great if I could be 15 to 20 pounds lighter by the time I have foot surgery in early January. Less weight on the sore foot, speedier recovery!
What do you think of rosehip and hibiscus tisanes used to flavor your real tea? I mixed about a tablespoon each of those two tisanes and darjeeling tea in a 4 cup teapot and it came out really good...like a tangy tropical punch...needed a touch of honey or agave though, and I don't usually use that. Usually have it unsweetened.
Sorry to be promoting someone else's product, but I also found another tisane on www.enjoyingtea.com called "Berry Berry", it's a mix of different berries and fruits that go great as a flavoring to a nice black or white tea (doesn't work well with green tea from my experience). Do you carry anything like that? Sorry to have not checked before this post. I think you should look into tisane-quality dried fruit if you don't have anything like that yet, something really exotic that we won't be able to get at the supermarket in that high quality form.
I've been ordered by the family not to buy any more tea until some is used up! I am officially a TEAoholic!
Oh, and my friend wants to sample the Candy Bar tea, so I'll be giving her a baggie with a tablespoon or so. I believe I have an extra info card, should I give her that too so she'll have brewing instructions? Or can I just tell her "use 1 tsp of tea per cup of water, boil the water, cool it slightly, pour the water over the tea and brew for three minutes" since that's how I always brew my black tea?
Wow, I'm hungry. Lunchtime here in the Rocky Mountains! It'll be good for me, you needn't worry. Gotta go pop some corn for my afternoon snack too. (I often allow myself something low calorie like a granola bar, some popcorn, or a piece of fruit as a snack).
TTFN and God bless!
-Katherine
 

Maxine,
Did you want caffine free suggestions?
I like hibiscus as far as tisanes go. It tastes like tropical punch when you add a drizzle of honey or agave. VERY yummy. You can add some decaf (read: less than 5 mg caffine, not enough to affect most people but still can affect the ultra-sensitive) tea to it if you want the health benefits. Rosehips are better added to something else as a flavoring, but you can also brew them like tea, they don't need sweetener IMHO. I know this sounds weird, but next time you eat an orange, brew the (cleaned) peel in boiling water. That's another one that needs a tiny bit of sweetener. Brew a cinnamon stick in boiling water with an apple slice. There are lots of nice tisane blends out there, if you don't want to make your own.
Hope this helps,
Katherine
 

Katherine:

You know storing the old coffee maker is not a bad idea for those time you feel like having a cup.

I love the additions of any ingredients you love to your tea and have no problem with any other tea companies great mixes. Remember what i always say; it's all about YOU! What YOU love to drink.

Welcome to the club of tea-aholics, what a great healthy club to be a part of.
eat when you hungry, that's when your body tells you to eat. a Healthy snack is great during the day when and if you are hungry, but to eat for eatings sake is a huge problem we all face.

Keep up the great work.

doc
 

Hey Dr. Tea!
Was feeling really depressed this morning, didn't want to get out of bed, was thinking a lot of negative, self-defeating thoughts...but then I forced myself to get out of bed and make a pot of tea, and I felt better almost right away!
Also, last night I tried to eat a big restaraunt meal and failed to finish it. a few months ago I would've still been hungry after a meal that size! My appetite is shrinking! YAY!
Got on the scale first thing yesterday. The damage of my slipping up was not as bad as I'd thought. Back up two and a half pounds from where I was before I slipped up. But that can come off in a week if I work at it. I plan on working out later today; if I do that a few more times this week my weight loss should be good. I'll let you know how well I did next weekend, that's when I weigh myself next. I might've lost some inches though, since a skirt that fit above my navel last month was sliding down lower than it should sit when I wore it yesterday. It's quite possible that I've lost inches, maybe just redistributed weight, but still my clothes have been fitting differently so I think that even with the weight gain due to my slip-ups I've lost some weight/inches. I'll have to measure myself and put it on the graph I'm keeping.
-Katherine
 

Katherine:

With tea you lose inches first and then the weight. Remember muscle weighs more than fat so as you you workout you will be adding weight with more muscle.

Looks like the program is working.

Keep up the great work.

doc
 

I was just at the store and it seems like everyone is very enthused about the election results from yesterday.

Hoping we can get all of us Americans back onto the same page.

doc
 

Hey Dr. Tea,
Funny you should mention the election.
I'm a walking contradiction, aka an Evangelical Christian Democrat....agree with my own party on most things: the economy, healthcare, the war, etc. but I agree with the Republicans on moral issues. So when I went to register I decided to be a democrat becuase I agreed with them on more stuff. I ALWAYS split the ticket, though. This year I voted opposite parties for the White House and Congress, so I was a little miffed that they turned out the same. I would've liked either Congress to be mostly Republican or McCain to have won the Presidency.
However, I can't complain anymore, we have our results! Now that we know the will of the people, it will do no good to complain, because we can't change it...insert serenity prayer here. All I can do is pray that President Elect Obama will have guidance from The Big Guy Upstairs!
God bless America (and for that matter the whole world)!
-Katherine
 

Brilliant Book!

I love the Chocolate Craving Tea. *mmmmm* Divine
 

Lynnivere-
I can't think of any tea-aholics who don't love it! It's amazing, huh? Good way to take care of cravings.
Hope you're doing well on the plan, if you are on the plan that is. I'm not exactly on the strict mealplan, just following Dr. Tea's food guide and using a similar caloric intake. Plus lots of tea, of course.
God bless!
-Katherine
 

I hope I didn't offend anyone with my political post. It just occured to me that I could very easily have offended (or at least annoyed) a bunch of people. Sorry, I did not intend it to be offensive or annoying.
-Katherine
 

Hi Dr. Tea,
I'm having issues. My metabolism and sleep cycle are wonky again. I was really tired at 7 last night. It was a bad idea on my part to go to bed then, because I woke up at three and was ready to start my day. My question is: how do I prevent myself from getting tired so early? I mean, I was zonked out before eight. Can tea help me with that? I hadn't been drinking much yesterday, so maybe I didn't have my small amount of caffine that's so beneficial. Could that be why I crashed so early?
Thanks,
Katherine
 

Hi Dr. Tea,

I am thinking of reducing 20 lbs in 3 months. I was wondering of having Dr.Tea is great idea. If yes, I would want you to suggest which plan is best for me. What could be the amount of tea and frequecny per day. It will be really great if you can let me know.Thank you,

Yamini
 

Got on the scale this morning.....almost cried. My weight's been up and down lately because of the meds. First I lost ten pounds cause I could hardly eat, nothing tasted right. Then they changed the meds, and I've been REALLY hungry lately. I've gained twelve pounds back of the twenty I had lost! (Maximum weight was 215. I had been down to 205 before my unhungry episode, then I went down to 195, then I gained back to 207!)
I'm really frustrated. But I've decided to make sure I have lots of foods on hand that'll be healthy and also palatable. Also, I'll be drinking lots of tea whenever I can! I can do this! it'll just be extra hard for me because of all the meds that make me hungrier. But I just have to keep telling myself that I CAN GET TO A HEALTHY WEIGHT!!!!
Well, guess I'll go have some tea now.
-Katherine
 

Hi Dr. Tea.
I am writing from the U.K.
I was wonder if the Diet Tea is avaiable in the U.K?
Thank You
Kam x
 

I have been reading so many positive reviews about drinking herbal teas but I also see others who have bad reviews about these herbal products. How doe these teas really affect our health?

Herbal Products