Since ancient times, tea has been used not only as a pleasant beverage, but medicine too. Green or black tea with a piece of lemon and honey is number one healthy beverage in my daily menu. I love especially green tea with a delicate scent of jasmine. It is one of the great foods that fight cancer. Here is my glass pitcher with green tea, lemon and honey that I make fresh every day. Hot or cold, but one glass of green tea is a must-to-have in the morning or afternoon. Do you know why?

Both green and black teas possess numerous active ingredients, including flavonoids and polyphenols. Flavonoids and polyphenols are potent antioxidants.One widespread study has recently noted that one class of flavonoids called catechins has anti-cancer potential. Conclusion: tea is the best source of catechins in our diet. If you compare both teas, scientists say that green tea contains about three times more of catechins than black tea.

In laboratory studies, green tea dispayed amazing results. It has been shown to slow or even completely prevent development of colon, liver, breast and prostate cancer. Other studies that involved green tea have shown similar protective eggects in tissues of the digestive system, lung and skin.

Studies conducted in Asia where green tea consumption is common have also associated regular usage of green tea with lower risk for colon, stomach, bladder, pancreatic and esophageal cancers.

Do you want to brew a fresh cuppa of tea and do it right? Watch this video.

Drink only freshly brewed green or black tea, one-two cups a day. Don’t store it in refrigerator for the next day.

CAUTION: Very high amounts of green tea usually associated with overdosage of green tea supplements have been shown to interact with drugs that affect blood clotting such as aspirin and change the way the body metabolizes certain medications.

Source: AICR’s second expert report, Food, Nutrition, Physical Activity, and the Prevention of Cancer: A Global Perspective

Text and Photo Submitted by Svetlana Konnikova

Back to my post “Prevent Cancer By Including Dark Leafy Vegetables in Your Daily Menu” with green spinach recipes.

 Spinach can be used in so many ways. You can chop it and serve with butter. I prefer to use organic, cold press olive oil mixed with freshly squeezed lemon juice because it’s healthier. You can also serve spinach with baby carrots, beets or small white or young  fava beans. You can also make one of my favorite meals, green spinach omelette.

Once in a restaurant in Paris I ordered an omelette with spinach. It was so delicious! So from that time, I started making the same for my family breakfast or weekend lunch. I asked the French chef in this restaurant to share his recipe with me, and he kindly told me his secrets of making this puffy and airy nutritious meal. Now you can make the same,

GREEN SPINACH OMELETTE

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 Simple and aromatic chamomile is one of my favorite wild flowers. Often a bunch of these small flowers adore a crystal vase in my kitchen.  I love to smell their delicate scent that I feel blends perfectly with my body chemistry. 

I also make every other day a chamomile tea to drink in the evening or chamomile infusion to pour it into my bathtub. Chamonile bath helps to open the pores clogged by” the air dust” surrounding us during daily time. It is such a pleasure to take chamomile bath before you go to bed that will  clean your skin from impurities and will rejuvenate a Whole You. 

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What do you think is better some conventional foods or organic that cost much, much more? Today any producer can write on his label “Organic” even if his product contains only 70 % of organic ingredients. So, what should we eat, organic or conventional foods to keep us healthy? This is the question…

‘Certified Organic’ is a different story. ‘Certified Organic’ product’s price is much higher than just ‘organic.’ But at least, we have some assurance that manufacturer conducts serious and responsible business. That gives us, consumers, a piece of mind. We need this piece of mind because we are all worried about our health. What is good in being sick? We try to avoid any possible chemicals in our food we eat every day. We read lots of articles. These articles very often oppose each other. It depends who sponsored it and what interests are represented.

There is so much information flying at us at the breakneck speed. Tons of this info creates confusion, and can really mislead and send us in a wrong direction. So, now watch this video and find out what is the difference between organic and conventional food, and make your conclusion. Knowledge is power, isn’t it?!

I hope you had today a healthy lunch like green salad, a sandwich with grilled vegetables and freshly squeezed vegetable juice or cold green tea with lemon and honey. Every day new and innovative organic food cafes and restaurants open their doors to offer you just that. If you had a typical American lunch (real food!?), like hamburger, French fries and soda, do you realize that you voluntarilly put in your body the worst processed foods that can make you sick or gain weight?

Today many of us want to eat in a healthy way and be well. We try to avoid processed foods and include in our daily diet more fresh vegetables, fruits and natural beverages. But sometimes we don’t deliver our promises to ourselves and find all possible excuses to go just one time for “real food” like hamburgers and sugary sodas. We see also very strange things happen with people who by their profession must be examples of healthy lifestyle and know more than others about nutrition and proper diet… I am talking about medical professionals.

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Weight loss, weight loss, weight loss… These two words we listen every day, everywhere, and from many people. Don’t you get tired of all these insane diets and talks like that. Yesterday in the evening, I was with my friend in a small Italian restaurant which is famous with its green salads, seafood and very tasteful, thin crust pizzas. My friend started reviewing the menu and said to me “You know, I am on a diet.” Really? And then she ordered medium size pizza “Primavara” and ate almost a half of it. Are we talking about a diet and weight loss?

Forget about weight loss for a minute. Pizza “Primavera” was made with lots of green baby spinach and red tomatoes. Imagine hot, green pizza with aroma of organic garden on your dinner table… Fortunately, chefs of this restaurant are generous people. They put on a top, at least, one cup of spinach. Do you know that consuming one cup of spinach daily reduces 50 % your risk of ever having lung cancer?

Taking in lycopene (the pigment that makes tomatoes red) can cut the risk by about 32%. But here is a catch that is good to know: lycopene, when eaten, is best absorbed by your digestive system with a little fat. And this little fat comes with cheese in a pizza.

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Many people say that to buy and eat healthy foods is too expensive. It’s not always true. If you know ins and outs of the trade, you can shop smart, keep your budget in order instead of disorder, and eat natural foods for your good health. At first, do you know what are the worst foods you are wasting your money on? Now Natalie will tell you and show what foods you must avoid at any cost and why.

Can you live without herbs, plants, flowers and trees? I cannot imagine my life without these green messengers of Mother Nature. Do not have these green surroundings it’s the same as to live in a box. What kind of life is this? Well, we can grow and use herbs in our daily life if we know how. We can plant beautiful flowers around our house or grow upside down juicy tomatoes.

So many possibilities and options that we can explore on two conditions: if we have a desire and time to do it. Very often we are so busy that we don’t have enough time to reseach DIY information, but this excuse doesn’t ‘ help us to reach our simplest goal: to commune with nature for our well-being.

Just admit, in our high-speed, modern world, many of us have a growing wish to be connected to nature as an antidote to stress and life pressure. We would like to live in healthier and simpler ways helping us to relax and enjoy our life. Here is an interesting story about how one couple fulfilled their dream to connect with nature. Glen and Wing let the Green and Sunset into their Breezehouse and life that became joyful because of it.

Do you know that June is a nationally registered Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Month? So, celebrate it with fresh superstar foods. I love to make vegetable sandwiches for my lunch. There’s nothing like enjoying the flavor of fresh vegetables whether you grow them in your home garden or pick them up sparkling with morning dew from the local farmer’s market.

Can you imagine a divine taste of these vegetables if you grill them in your summer kitchen, and then stuff your veggie sandwiches with these natural gifts of Nature? Yummy and good for your health!

Now watch how chef Keith Snow easily makes them.

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  As well as potatoes, homemade soup or borscht is one of   favorite meals  in my family. Vegetable soup is good for you. It is a light meal that can grace you menu every day.

Soup, old-fashioned, homemade with organic vegetables,   olive oil, and sometimes  lemon juice successfully promotes weight loss. Studies conducted by the scientists of Baylor College of Medicine in Houston found that people consuming a bowl of  soup before lunch or dinner lost more weight than dieters on any ‘famous’ diets that did not include soup. One time there was a craziness with so-called “Cabbage Soup” diet. But who can eat every day one the same soup with cabbage?

If you are serious about weight loss and keeping it off, you can find thousands of healthy recipes for healthy green soups. But exclude any cream soups or those made with beef or pork. Favor or make vegetable soups or sometimes chicken soup, the same that your Mama cooked with an onion in it that helps in fighting many diseases. This soup is  especially helpful when you get cold or flu.

Quick Tip: Make organic chicken broth and cook an onion in it. When the onion is tender, eat it at once. Add a pinch of iodized salt for better taste. This cooked onion and chicken soup works magic in treating a cough.

 Bread, a dark, rich, high-fiber, another Nature’s gift and superstar food. You can   say, “You’ve got to be kidding, right?” Wrong. The nutritional benefit of bread are endless. It is not bread, but cream cheese, butter or margarine you put on it is fattening. This combination makes you fat, increases your cholesterol and blocks your blood vessels.

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