My sister was suggesting I drink more tea to help get over a minor weight loss stall. Actually she suggested replacing all my water with tea, which sounded a bit extreme to me.

My weight loss isn’t stalling anymore. All I did was cut back on the amount of flaxseeds I was adding to my salads. As usual, these things happen when you are miscalculating calories.

But I was curious about what Dr. Michael Greger, author of “How Not to Die,” thought of green tea. Basically did he think it is safe or something to be cautious of?

It turns out he highly recommends it!

Here are some interesting articles from his site, where he writes:

Tea consumption is associated with a reduced risk of heart disease, stroke, and premature death in general, with each additional cup of green tea a day associated with a 4-percent lower mortality risk. So, perhaps “drinking several cups of tea daily can keep the doctor away,” as well as the mortician—but what about cancer?

You can read the full article here: https://nutritionfacts.org/2020/05/07/using-green-tea-to-help-prevent-cancer-and-treat-cancer/

Now I’m not going to replace all my water with green tea. I like water too. I don’t think it’s all or nothing. But since I do like green tea, and since this is the home of green tea, and there are some brands that I especially like, I’m going to start drinking more of it each day.

What about decaf tea? I don’t like the idea of it. After all, the caffeine can also help keep me awake after dealing with Pao since early in the morning every day. So what does Dr. Greger think about it? It turns out that caffeine in green tea (not so much in coffee) has arterial and heart benefits! Take a look at this article: https://nutritionfacts.org/2016/08/23/role-caffeine-artery-function/

So I’m going to be drinking more green tea going forward, but not giving up water, and the tea I drink will be normal, plain, unflavored, unsweetened, fully caffeinated green tea. Just the way people like it here in Japan.