Lose Weight with Green Tea

Patricia Rouner
Smith House Press (2005)
ISBN 0961522178
Reviewed by Irene Watson for Reader Views (8/06)

Drinking green tea has been a favorite of mine for quite some time so when the opportunity came up to review “Loose Weight with Green Tea” I took the task.  I had previously heard that green tea had many benefits and that people in China have been drinking it for about 4000 years.  Surely, anything that has been consumed for that many years and still considered medicine by them is worth researching more.

Rouner’s book certainly is full of condensed research.  She has spent much time and effort compacting information into a small, readable book. The beginning of the book gives scientific research results as well as growing and processing. It was interesting to note that there are over 3000 varieties of tea grown.  It’s not much wonder that many of the teas taste so different from each other. The remainder of the book covers making of the tea to drink, the benefits, the nutritional values, as well as addressing the caffeine concerns and a little trivia dispersed throughout the book.

I learned from Rouner’s research that the “most critical factors in brewing tea are the water, temperature of the water and the tea.”  Regarding water she claims that if the water (from the tap) doesn’t taste good, it will reflect on the taste of the tea.  Rouner talks about spring water as well as reverse osmosis, the most effective treatment, being used for tea water. She claims that minerals in the water are essential for good tasting tea therefore discourages the use of distilled water.  “For green tea the water temperature should be between 160-175 degrees Fahrenheit” which means the water must not be boiling (212 degrees.)

It was interesting for me to learn that when tea was first introduced to England it was cost prohibitive, however, milk on the other hand was not.  How much milk was added to the tea indicated social standing.  The poorer people used a lot of milk in their tea whereas the more affluent the people were, the less milk was used.

Rouner’s main point of “Loose Weight with Green Tea” is just that – encouragement to add green tea daily to the diet, not only to loose weight but to maintain it. Her research shows that metabolism can be increased by consumption of green tea in turn causing burning of access fat as well as provide the body with essential antioxidants.

I encourage those that are interested in a healthy body to consider reading Rouner’s “Loose Weight with Green Tea,” add drinking green tea to their daily routine, and benefit the abundant results.  Here’s to health!

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