What’s in your cup?

A few years ago, upon presenting tea to groups of women at one of our local San Diego hospitals, I was asked to address the topic of diet teas at every one of my many presentations. It seemed that the hospital had been experiencing a number of middle-aged women who’d been rushed to the hospital. With bodies in complete dehydration, some women were experiencing frightening heart palpitations and, not taking any chances, they were showing up in the emergency room only for the medical staff to later discover they’d consumed a diet tea far in excess of the recommended amount.

It seems a common belief is that if two cups will help you to lose weight, then four or six, or eight cups a day should work even better and even faster! Therein lies the real problem.

I’ve been evaluating and experimenting with these products for several years now. I’ve purchased them from numerous places paying a wide range of prices. I’ve also been given them by several tea companies from all around the world–and most of these products contained Senna, which can be dangerous in high quantities.

The “diet” industry is a multi-billion dollar cash cow, so of course, many want to jump on the diet tea bandwagon. Since then, I’ve steeped and consumed many of the products out there. I’ve also been researching the information out there as well. And yes, many of the diet industry folks have gotten my money!

It has long been known that tea (the camellia sinensis plant) does help with weight loss by enhancing the metabolism. But with as much garbage being put into our bodies as there is, one can probably not drink as much tea as would be required to simply restore the body back into balance let alone drop pounds daily. Yes, that’s the way we want it! A pound every day seems like a dream come true!

And some of these products do make those promises. And guess what? Some people may actually lose a pound a day for a week…but usually not more.

I want to know what I’m putting in my body and the quality of the ingredients, but just because it says “all natural” doesn’t mean it’s good for you. I trust the wisdom of my own body to heal itself with the aid of what I consume. I also know just as we can be our own best healers, we can also be self-saboteurs.

For me, Senna tastes terrible! I’ve consumed it in many blends and as a stand-alone herb. Yuck! Having stated that, I was given a sample of Senna from Sri Lanka last year at the World Tea Expo that I actually almost enjoyed! It was very green. Most Senna is quite brown, so this sample had been roasted much lighter than anything I’d tasted to date. I found it tolerable. I have also learned there are many varieties of the Senna plant. In my next post, I will go into more detail about the plant itself. Sip safely. Sip wisely.

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