Wednesday, January 09, 2008

Tea Time For My Diet

While I may have started drinking coffee to survive nursing school, I've always been a tea girl. My childhood memories are filled with tall glasses of iced tea on hot afternoons. I drank tea more than anything else as a child since my mother always kept a pitcher of it in the fridge.

In college, I met friends who had tea stashes that I had never dreamed of - I was strictly a Lipton girl, but was then introduced to the wide variety of teas out there. Now I have my own tea stash, filled with all sorts of black, green and herbal teas, to be picked through and savored based on my mood.

The Parent Bloggers Network asked me about a month ago to review a new book: The Ultimate Tea Diet by Mark "Dr. Tea" Ukra. My first thought was "What? A tea diet? Is this some fad like the grapefruit diet?" However, I don't need an excuse to drink tea, so I gladly agreed to review it.

I'll start with this: the book does not advocate drinking only tea to lose weight. Instead, it advocates a sensible diet with the simple addition of drinking tea. Mark Ukra gives a brief history of tea, then discusses the chemical compounds present in tea that can aid in burning more calories and suppressing your appetite each day. He also covers how to choose the right teas for you, and how to prepare it to produce the best taste.

The diet is simple and straightforward. Drink all the tea you can drink each day, and eat a sensible diet. The more tea you consume, the more it will help you, and so Dr. Tea includes several healthy, tasty recipes that include tea in the ingredients.

I tried a few of the recipes. The tea-infused oatmeal was good - it tasted pretty much like my regular oatmeal, with a slight hint of tea. The best recipes, for me, were the Frosteas - imagine a fruity tea slushy - yummmm.

I haven't followed the diet, but decided to kick my coffee and soda habits in favor of only tea for over a week now. I've noticed my evening food cravings aren't as strong when I'm drinking lots of tea. If I'm craving something sweet, a nice cup of chai is a good substitute. And some of the different tea recipes suggested can help with any craving you might have. (Just try Dr. Tea's Candy Bar Black Tea.) Worried about caffeine? Decaf still delivers a lot of the healthy benefits, too.

The Ultimate Tea Diet is worth a read if you're trying to lose weight or have found yourself stuck in your efforts to lose weight. While tea isn't going to magically make you thinner, it may serve as a helper to any dieting efforts you undertake. And we'll take every advantage we can get, right?

Win a copy! I received a preview copy of the book as well as the final product, so I'd like to share my extra copy with one of my readers. If you'd like to win this book, leave a comment on this post, and I'll choose a winner one week from today. (January 16)

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm a big tea drinker too, so I think I'll check this book out to see how I can incorporate into a healthy lifestyle instead of just having it as my morning pick-me-up!

Anonymous said...

Oh...I LOVE tea. Count me in the drawing!!!

Maureen Fitzgerald said...

Yes - hook me up! I was supposed to review this for Mothertalk, but the tour got cancelled. Glad to hear your take on it.

Eckmama said...

I'm already a tea addict, but after 4 babies my body needs all the help it can get. How fun to use something I love to help me lose weight! Please count me in the drawing too--thanks so much!

Anonymous said...

WOW! I'll have to add even more tea to my day!

It makes my teeth brown, however!!!

wardo_104@yahoo.net

Candice and Megan said...

Hi Christina!

I googled info. about "The Ultimate TEA Diet" and stumbled upon your blog. I love the fact that all of you guys from the Parent Bloggers Network have reviewed it and like it...for the most part. I love tea, and am excited about the tea-infused recipes. Please consider me in your drawing on the 16th.

Thanks!

Sunshine said...

I am a coffee addict, but I also love tea. One of my New Year's resolutions was to cut way back on coffee and substitute tea instead. Another resolution was to lose 15 pounds by my 10th anniversary this year (May 30). Wow, after hearing about this book, I'm hoping my two resolutions can work together!

Thanks for your review!
sdawncampb@juno.com

Matt said...

I am a coffee drinker, however, I do enjoy a good cup of tea. I don't know much about tea and I like the idea of being told which ones I should drink for certain benefits. I also really like the idea of trying out some of the recipes. Please count me in for the drawing.

Carrie

Jen said...

Count me in! I've just re-discovered tea after a bad headache sent me to the ER, and one of the doctor's recommendations was CAFFEINE! Since I hate coffee, and am try7ing to cut down on the Diet Coke, I've started drinking tea again. I'd forgotten how much I liked it. I'd love to see this book, losing weight being one of my goals this year!

dr. tea said...

TEAM:

Great review of my book.

Remember coffee raisesinsulin and that means you are trapping body fat. Tea reduces insulin so you can burn the fat.

It is all explained in my book and on my www.ulitmateteadiet.com site.

keep up the great job!

dr. tea

Silicon Valley Moms Group said...

Pick me! Pick me! haha. I just am really interested in this as I am trying to kick the diet soda habit because of the aspertame. This would be great.