Green Tea (mostly positive) and other liquids

Ok, before I start explaining why this blog post has the words "mostly positive" I think it's important that we recognize how good it is to have a healthy exercise and diet routine.

Green tea (as well as other healthy liquids such as water), is a much better choice to drink on a semi-regular basis, than downing sodas all day.
Let's say you are one of those people who drinks 6 sodas a day (2 with every meal) and each soda is 150 calories. That's 900 calories just from soda in one day.
Take that example and assume that without soda, you would stay the same weight. Adding 900 calories to your diet per day would make you gain about 1-2 pounds a week (according to most websites like this one). Of course I'm not saying you'll gain 52 pounds a year just by adding soda, that was just an example, and for most individuals the number wouldn't be quite that high due to other factors like the number of calories in their regular diet.
There are many other examples as to why sodas (regular and diet) are unhealthy for you, but I don't want to list every single reason here as it would be an all day chore and would most likely eat up most of this post.

Water is what i drink all day, between meals and with meals when I need something to wash my food down.
If I feel like i need to add a little bit of protein, I'll add non-fat low calorie high protein milk (my personal preference is Fairlife) to my meal in place of water.

Early in the day after i wake up, instead of grabbing a cup of coffee, I grab a party cup of green tea. When I say a "party cup" I mean those big plastic cups you get at the local grocery store that hold 16-18 ounces in each cup. It doesn't hurt that green tea has caffeine in it (unless you are sensitive to caffeine), so it makes alternative to coffee (especially if you are like me and don't like the taste of coffee or the immediate diuretic side effect it has on some bladders).
I usually drink one of those party cups after i wake up, and maybe 2 more between then and the early afternoon. Making my green tea intake a total of 3 party cups maximum (or 6 traditional 8 ounce cups) per day. I make sure there is at least half an hour after i drink the tea until i eat anything, and i also don't drink it until an hour after i have eaten due to the fact that there have been studies done that claim green tea interferes with absorption, which are outlined here. Also keep in mind there are plenty of studies that support the idea of caffeine interfering with absorption, so it's debatable if it's just a side effect of the caffeine.

There are many studies that talk about the health benefits of green tea, which are briefly summarized here.
But like everything there are a few downsides, like the problems you might have with it if you are sensitive to its caffeine content, if you have problems absorbing vitamins and minerals, and apparently it's not a good idea to drink a lot of green tea if you are pregnant (check the link i posted about absorption interference to learn why pregnant women may want to avoid green tea).

Overall, for me the possible benefits greatly outweigh any possible risks associated with green tea. The main reason I drink it in the morning is for it's caffeine content, and the other health benefits are just a bonus. Also I'm not worried about gaining weight with the kind of green tea I consume because the specific kind I drink is 0 calories. Also most of the Nutrition Facts label is covered by zeros, excluding the large amount of Vitamin C in each serving. The kind of green tea i prefer to drink is Arizona Zero Calorie Green Tea (click for image) not to be confused with the kind that contains honey. (for Nutrition Facts click here for image)

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This blog contains information based on research, opinions, and personal experiences by myself, Aaron Dean Henderson.
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