Drink matcha tea for boundless energy, focus, and a healthy heart

Dr Sara Gottfried, whose work I absolutely love, has said that the number one issue that most of her patients come to her with are problems of energy.

I don’t doubt that at all. It’s one of the most common refrains I hear from the busy women I know. I certainly know the feeling. Before I began my odyssey to discover a healthier lifestyle in 2011, energy was almost always front and centre in my mind. How can I get more of it? Why do I feel so tired today? When will I be able to rely on having steady “go, go go!” energy all day long?

Something I’ve found that has made a major difference in this area of my life over the last few months has been drinking one cup of matcha green tea each day.

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Matcha is simply ground up tea leaves. The tea leaves are grown specially under cover to produce loads of amino acids and chlorophyll before they are dried and ground to a fine powder. With matcha you ingest the whole tea leaf, so you get the full goodness of the entire plant in contrast to normal tea where you end up leaving the fibre and other goodies in the teabag.

The colour of matcha when you first see it is astonishing.The vibrant green powder mixes easily with liquids and tastes divine with warm water (not hot). I use Teapigs brand organic matcha, and they suggest adding 1/2 tsp per cup of water. You don’t want to pour boiling water over matcha as it can lead to a poor flavour.  You can boil your water and then let it sit for about 5 minutes, or if in a hurry you can add cold water first to the matcha powder in your cup and then add the hot water so that the resultant mixture is not overheated.

A note about mixing the powder into your warm water. You can buy fancy whisks is you like. Matcha is actually the tea that is used in the traditional Japanese tea ceremony and so you can go whole hog and purchase the full kit if you are inspired! I either use a fork or a mini whisk to make sure that this luscious green powder gets mixed well with warm water before I drink it.

Another way you can get a daily dose is to add it to your morning green smoothie, but the key here is realising that all you need to do is take the ridiculously easy step of adding some green powder into any liquid, one time a day. That is a teeny tiny action to take to reap the enormous health benefits which are summarised below.

When I first started drinking matcha I was amazed at how much energy I had in the evenings in particular. It really changed how late I could stay up without feeling tired the next day.

When I first started drinking matcha I was amazed at how much energy I had in the evenings in particular. It really changed how late I could stay up without feeling tired the next day.

Why all the fuss about matcha’s amazing health benefits?

  • Mega life hack: Matcha has 137 times the antioxidants of regular green tea! So take all the thousands of articles and mentions and tweets and buzz you’ve heard about the outstanding benefits of regular green tea,  and think about how amazing it would be to multiply those benefits by 137! This is outstanding news for your beauty, your skin, your alertness, your heart and your immune system.
  • Energy boost: Matcha contains theophylline and L-theanine which gives your body an energy boost for 4-6 hours.
  • Gorgeous skin nutrients: Matcha has 9 times the beta carotene of spinach! If you add Matcha to your daily green smoothie for beautiful skin, that is some solid Vitamin A intake you’ll be getting to help turn back the years on your skin.
  • Cardiovascular protective: This study from the British Medical Journal shows that consumption of green tea is cardio-protective, helping to reduce triglycerides and total cholesterol, as well as improving indicators for liver disease.
  • Anti-ageing benefits for skin: Regular green tea consumption has been linked to decreased inflammation and damage following sun exposure.
  • Cancer fighter: Matcha contains catechins, which are a type of antioxidant founds in superfoods like green tea, cocoa, and apples. Matcha is so much more catechin-dense than most foods, that the National Cancer Institute (NCI) has said that the catechin volume can actually help prevent cancer due to the qualities that protect cells from DNA damage and improve immune system function.
  • Fat burner: Drinking one cup of matcha a day can help to increase your metabolism by 35-43%! It’s one of the healthiest slimming tools around!
  • Mental alertness while staying calm and focussed: Monks have been drinking this stuff for centuries. It stimulates the alpha brainwaves to keep a state of mental alertness while keeping you calm and focussed.

Let us know in the comments below if you’ve tried matcha or any other energising lifestyle solutions! I can’t recommend matcha enough. It’s my favourite life hack of 2014 so far!