As a green tea lover of many years, I know of the reported benefits: high in antioxidants, energy boosting, appetite stabilising (no riding the serious ups and downs of coffee!), but matcha green tea is a new beast. Entirely more intense than your standard green tea.
Matcha is touted as being the anti ageing ingredient the Japanese have been indulging in for centuries. American, UK and Australian holistic health practitioners are raving about its benefits and while it isn't going to cure cancer or immediately see you drop 2 dress sizes, it DOES have research to back up some serious health and fitness benefits.
Rich in trace minerals and vitamins, matcha is consumed by adding hot water (NOT boiling!) to powder and drinking the entire concoction, ground leaves and all
The vital ingredient in matcha is a substance called EGCC (epigallo-catechin gallate), which has shown weight loss benefits in numerous studies.
Levels of EGCC are 137 times stronger in matcha than green tea
Like all green superfoods, matcha contains chlorophyll, minerals and vitamins that support the immune system and deliver powerful antioxidants
L-Theanine levels in matcha green tea can have a calming effect within 30 - 60 mins of consuming the tea
The greener the powder, the higher the quality of the tea. While EGCC has been shown to prevent the growth of new fat cells and to aid in weight loss, this is only of benefit as part of a healthy regime of eating and exercise overall. You can't drink matcha while you're gobbling KFC and expect miracles. Try replacing your second coffee, or your afternoon Diet Coke with matcha to avoid the jittery caffeine effect. A great post-workout beverage as well - stabilising your energy and appetite before your next meal.
Matcha Maiden Matcha Green Tea Powder from Nourished Life
This is a guest post by the wonderful holistic nutritionist, Teri Mosey. She has been a much valued contributor to fitness and wellbeing journals and media, especially in the US.
The
Food Chakra Connection
When most people think of food, the
conversation commonly goes towards calories, carbs or protein. What if a
different conversation arose and you asked how does food nourish all of me;
body, mind and soul?
Welcome to the world of holistic nutrition.
Holistic nutrition, practiced for thousands
of years, sees food as a healer, nurturer and way of life. Foods goes beyond
the calorie, having energetic characteristics that interact with your
bio-field; more specifically, the chakras. Chakras are vortexes of Universal energy
that run up and down your spine regulating your life force energy or qi. This
energy is what gives the gift of life. With that said, chakras are the link
between your energetic and physical beings, and the universal consciousness.
What does that mean? Each chakra vibrates
at a particular frequency that impacts specific biological processes. For
example, your heart chakra energy influences the health of your heart, lungs,
cardiac nerve plexuses and thymus gland. Each chakra has a level of
consciousness it reflects; with underlying universal life lessons. Your personal
journey, all that you are meant to experience and learn in this lifetime is
tucked into your biology!
A way to identify these lessons and discover
your true nature is through your relationship to food. The link between food
traits and chakras comes from sharing the same vibrational energies,
corresponding physiological systems and your behaviors around the act of
eating. Let’s look at the heart chakra; surrounded around the theme of love.
Universal life lessons in love can be experienced through gratitude,
acceptance, compassion and forgiveness; of yourself and others. These lessons
around love manifest in heart and lung illnesses, making food choices that
nourish the heart and strengthen the lungs at the forefront to foods for the
heart chakra.
Food and eating strategies to nourish the
flow of energy to the heart chakra begins with emphasizing a plant based
dietary pattern. Plants are loaded with phytonutrients; health promoting
compounds that assist the body’s self healing abilities while altering gene
expression. Begin by adding colorful root vegetables, legumes and the grain
quinoa to your dietary pattern. Two qualities that specifically vibrate with
the heart chakra energies are green color foods and the flavor bitter. So add
cruciferous vegetables such as Brussels sprouts, cabbage, rapini and bok choy
into your weekly meals. Add those bitter leafy greens like arugula, watercress
and lacinato kale to the mix. Daily! Instead of raw, place them under a little
heat, wilting them. This makes nutrients more bioavailable and keeps your
digestion happy. In recipe terms, explore a soba noodle soup, an adzuki bean
stew, roasted root vegetables, a wilted green salad or a grilled veggie quinoa
salad. The options are endless. Just keep in the plant family with a heavy
presence of greens! And while you’re at it; add a little pungent flavor to
these dishes, in the form of scallions, garlic or leeks. They help keep the
lungs clear!
Observe if you have an aversion to the
above mentioned foods; especially the bitter greens. That’s an underlying
message that your heart chakra is asking for your attention! Take a moment to
contemplate, “am I willing to live with an open heart?” It can even invite
contemplation on questions like, “Do I have underlying resentment? Or “Are the
majority of my decisions intellectual, keeping my heart out of the
conversation?”
While in the kitchen which can become your
space of active meditation, put on your favorite tunes and hum along as you
cook! Humming deepens your breath and lowers your heart rate; perfect
additional nourishment for the heart energies. Cooking a meal for yourself
shows self-love, share it with others and you are expanding the vibration!
The chakras become a bridge between your
soul and physical being, with an invitation to use your relationship to food as
a way to discover your most authentic self. What an amazing opportunity. Are you up for it?
Here's a VEGAN, heart chakra nourishing Spinach & Artichoke Pizza with garlic sauce. If that's not your cup of chai, have a Quinoa and Potato Crust pizza (also vegan!) You're welcome!
Having determined that no sleep and coffee guzzling at 3pm is not conducive to a well and happy body, I did a bit of online research to find some natural support for my body.
Turns out, there's a lovely young naturopath in Melbourne making herbal supplements of the highest quality. Organic, clean, potent and delivered in gorgeous glass bottles in old school apocathery style.
In each bottle, nestled amongst the herbal capsules, is a note on what the benefits are and what the recommended dosage is. Excellent idea. I've been taking Ginseng for energy as well as Digest & Soothe and Nourish & Strengthen (great for liver and skin!)
I have been skipping the coffee in the afternoon and getting through my new evening classes with energy to burn. Sure, it's not entirely dependent on herbal supplements, but I definitely feel better and results are real.
Danika is currently completing a bachelor of health science, majoring in naturopathy. She became interested in herbal medicine after struggling through numerous health issues the first years out of high school. "At that time I was actually completing a Bachelor of Arts majoring in media and communication and I felt so unhappy and lost," she explains. "I left that degree and travelled through Europe and Canada. It was when I was living in Canada in 2013/14 that I had some sort of epiphany and realised that I could actually turn my love of natural medicine into a career! As soon as I came home I started my degree."
Danika started to make her own capsules and teas for her personal use. "It started as a hobby but then I thought hey, why not create a business! And here we are!"
Now that my hip has healed enough that I am doing dancer's pose and getting through BodyPump and Power Yoga classes with zest, I can see more clearly what I want to be doing with my life.
I want to write, draw, create and share my discoveries and ideas with you and with curious people.
I also want to motivate and share the knowledge that our bodies can heal and recover and accomplish movements and sensations that are life changing, or at least, strengthening.
For me, having tried many fitness and lifestyle trends and styles over the past 16 years, I know what works for me right now. I love a strong, challenging vinyasa yoga class. Sometimes referred to as Power Yoga. I also love barre training. It feels like I'm using every single muscle
but also opening between my bones and stretching muscles that have been twisting into knots overnight or at the office. It feels graceful, elegant, as if I'm connecting with my inner ballerina.
A man came up to me at the gym yesterday where I was going through some barre moves to use in class and asked if I was a gymnast or a ballerina. I told him no and he marvelled at how "strong" I was. This is true! He was holding a cane and had been struggling with knee problems for 10 years. He said the trainer at the gym had him doing squats. When he showed me, his technique was jarring, awkward and he looked pained. It felt wonderful to be able to tell him I'd had a hip replacement and squats were a major part of my rehabilitation but they have to be adapted for our bodies at the stage they're in. So we went through technique.
It was a small part of my day - maybe 10 minutes - but it felt fabulous for hours. I sometimes take for granted having a strong sense of body awareness and how to align and stretch and move in the safest, most effective way to train and strengthen. It matters in moments when I can heal myself or guide others to use their bodies in the most meaningful way.
My Yoga Teacher Training starts in Februrary and I can't wait. I read Christy Turlington's "Living Yoga" about 6 years ago and it was life altering for me. I started the book because of the pretty pictures, but was incredibly inspired and moved by Christy's story of discovering holistic health (becoming an anti-smoking advocate), setting up a charity for mothers, and studying religion and spirituality at university. She fully immersed herself in the history and philosophy of yoga and there is so much to learn and to experience on and off the mat. I hadn't realised until that point.
I'm most looking forward to becoming a yoga student for life. To accepting and embracing that I will never master it and know everything and be guru-like, but that my passion and love for yoga will motivate the yogis who do my class to investigate ideas and movements that are new and interesting to them. Or just to get into a pose they hadn't believed was possible!
Talking of being able to do that, I know that a 9 - 5 office job is not possible for me at this point, if ever. I love moving. I love instructing. I love the energy of being in a class and both instructing and learning so much about bodies, movement, rhythm and how to motivate and coach. Every class has its own rhythm and energy. I am thrilled to now have more classes at Ivanhoe Aquatic & Fitness Centre, very close to where I grew up. I am also hoping to add to my schedule of barre classes this year while also (hopefully!) getting some writing and content editing work so that I can have the ideal mix of writing, editing, sculpting, toning and instructing.
If you're interested in doing yoga or barre classes, or you're already doing them and you have a place you'd recommend, come and tell me about it on Facebook!
Cat Woods fitness wellness blogger Core Integrity With Cat
