Tea aids in recovery

If you are like me you are often looking to push the envelope, to train just beyond your capabilities. I enjoy this body, mind, and spirit challenge, however it typically results in a nice bout of "overdoing it" as Mrs. Hazmat is found of saying.

So one Sunday afternoon about a year ago I stumbled upon a very interesting finding. Intense exercise increases the production of free radicals. These free radicals may be associated with the inflammation of muscles post exercise. For those interested, here's a selection from the article and link to the whole story.

RECOVERY One of the first steps in recovery from exercise induced muscle damage is an acute inflammatory response at the site of muscle damage. Free radicals are commonly associated with the inflammatory response and are hypothesized to be greatest twenty-four hours after completion of a strenuous exercise session. If this theory were valid then antioxidants would play a major role in helping prevent this damage. However, if antioxidant defense systems are inadequate or not elevated during the post-exercise infiltration period free radicals could further damage muscle beyond that acquired during exercise. This in turn would increase the time needed to recover from an exercise bout.

from - Free Radical Introduction

So I turned to in my opinion the easiest and most enjoyable form of Anti-Oxidant supplementation. Green Tea.

There is archaeological evidence that suggests that tea has been consumed for almost 5000 years, with China and India being two of the first countries to cultivate it. Green tea has been used as traditional medicine in areas such as India, China, Japan and Thailand to help everything from controlling bleeding and helping heal wounds to regulating body temperature, blood sugar and promoting digestion.

Green tea - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Now, you can get Green Tea from the supermarket, but to be honest, that's like drinking wine from a box! The purest and most powerful tea come straight from the loose leaf, not from the tea powder and twigs that end up in store bought tea bags.

Having shopped around for the last year I can safely say that Adagio.com has some of the cleanest and most enjoyable teas available. They were even kind enough to put together a side bar widget that will send you a 5$ gift certificate if you put in your email address. No, the address doesn't come to me, I just hope you enjoy the tea and it helps with your recovery!

-hz

"Stop that rhyming now I mean it." "Anybody want a peanut?"

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