Tea or hot chocolate can be good for your health

Improve your health with a hot beverage.

We all have those days where we want nothing more but to cuddle up in front of a screen and binge out on one of our favorite hot drinks.

For a health enthusiast like me, that’s often translated into a little guilt the next day, along with the feeling of needing to exercise a little harder to keep myself on track.

If chosen correctly, the right hot beverages can actually be healthy. Today I want to share two of my favorites with you: tea and hot chocolate.

1) Tea and honey is healthy

Tea is good for you. It contains antioxidants which help prevent premature ageing and it assists the body to clean out oxidants and other toxins.

Different teas have different compounds and antioxidants that are beneficial to your health. Here are some of the most popular kinds of tea that you may want to try:

Black tea

Black tea, or ‘normal tea’, is the most common form of tea, consumed by almost 80% of the human population.

Black tea does have caffeine, although less than coffee, so I would recommend only drinking it during the first half of your day. 

Black tea is very high in antioxidants. The color of the tea comes from theaflavins and thearubigins - compounds which are loaded with a host of health benefits.

Black tea is good for your heart, lowers cholesterol and stress, improves oral hygiene, improves bone integrity, improves blood circulation, lowers blood pressure and increases digestive health.

Black tea is good for you.

Green tea

Green tea is made from the same plant as black and white tea (The Camellia Sinensis, or ‘tea bush’).

Green tea is less processed. It is manufactured in a different way.

Black tea is fermented to release more flavor, while green tea is pan fired so that fermentation is prevented. This is why green tea takes longer to steep and is lighter in color.

Green tea has less caffeine than black tea and is generally regarded as the healthier option because it has not been fermented.

Green tea contains the amino acid L-theanine, which provides a calming effect on the brain while elevating mood. 

You can find the same health benefits of black tea in green tea. Green tea has a higher concentration of EGCG, a powerful antioxidant that helps the body metabolize fat.

Add green tea to your regime.

White tea

White tea gets its name because it is picked from the plant when it has not yet bloomed. At this stage, the sprouts are covered in tiny white hairs.

White tea is not fermented and uncured, making it the least processed out of the three variants.

Since it is the least processed, it has a higher antioxidant concentration compared to the other two forms of tea. White tea might lower the risk of insulin resistance and may also reduce skin ageing.

White tea has the most antioxidants.

Oolong tea

Oolong is made from the same plant as the black, green and white versions.

It is partially fermented and semi-oxidized. This gives it the taste and color similar to black and green tea combined.

It also has similar health benefits because of its anti-oxidant content, ranging from boosting metabolism and aiding weight-loss to protecting heart health and looking after skin and hair.

Oolong tea is healthy.

There are other types of tea to try

There are many other teas to experiment with that aren’t made by the same plant. Almost all natural teas are great for your health. These include ginger, chamomile, rooibos and barley tea.

Caffeine-free varieties like chamomile and rooibos are enjoyable and relaxing, making them great choices for night time without negatively affecting sleep.

I love the taste of tea. Having honey instead of sugar lets me drink it just the way I like it: Strong and sweet.

Honey is also high in sugar, but it is a lot healthier.

The benefits of honey instead of table sugar

Normal sugar is a single natural ingredient: sucrose.

Too much of any single, natural ingredient can become unhealthy.

The sugar content of honey consists of fructose, glucose, maltose and sucrose. While these are all different forms of sugar, they take a little longer to break down in the body.

This lets the sugar spike that you get from honey a little less drastic than that of normal sugar.

Honey is antiseptic, antiviral and anti-fungal. This is why it is often recommended to sooth a sore throat or a nasty cold. Honey has also been used for thousands of yours to speed up wound healing. 

Honey has small amounts of vitamins and minerals, but the antioxidants are what make honey so good for you.

Research has shown that although honey differs wildly because of the different types of flowers or bees that it comes from, they all contain super healthy ingredients like peptides, antioxidants, organic acids and enzymes.

Darker honeys seem to have higher concentrations of antioxidants.

Use honey.

2) Hot cocoa with honey is healthy

On days where I feel like hot chocolate, I make my own.

Many ready-made hot chocolate brands contain refined sugar, artificial sweeteners, preservatives, flavorings and other ingredients that make it less healthy.

Cocoa powder is actually very good for you. It is good for your heart, elevates mood and also has some powerful antioxidants of its own.

Cacao is a generally more expensive than normal cocoa powder, but it is healthier because cacao is less processed than cocoa.

They come from the same bean, but cocoa powder is processed at a much higher temperature than cacao. The heat diminishes some of the antioxidant content.

If you can only afford cocoa, you are still getting a lot of health benefits from it.

Instead of buying a hot chocolate mix from the store, simply buy cacao (or cocoa if you’re on a budget) instead.

You can make your own delicious hot chocolate by adding cocoa and honey to hot or cold water or milk. You can choose how chocolaty or sweet you want it to taste by adding more or less honey and cacao.

This tastes really good!

Both of these hot beverages will taste great while helping you to stay healthy. Stay Strong!