Preventive Medicine by Barbara Quinn

I came through my physical this year with good numbers and that is something to be happy about and thankful for. Last year when my cholesterol was high, I decided to start taking some over-the-counter supplements. Green tea extract and policosanol seem to have done the trick. My cholesterol is down to 189 (from 220) and my other numbers, like triglycerides, were also good. The nice thing about these two supplements is they are reasonable ones that I can find at places like Wal-Mart.

Though I'd much rather linger in bed, I make it to the gym where I weight train twice a week, and take a cardio class twice a week. I feel better when I go and have more energy. My clothes are starting to fit a little better but I have more to lose according to my doctor. So I’ll keep at it and keep trying not to have that extra glass of wine with dinner, or that piece of cake for dessert. Well, at least not the whole piece of cake.

One of my secret weapons is tea bags. Remember how In A Big Fat Greek Wedding they were always using Windex? Well, my cure all is all things tea including tea bags. Usually I drink it, or take it in pill form like the Green Tea Extract, but one day a couple of years ago I read how tea was filled with anti-oxidants. I figured, why not use a tea bag on my face? (Yes, it does look weird when you do this.) I had a few things removed by my skin doctor and didn’t want to go through that again. So I started and stuck with the tea bag treatments. I haven’t had any additional growths since then. I told my dermatologist about this and he said it was pretty well documented that tea is good to put on the skin. Sheesh. They don’t do a very good job of letting anyone know, do they? So try it! Maybe there should be a saying, “A tea bag a day keeps skin cancer away.”

Take care of yourselves. Ain’t no one else who is going to do it for you. Trust in tea. You could do a whole lot worse. And a big "Thank You" to my doctors who have caught quite a few things over the years and kept me going.

All the Tea in China by Barbara Quinn

I’m a tea drinker. My morning brew is hearty Irish since it has a nice caffeine kick. I’m grumpy in the morning, a slow starter. But once my tea has warmed me, and the fog of sleep dissipates, I become conversational and eventually pleasant, though my husband might say it’s more like noon before I’m truly civil. He too is grateful for my tea habit.

When it’s cold, I’ll brew a cup of green tea to get me through the chilly afternoon. In the summer I make pitchers of herbal teas to serve iced. In the evening, no matter the season, I finish off my meal with a pot of herbal or decaf tea. No more caffeine in the evenings for me. Decaf espresso ends some of my meals, iced coffee in the summer is a great pick-me-up, and no dinner is complete without wine, but tea is my most frequent beverage companion.

When I travel, I take a tiny immersion coil to heat my water. Any tea drinker will tell you that the coffee pots in hotel rooms make an awful cup of tea. Though I miss the tea my proper teapot makes, the coil heats the water in a minute or two providing a decent cup.

I use lemon, not milk or cream. When I was backpacking through Italy as a college student I became friendly with a young Roman fellow who was the concierge at my pensione. He quit his job to travel with me and our innocent romance turned to friendship. In the mornings he brought me tea in a white bowl with a large slice of lemon floating on top. That round slice looked like the Italian sun floating in my cup. I added a little sugar and was hooked by the tangy and sweet taste. Ever since then, I’ve drunk my tea with lemon.

Each morning when I float a slice of lemon in my cup, fond memories rise up. That slice of sunshine gives my eyes and brain something familiar to focus on, something that’s not blinking, or ringing or asking incessant questions. My tea with lemon waits to charm me, bring me pleasure, and propel me forward into my day. There is joy and comfort in familiar rituals and habits, even in something as simple as enjoying a cup of tea.