How to burn 600 calories with 4-5 minutes of exercise

Now I will talk about a revolutionary exercise that burns a lot of calories in just a manner of minutes and will leave you asking, "why didn't I know of that before?" This program is introduced by coach Jim Saret, the fitness instructor of The Biggest Loser in ABS-CBN, trainer of Philippine teams, and a known specialist in sports medicine.

(I learned about this from a friend of mine, whose mother, who is a doctor, happened to listened to one of the coach's talks.)

This work out consists of four steps and can be done in a matter or 4-5 minutes. The unbelievable thing is that it burns about 600 calories—extend this to 20 minutes and burn up to 2000 calories. Do you know how many calories an hour of running burn? Only about 100-200.

The reason why it is effective is because it is a metabolic work out. Imagine yourself riding a bicycle. You're pushing the pedal for the bike to run, but notice that even after you stop pushing the pedal, the bike continues to run for a while. That's how it works. It engages different muscle groups in the body, so even after the actual exercise, the metabolic effect is still active up to 24 hours.

HERE ARE THE STEPS

How to do lunges

• 10 basic jumping jacks
• 10 squats, arms raised
• 10 push ups
• 10 lunges for each leg
• Repeat these steps until the 4 or 5 minutes is up

As you can see, these are very basic. Coach Jim Saret said that you can do this exercise any time. You can visit Coach Jim Saret's website if you want to know more.

Why you should drink green tea

I found a great simple infographic on why you should drink green tea. Here it is:

It's simple and it summarizes the health benefits of green tea. See how a cup of drink can improve your body's health? :)

How to improve the taste of green tea (tea bags)

We all know that green tea is healthy and all that, but there's one problem. You've probably tried drinking green tea from tea bags and found out it tastes bitter. Who would want a bitter drink everyday. Sort of like taking medicine, isn't it?

But listen: Green tea doesn't have to taste bitter. You can improve the taste of green tea by trying out these practices:

• Temperature is very important. Boil the water and let it cool to prevent the bitter aroma. Add the tea when the temperature is around 60 degree celcius. Too hot a water will bring out the bitterness of the tea. If you've been doing this for a long time, you'll get to learn to estimate when is it time to steep the tea bag in without the use of a thermometer.

• Use only one tea bag per cup of water.

• Try adding sugar or, if you're feeling a bit sosyal, honey. You can also add milk (adding milk is optional; some people think that milk only enhances the bitter taste or green tea, while others think it helps the taste) or lemons.

• Chlorine in water alters the taste of the tea, so you might want to use pure spring water only. 

• Steep the tea bag for about 2 1/2 minutes, which is just enough time to give your tea a balanced flavor.

•  Last, look for quality tea bags! There are lots of tea bag products out there, and like other products, there are good-quality brands and just cheap ones. Good-quality tea bags have a better taste.

As you can see, preparing green tea is an art itself, much more when you preferred it brewed and using tea leaves.

Finally, I have to tell you that drinking green tea is really an acquired taste. My sister, for instance, simply doesn't like green tea no matter how it is finely made. Honestly, I wasn't too keen on it too, but later on I got familiar with the taste, and now, I heavily preferred it than coffee (yes, even mocha-flavored ones).

So I suggest you try it as well, and do not forget the steps I mentioned above. ;)

Green tea: A traditional health drink

Chinese have long since recognized the benefits of green tea, leaves from the plant Camellia sinensis; it has been used as a medicine about 4000 years ago. Koreans, too, incorporate drinking green tea into their daily lives. Green tea, as believed traditionally and spiritually, cleanses the body and gives a calming and soothing experience.

As a morning-coffee people, Filipinos are only just being familiarized with green tea because of endless commercials of bottled tea.

Green tea is a miracle tea, and this is not an overstatement. Health researchers have found not one thing harmful about drinking green tea daily, except sleep difficulty from green tea’s small dose of caffeine.

However, generally speaking, green tea is all health to the mind and body.

First of all, green tea is a powerful antioxidant. It is rich in catechin polyphenols, in particular, epigallocatechin gallate (more commonly known as EGCG). EGCG inhibits cancer cell growth without affecting the healthy tissues in the body.

Harvard conducted a scientific study on the benefits of green tea. iVIllage lists the beauty benefits of green tea.

It also improves metabolism and helps in keeping weight balance.  It lowers cholesterol and high blood pressure, helps against heart and cardiovascular diseases, boosts the immune system, protects lungs from smoking and liver from alcohol, and rehydrates and rejuvenates the body.

Aside from this, Chinese are known to drink green tea to cure headache and depression. Like I said, drinking green tea has a calming effect on the body.

So you probably got overwhelmed with all those facts like I did when I first read them. But here’s the bottom line, green tea is healthy. A few Asian and European countries have known and harvested from these knowledge many years before, and the Internet and television have made this information available to us.

Don't like the taste of green tea? See how to improve its taste.