green tea & chamomile tea

[Owlet]

I came across this list on an a site that covers eclectus diet and such and I thought the green tea bit might be very beneficial for Lincoln. As well as the chamomile. Problem is, I am NOT a tea drinker and I don't know how I would get just the pure leaves (or what even goes into "green tea") I'm assuming I can't just go into the tea section and pick up a box of the stuff, but I could be wrong?

Note: I say the green tea might help bc he was recently diagnosed with a small cholesterol problem and just need to get that into check.

 

[ChristaNL]

Chamomile-tea (well more infusion anyway) is made from the flowers.
Since a lot of people use it for stomache-upsets and mildheadaces and such (teething babies as well ).
So it is everywhere...'normal' and "specials"


almost all the teas and cordials you mentioned are in the "stay/get well" section of the supermarket and shops.
Humangrade is usually parrot-aceptable.

 

[Catally]

Good to know that there are so many like-minded people here!

I am trying to lose weight again especially my belly fat, and I need advice.

Recently, my friend recommended me this program and told me it could really help. About the green tea, according to the author/creator of this product, she said there is a much better tea than a green tea. And this is the red tea.

After running onto many reviews and studying the product on this site, I finally have decided to buy this product. I am just waiting for my credit card to be approved. Anyone who already experienced red tea detox? So I'm aware of what I'm buying, though I'll be buying it anyways. Just sharing since I've found that this could be really helpful.

By the way, here's the site:
https://tiptopfigure.weebly.com/red-tea-detox.html

Let's continue absorbing knowledge!

 

[ChristaNL]

The best way to get rid of bellyfat: get another parrot: you won't be able to afford any human-food anymore, so you will get thin fast!

Living healthy is always a great choice (I for one should make that one more often!)- but do NOT believe in al these "drink only this/ eat only such and such" fast and easy solutions- because if they worked the whole world would already know about them.

Bellyfat can be as stubborn as anything, and yes it is influenced by hormones where you will pack on the pounds and where not - but the only way that always works for everyone: more activity, less (junk)food.

(sometimes people 'overdiet' and their body is permanent in "save everything you can get"survival-modus -then regular eating <small> portions can be a solution, that is where the experts come in ...)

Drinking tea (no sugar added) is great esp if you drink it instead of softdrinks or coffee with lots of extraas chucked in. But you would get the same result with just water....

 

[EllenD]

Okay, lots of good stuff in this post...First thing I think needs to be mentioned though is that most teas, especially types of Green Teas, contain an enormous amount of caffeine, which can kill your bird! So I don't suggest giving your bird ANY tea that has caffeine in it...They do make caffeine-free teas, but I don't know about Green Teas that are caffeine-free, as by definition Green Teas contain caffeine. So you really need to watch this...

As far as buying tea leaves and brewing them, Yes, you can just walk into most grocery stores and buy loose tea leaves. A lot of grocery stores that have "Organic" or "Natural" Health sections, such as Wegmans, Whole Foods, Harris-Teeter, etc., actually have "Tea Sections" (Wegmans has the largest and best Tea Department I've ever seen, it's huge), and they sell both boxed teas that are in tea-bags, as well as loose-leaf teas that you can buy by the pound, and that you dispense, measure out/weigh, and put into individual bags and then print a sticker out for, just like you do when you buy loose coffee-beans or loose ground-coffee.

As far as brewing loose-leaf tea, you have to buy a "tea infuser". You can buy either a teapot that has a built-in infuser just inside the lid (I have one of these, I love it, the infuser is removable to make for easy disposable of used tea leaves), or you can buy a separate infuser. The infusers are basically little baskets or round balls that are made of mesh, like a strainer, that you open up, fill with the loose tea leaves, then close put back together. The separate infusers usually have a chain attached to them that you can attach to the handle of a regular tea pot or you can just hold, and you boil water in your tea pot, and then you drop the infuser filled with tea leaves into the boiling water, allow the tea to brew, then you just remove the infuser, dump it out and wash it, and you have tea. The teapots that have an infuser inside of them are easiest, you just take the lid off the tea pot, fill it with water, put the infuser basket inside the the tea pot, and boil the tea pot. Easy.

As far as Teas that promote weight-loss, most all of them simply contain stimulants, such as caffeine, ginseng, and green tea itself is a stimulant...The best teas for weight-loss are the ones that contain Yerba-Mate, as it is a natural stimulant that is right on-par with Ephedra. They make all kinds of tea that contain Yerba-Mate, both in bags and loose, usually they are black or green teas, and there is actually a brand of Green Tea that comes in boxes of tea bags called "Yerba Mate" Green Tea. It's pretty good, but it's potent, like drinking some Claratin or Sudaphed that contains Ephedra. It works though, but if you have any heart or high blood-pressure issues then be careful with it.

 

[Owlet]

Do you know any type/brand of green tea that doesn't have caffeine? I bought a couple boxes of tea today and the chamomile is just the flowers (Brand is Alvita) but I notice now that the green tea box does say it has caffeine (brand Yogi, "Green tea, Pure green") box only says "organic green tea leaf" under nutrional facts / ingredients but also says "Each tea bag contains aprox 58 mg of caffeine as compared to aprox 90 mg in 8 oz of coffee" so definitely not giving them that.

 

[Owlet]

Looked in our tea/coffee cabinets and I found another green tea but I'm not sure about it. It doesn't say anything about caffeine anywhere. It also had additional flavoring I'm iffy on. Brand is Lipton "Green tea superfruit white mangosteen peach" Ingredients: green tea, natural flavor, soy lecithin, peach juice solids, concentrated mangosteen juice.


yeah probably not. Gonna keep looking.

what about "matcha" box says it's a type of green tea. Brand is DoMatcha. Doesn't look like it's a "tea" though rather you're suppose to prepare it as a sort of.. froth.

 

[Owlet]

probably just gonna scrap the idea of green tea as I am just finding lots of conflicting information about it. I know chamomile is safe though xD

 

[ChristaNL]

Welll, almost...

like anything else: "everything in moderation"
you can go overboard with almost anything, even chamomile-tea
overdosing is never a good idea.

(so with chamomile is is excessive sleepiness, nausea and skinirritation -> while it's is usually great with anything skin-and-intestine upsets related!)

But we are talking using it as the only tea for months on end, maybe even years.
So is it really, really low risk - but I just had to point it out.

Everything that has a benificial effect on your sytem will have some other effects if used too long/ in too high a dosage.

 

[Laurasea]

I probably shouldn't post as for the life of me I can't remember what type of tea!!! But we did offer tea (of some type) to a great many birds, for health benefits. Much water available to wild birds is naturally infused with leaves of plants. This is an interesting tgread, I will have to read up on tea!!!

 

[Owlet]

Welll, almost...

like anything else: "everything in moderation"
you can go overboard with almost anything, even chamomile-tea
overdosing is never a good idea.

(so with chamomile is is excessive sleepiness, nausea and skinirritation -> while it's is usually great with anything skin-and-intestine upsets related!)

But we are talking using it as the only tea for months on end, maybe even years.
So is it really, really low risk - but I just had to point it out.

Everything that has a benificial effect on your sytem will have some other effects if used too long/ in too high a dosage.

well yeah of course. I let him have some chamomile tea for a little bit, it was heavily diluted with water though. He didn't seem too interested so I might try and find some other way of serving it to him. And he will ALWAYS have access to pure, fresh, water in favor of tea xD

 

[EllenD]

I have never heard of a Green Tea that didn't contain caffeine (which is why Green Tea is usually a part of weight-loss plans, detoxes, etc.). So unless you find a Green Tea that actually says "Caffeine Free" on the package, I'd just assume that it contains caffeine and has stimulant properties, and is a no-no for birds.

Any caffeine-free and yerba-free tea, such as a caffeine-free Chamomile tea, can be given to your bird, but as Christa stated, in small quantities. There is a huge difference between a bird in the wild (in it's natural, native habitat) drinking water that has been "infused" by the leaves of the native plants/trees, and someone giving their pet bird commercially-made tea that they bought in a store.

Something else you have to be very careful of are all of the other "stimulants" that are added or naturally found in different types of tea. I already mentioned Yerba-Mate as one of them, but so are White Willow Bark and Ginger Rhizome..and then in addition to caffeine, most teas also contain Theobromine and Theophyllin (?spelling), just like coffee and chocolate, and the packaging may or may not mention those two.

So, when you buy tea, read the entire list of ingredients, and if there is something that you're not sure of, like certain flowers for instance, Google it.

 

[LeslieA]

Generally, even decaffs have caffeine. Teas made from flowers soothe, while teas made from stems and leaves envigorate was what I was always told. But I'm second generation Polish and believe everything I read on the internet.

 

[EllenD]

Generally, even decaffs have caffeine. Teas made from flowers soothe, while teas made from stems and leaves envigorate was what I was always told. But I'm second generation Polish and believe everything I read on the internet.

LOL...

That's absolutely true, just like "sugar-free" items do possess small amounts of sugar...It's impossible to make tea or coffee totally free of caffeine, you just can't do it...But you can make it have less than whatever the threshold set by the FDA is...