Question for fitness types

[KenToad]

2. eat whole, organic foods.

Does that mean that I have to eat an entire watermelon in one sitting.  Or a cow?

I think he means unprocessed, local foods.

[patrickl]

Absolutely three things:

1. metabolic typing.

Are you serious? That's done by quacks and frauds to make easy money. There is no evidence of it working at all.

I don't know "royal court", but what I can find about it on the innurnet makes it sound a bit quacky too.

[Dexter]

Healthy eating, regular exercise. Thats all it is 4 simple words, easier said than done of course.

Ignore the handheld devices, as mentioned previously they're wildly inaccurate. Weigh yourself on a weekly basis first thing in the morning. Remember that if you're on regieme that builds muscle that muscle is 3 times heavier than fat, so although your trimming down, your overall weight will not indicate this accurately. The more muscle you have, the more calories burnt to maintain it.

Also, don't pay too much attention to charts. They indicate averages only. For example, I'm of a heavy build shoulders wise and cannot gauge ideal weight ot BMI using standard examples. Pay more attention to how you feel overall and your levels of stamina and energy.

A quick way of losing a few pounds and feel better is to drink at least 2-3 litres of cold water per day (spread it out over the duration if possible). It releases fluid your body naturally stores, cleans out toxins, helps clear your skin, and if the waters ice cold your body will burn calories regulating temperature.

Eat a breakfast and then small amounts more often (I lost a good bit of weight on the south beach diet, eat 5 times a day as basis). Most successful weight loss that stays off comes from a combination of routine eating of sensible food and lifestyle change/management.

[KenToad]

Dexter,

I generally agree with most of what you recommend, but that ice cold water thing is an interesting proposition.  I don't think it would be wise to force your body to work unnecessarily.  For example, you activate your liver, heart and a bunch of other organs by consuming caffeine, but the increased heart rate etc. is not thought to be good for your organs in the long run. 

There is no concensus there and I realize that, but I just thought I would propose the alternative viewpoint that, as another example, some people believe that fasting is good for the body, since it frees up energy that would normally be used for digestion and general maintenance for things like detoxification, mental energy (according to some) and also, controversially, better sleep, since more of the processes can shut down and you will generally rest/meditate better.

So, I'm not saying I know, just that I've heard the opposite, that ice water is an unnecessary strain on the body by forcing it to spend energy regulating temperature.  And that kind of energy consumption does nothing for well-being or general health.

[ChadTower]

I'd say weighing once a week is too often for the regular person, especially women.  I'd go with two weeks, maybe three.  A person can really mess with their head by working hard for a week to find they've gained half a lb.  Poor women, they have that bad, they can work their ass off, lose 2lb of fat, step on the scale and BOOM 4lb gained in half a week because of menstrual cycling.

[zaphod]

It's even worse than that for women when they begin working out.  They'll dip then actually gain a little weight as the fat is replaced by muscle.  That's why I advocate not even using a scale- use a mirror.  Which is more important- what you weigh or how you look? 

[ChadTower]

A number is a lot easier to honestly track than the mirror.  People lie to themselves when looking in the mirror.

[tetsu96]

So the scales speak but the mirror lies?

I'd go with both actually - especially one of the BMI scales if possible.  Not that percentages are always encouraging, but if nothing shows progress you might get pissed and work out a bit harder next time.

Actually, measure what you do at / outside the gym working out too.  Your weights / reps / rests / runs / mileage / etc.  Seeing progress there should make everything else OK.

[ChadTower]

So the scales speak but the mirror lies?

No.  The person lies. 

[KenToad]

The trick for me to stay in a good fitness routine is to find a partner who can be just as dedicated as me.  You can push him on his lazy days and he can do the same on yours.  Plus, it's just a lot nicer to have someone to talk to and perfect for lifting weights to have a rest between sets that lasts just a bit longer than it takes your partner to do his set.

[shorthair]

Absolutely three things:

1. metabolic typing.

Are you serious? That's done by quacks and frauds to make easy money. There is no evidence of it working at all.

I don't know "royal court", but what I can find about it on the innurnet makes it sound a bit quacky too.

Metabolic typing is one of only two systems that comprehensively address how the body functions, digestively, based on a person's genetics. Either of these will work for ANYBODY. As you can easily google both of these and try them out without having to spend any money, it's very likely that these accurate.

Training: I guarantee, GUARANTEE, that I could have you do ONE exercise that would do everything and anything all the lifting of weights and cardio can do, plus things they don't, and have you panting like a dog from exhaustion in, perhaps, 5 mins. But, likely, 2. With no gear.

Wanna put your money where your mouth is?


Shmokes and Ken: local organic isn't necessarily better than non-local, though it might likely be. Also, whole foods are ones that are the least processed. Nuts that aren't shelled are hardly processed, for example. Raw, but shelled, nuts are a little more processed. Shelled and roasted and salted are a little more. You get the idea.

[patrickl]

Absolutely three things:

1. metabolic typing.

Are you serious? That's done by quacks and frauds to make easy money. There is no evidence of it working at all.

I don't know "royal court", but what I can find about it on the innurnet makes it sound a bit quacky too.

Metabolic typing is one of only two systems that comprehensively address how the body functions, digestively, based on a person's genetics. Either of these will work for ANYBODY. As you can easily google both of these and try them out without having to spend any money, it's very likely that these accurate.

It's with the long questionnaire and then the computer determines what type you are, right? I remember that from a while ago (IIRC quite a long while actually), when they tried to sell it in the Netherlands. They started a big campaign, attracted some celebs to promote for them, but then they were exposed by the consumer TV programs overhere. The celebs started gaining weight again after a few weeks, a new hype diet came along and I never heard of them since. Till now then.

The guy who made it up had a doctorate in some obscure field, but they kept calling him "doctor" all the time. In the Netherlands "doctor" usually means "medical doctor" (I guess int the US it offers the same confusion). They basically tried to pass him off as a medical doctor. Which he's not. That tactic really did not do them much good and it almost from the start made the "doctor" look like a quack.

Metabolic typing operates the same way any diet does. That is by making people simply eat less when they are following a diet. It only work for a short while. There is no evidence of it actually working the way they claim it does.

I have no doubt there are exercises using only bodyweight that can make one pant. I'm also sure it will work fine up to a point, just like Pilates or Tae Bo. The whole thing just sounds like it will only work for a few weeks. Good for people who buy the book/DVD, try it for a while and then go for the next hype. Ultimately you will become to strong to benefit from the exercise other than for cardio/endurance training. Speeding up exercises to increase the load sounds like an injury waiting to happen too.

[Buddabing]

There's no doubt that just following a few simple rules in diet helps weight control:

a) reduce refined sugar, high fructose corn syrup, etc. as much as possible
b) eat lots of vegetables
c) avoid trans fat.

The rest of it with the macrobiotic foods, metabolic typing, and whatnot are gimmicks. Gimmick diets like Quackins (Atkins) just contribute to yo-yo weight loss, which is worse than just getting fat and staying fat.

I'm also sure that doing the isometric or body weight calisthenics helps too. But it's not necessarily the only way or the right way. Seems like those exercises are more for building cardiovascular endurance than for building muscle.

IMO diet without exercise is wrong because the body's metabolism will adjust to the lesser amount of food and because muscle is lost along with fat without being rebuilt. Exercise without diet, which is what I'm doing, is much better because the built muscle burns calories, thus weight loss will occur, albeit much more slowly than diet plus exercise.

Diet plus exercise is really the only way to consistently lose weight and keep it off.

[shorthair]

Everyone I've trained who has determined their type accurately (not all are the same type) and have continued with the conditioning, have gotten into/stayed in superb health. On the building muscle/slash only good for endurance thing: Matt Furey is 5' 8". He got up to 238 lbs of lean muslce by way of three things: conditioning, diet, and mind. Also, speed is not necessary to develop endurance. The right breathing alone can develop endurance that would blow your mind.

Metabolic typing normalises your body chemistry. This enables one to naturally evolve out of food addictions, as well as enables your body to tell you what to eat that keeps it that way. A homeostasis.

Here are some pics I took last night of me. It's a $20 camera and only one 26w flourescent bulb in the room. Now, I'm not saying I'm all beefcake. I do look in pretty decent shape, though. Considering that I haven't lifted weights in over four (4) years, nore done any cardio in that same time, AND haven't trained at all for the last five months, but just kept the same dietary conditions (albeit a lower intake as my body didn't need as much due to lack of training), I think I look pretty DAMN good.

[patrickl]

Wow, somebody quickly add NSFW to the thread title 

[patrickl]

I found another picture of someone who use only on a "special diet" to stay in shape:

[GAtekwriter]

For anyone interested in weight-lifting, check out the book "The New Rules of Lifting" - a guy at the gym put me on to the book and told me it would change the way I view working out.  Just my 2 cents, but the book is definitely worth checking out and I put on 8 lbs of muscle in 2 months changing my routine to this book's.

Book link below.

Jim

http://www.amazon.com/New-Rules-Lifting-Maximum-Muscle/dp/1583332383/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-0257258-9398509?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1178407880&sr=8-1

[AtomSmasher]

For anyone interested in weight-lifting, check out the book "The New Rules of Lifting" - a guy at the gym put me on to the book and told me it would change the way I view working out.  Just my 2 cents, but the book is definitely worth checking out and I put on 8 lbs of muscle in 2 months changing my routine to this book's.

Book link below.

Jim

http://www.amazon.com/New-Rules-Lifting-Maximum-Muscle/dp/1583332383/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-0257258-9398509?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1178407880&sr=8-1

Ha, thats pretty cool that you just recommended that.  My brother-in-law is Alywn Cosgrove (one of the authors of that book).

[KenToad]

Well, you're a brave man, shorthair, to post pictures like that in this crowd.  I think it's pretty hard to tell how in shape someone is from photos like this, though.  I know from personal experience that you can look decently strong/in shape and be actually very strong/in shape. 

[GAtekwriter]

AtomSmasher,

Tell your brother-in-law that the book is outstanding.  He's got quite a following at a few Atlanta, GA gyms - word spread fast about the book.

Again, I highly recommend it - some of the advice in the book goes against "common sense" but it's the science behind the explanations that sold me on trying the program. 

Jim

[shorthair]

PBJ: you're a two-hander, eh?  I like to switch off, myself.  {more} Seriously, though, what do you mean?

Ah, Ken, it's nothing. I enjoy presenting this kind of information. It's equally fascinating how people receive it. It doesn't ultimately matter what kind of evidence is presented to whomever it is. If their psycho-spirital state is against it, they won't let it in.

I was in the Corps, so know about hours and hours, literally of cardio. I've lifted three times, too. But always since getting out, I wanted something that would make me 'cock strong'. Then one day I was at the gym and this guy came up to me asking where I got my shirt, if I was in the military (I'd been out for 9 years), etc. We got to talking and he showed me the book Combat Conditioning. I thought, 'this is it'. I took it home and my girlfriend at the time said some of the exercises were similar to the yoga immortality exercises. I said, 'yep, this is it'. She's also the one who turned me onto Metabolic Typing. And when Furey's Gamma Fitness came out, my buddy turned me onto that, too. (As well as Mike Mahler and Kettlebells, and all kinds of other things, though I prefer not being tied down to gear.) All these things I didn't even look for. They just came to me.

By default, I NEVER watch tv or read the paper, let alone think they can provide me with any fitness information. The allopathic establishment's adversary, the homeopathic movement (of which things like CC and MT are a part), only when it finally infects mainstream culture, will you see things of it in every day experience of the average person.

[Chris G]

Thanks for wearing pants.   

[patrickl]

By default, I NEVER watch tv or read the paper, let alone think they can provide me with any fitness information. The allopathic establishment's adversary, the homeopathic movement (of which things like CC and MT are a part), only when it finally infects mainstream culture, will you see things of it in every day experience of the average person.

Yeah, you are on the cutting edge of dieting and fitness exercises. Metabolic typing has been ignored (or let it in and vomited it out) by the dumb masses for what, 30 or 40 years? It's about time someone finally stood op and took it seriously.

[shorthair]

Thanks for wearing pants.   

Ooooh, coom noo. Ah noo ya wanted ta see thi short n curlies...if ah had any.

patrickl: it's not even a matter of that.

[DrewKaree]

But I'd rather drink that than the swill that passes for coffee at the office, and I don't know if I want to go through caffeine withdrawal at this time.

Switch yourself to green tea.  Half the caffeine as coffee and far better for you.  I've done very little to get in shape other than switch from soda to green tea and I used to be a bigger fatass than I am now (about 25-30 lbs lost now since late October/November).  I probably took in twice as much caffeine as you did each day and the change to tea has not been difficult at all.

As for the rest, it appears you've picked up on the "work out and watch your food" for losing weight.  I'm looking at improving my diet and adding some weightlifting.  My father-in-law dumped this book on me and I was looking at this a while ago - here you can find some decent recipes and some ideas for eating during the day, some recipes for additional stuff to help you drop some weight AND assist you with your workout routine, as well as some fairly good info that jive with what you've already been given in this thread (use Firefox with Adblock!):

http://www.menshealth.com/cda/topicpage.do?site=MensHealth&channel=weight.loss&category=abs.diet

Some of the articles (Abs Diet articles, specifically) should also seem like familiar info to you - it's what your trainer has been telling you.  I count my abs as one of the saving graces for my back.  I'm not what you'd look at and say I'm all kinds of "in shape", but I've always done some ab work and my job works 'em out involuntarily, otherwise I fully believe I'd have serious back problems.  I'm looking to eliminate that, as well as the heart attack risk, and the wife is looking to partner up with me on this, so I've got a helper and a person to be "accountable" to.  Good luck to you, and I hope you find some of that info useful.

For anyone else looking at that, the Abs Diet isn't a diet, per se, it's changing what you eat, and adding a workout plan.  They also WANT you to "cheat" once a week, and if you decide to start it, the first two weeks of exercise are optional, if you wanna see what changing your diet for two weeks can do.  Small step, but it might change your mind.  If the book weren't given to me for free, I was still planning to give it a shot - E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G in the book is on the website, and you can pore through it online to see if it makes sense and what's all involved.

[lokki]

Switch yourself to green tea.  Half the caffeine as coffee and far better for you.  I've done very little to get in shape other than switch from soda to green tea and I used to be a bigger fatass than I am now (about 25-30 lbs lost now since late October/November).  I probably took in twice as much caffeine as you did each day and the change to tea has not been difficult at all.

Kind of unlrelated but what green tea do you drink? Do you brew it? Instant?
I've been drinking Instant green tea for the last couple of months. (XtraGreen) and have been feeling great.

(No Weight loss, and I did not drink Coffee before, Used to drink diet Coke)

[DrewKaree]

Switch yourself to green tea.  Half the caffeine as coffee and far better for you.  I've done very little to get in shape other than switch from soda to green tea and I used to be a bigger fatass than I am now (about 25-30 lbs lost now since late October/November).  I probably took in twice as much caffeine as you did each day and the change to tea has not been difficult at all.

Kind of unlrelated but what green tea do you drink? Do you brew it? Instant?
I've been drinking Instant green tea for the last couple of months. (XtraGreen) and have been feeling great.

(No Weight loss, and I did not drink Coffee before, Used to drink diet Coke)

Check your "instant" green tea.  I've seen several that are simply "green tea flavoring" and similar phrases.  I brew mine.  Sam's Club has a H-U-G-E box of Bigelow green tea for like $5-6.  It's got 180 bags.  The equivalent if I bought it at the grocery store would cost me $18-25. 

I fill up a tea pot with water, throw it on the burner until it whistles (nice reminder).  I just barely cover the bottom of a gallon pitcher with honey (it's about an eighth of a cup), dump the hot water in to dissolve the honey, add the tea bags and steep for 2-3 minutes.  Remove the bags (squeeze all the tea goodness out of the bags), fill up the rest of the pitcher with cold water, and refrigerate.  Next day, I fill up a container with tea and take it off to work with me.  I drink at least half a gallon a day.

The wife was drinking the tea for a while, but hated doing the teapot thing, so she went to Goodwill and bought an iced-tea brewer and threw the bags in the brew chamber.  Worked okay, but seemed to make a weaker tea to me.  At least I only threw $4 at that experiment

[shorthair]

Buddabing: actually, there is. Except for yoga, which descends from elements of the royal court (Indian wrestlers and Tibetan monks have been doing hindu push-ups and hindu squats and bridging, amongst other things, for millenia), there are no other exercises as comprehensive and effective as the Royal Court.

Why? Two things: multi-tissue activation (connective as well as muscular), and dynamic stretching. Even with low-impact, low weight weight-training, the muscles are still largely the tissues addressed, the motion involved is linear ( = not very functional), and there is required stretching afterwards. Equally, cardio isn't very functional cos it doesn't address strength, degrades the connective tissues, and requires a lot of time.

Spending 15 minutes doing, say, two sets of the royal court, without doing it quickly, will do all of those things: strength (and muscle, if vanity is your thing), endurance and stamina, and flexibility. However, as I mentioned above, you could do one exercise - that being bear crawls - for a few to several minutes, at a medium-slow pace, if you can handle it, and satisfy these criteria, anyway.

Lastly, on diet, I disagree. Partly, as my post above confirms, diet is all important. But to add to this, I give the following: the second time I was lifting, I got to a point where I had a bunch of muscle - but I also was getting a little full-looking. I hadn't been doing cardio, but was doing about an hour of lifting, three times a week. I added a half-hour of cardio. No change in weight or look after a month. What was the problem? I was eatin too much ---goshdarn--- baked goods. Oh, sure, they were whole grains an all. Don't make no difference. Then, some time later, I reduced my training. I also reduced my grain intake. I lost weight.

The other thing is that if you don't nutrify your tissues - and the most important here are your internal organs - you'll run your body down. And, like I mentioned, diet determines your mental state. Give your body what it genetically is predisposed to metabolise, and it normalises. You don't even have to make an effort at this point, cos your body is satisfied.

PS: you might be interested in what my intake is.

[shmokes]

Sam's Club has a H-U-G-E box of Bigelow green tea for like $5-6.

I haven't had Bigelow green tea, but their Earl Grey tastes like ass.  Check out Celestial Seasonings, if you have the chance.  I rarely come across an Earl Grey that even comes close to Celestial Seasonings. 

[shmokes]

PS: you might be interested in what my intake is.

Might I?  Might I really?

[DrewKaree]

Sam's Club has a H-U-G-E box of Bigelow green tea for like $5-6.

I haven't had Bigelow green tea, but their Earl Grey tastes like ass.  Check out Celestial Seasonings, if you have the chance.  I rarely come across an Earl Grey that even comes close to Celestial Seasonings. 

Celestial Seasonings also doesn't use that annoying paper tag and string   I've tried some of their other teas and they DO make better teas in general, but I just can't pass up the savings...Lipton, oddly, makes a pretty decent green tea too, but again, the money...oh the stinkin' money!

[Buddabing]

PS: you might be interested in what my intake is.

Not really. You are from California, right, so you probably eat a lot of tofu and bean sprouts. We Texans eat steak!

You are a single man and from your pictures you appear to be in your twenties. That is quite different from my circumstances. You basically are free to pursue whatever diet and exercise regime you want, and from your posts I think you enjoy exercising. I am married with two teenagers and am over 40. We have to provide food that the children will actually eat, and there are a lot of demands on my time. If I do not make specific appointments with the trainer, I won't go to the gym. Exercise is not in my genes or in my list of things I enjoy doing.

[ChadTower]

Check your "instant" green tea.  I've seen several that are simply "green tea flavoring" and similar phrases.  I brew mine.  Sam's Club has a H-U-G-E box of Bigelow green tea for like $5-6.  It's got 180 bags.  The equivalent if I bought it at the grocery store would cost me $18-25.

If the man loves anything, it's a giant mass of teabags.

All of the theories and "programs" and everything behind fitness is cool, but really, it is very very very simple:

Eat clean and in moderation and get plenty of exercise.  It doesn't matter what food it is if it's real food in moderation.  It doesn't matter what the exercise is so long as you do it well and often.  That's it.  Eat clean, moderately, and go out and do stuff.

[shmokes]

Celestial Seasonings also doesn't use that annoying paper tag and string  

That's hilarious.  That's actually the only thing I hate about CS.  I make tea one cup at a time and I like the string.  I order teas directly from them by the case (six boxes), just so I can get the food service version which has the strings 

[lokki]

Check your "instant" green tea.  I've seen several that are simply "green tea flavoring" and similar phrases.  I brew mine.  Sam's Club has a H-U-G-E box of Bigelow green tea for like $5-6.  It's got 180 bags.  The equivalent if I bought it at the grocery store would cost me $18-25. 

this is the Tea I drink, I was asking what type you drink because most of the brewed ones I tried taste pretty bad. I have tried the Earl Gray and did not like it.


http://www.teatech.com/Product/Instant%20Green%20Tea.htm

    * Fast absorbing instant green tea that provides beneficial elements from green tea
    * 300 mg of antioxidants (Polyphenols) per serving - equals 8 cups of most brewed teas
    * Great natural fresh tea taste and color - no artificial flavors, colors or preservatives
    * 100% of daily value of Vitamin C per serving
    * 50% less caffeine than most coffees - only 45 mg per serving
    * Great cold or hot, just add water

[ChadTower]

Half the caffeine?  I'd end up drinking 5 times as much and ODing on Vitamin C.

[shorthair]

PS: you might be interested in what my intake is.

Not really. You are from California, right, so you probably eat a lot of tofu and bean sprouts. We Texans eat steak!

You are a single man and from your pictures you appear to be in your twenties. That is quite different from my circumstances. You basically are free to pursue whatever diet and exercise regime you want, and from your posts I think you enjoy exercising. I am married with two teenagers and am over 40. We have to provide food that the children will actually eat, and there are a lot of demands on my time. If I do not make specific appointments with the trainer, I won't go to the gym. Exercise is not in my genes or in my list of things I enjoy doing.

Always assuming. No questions. I'm a few days short of 36, man. I am single. However, I don't eat any soybean products, and discourage their use, particularly for females. All of my meals are animal protein, the majority of them beef. When I'm traning heavy, I eat at least 3/4 lb of beef/other kind of meat, sometimes more. I eat a fair amount of green vegetables. I eat chocolate and ice cream whenever I wish; but I don't buy from the regular store, and I only buy good treats; check out Trader Joe's, Wild Oats, Sunflower markets, Sprouts, and Whole Foods - though I mostly shop at TJ's. I don't eat grains (this includes rice) or potatoes very often. The family excuse is just that. Kids don't need chips and candy and soda and cookies and bread and juice. If you feed them according to their metabolic type, and likely they'll be similar to yours, they'll not want that ---Cleveland steamer---. Same for you. (So, no Chad, it's not that simple...but simpler than people think.)

I enjoy using my body. Do you have rampant sexual energy? Do you remember what it was like as a kid being able to pretty much do anything physically you wanted?...and want to, again? Pretty simple, conditioning. Which you can do at home...and with the kids...even with the wife. No gear. No gym necessary. I train right out front of my place in the grass. Or inside during inclement weather, but all I need is a 6'x6' space.

Go to Matt Furey's site and look at many of the people over 40 - in one case a Marine Colonel, which he couldn't get away with if he was lying - who are in the Furey Inner Circle. Oh, and no (heheheh) I ain't from or live in Cali.


Also, check out this link:

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/mahler19.htm  (Mahler is HEAVY into kettlebells, now, particularly as he's a certified instructor taught by Pavel Tatsouline, but he still does some conditioning.)

[DrewKaree]

Celestial Seasonings also doesn't use that annoying paper tag and string  

That's hilarious.  That's actually the only thing I hate about CS.  I make tea one cup at a time and I like the string.  I order teas directly from them by the case (six boxes), just so I can get the food service version which has the strings 

  I make it by the gallon, and the strings are pretty much useless.  Either there's not enough hot water, so I have to dump the bag, string and all, in the pitcher, or I have to add some hot water from the faucet.  Enough of those stupid strings break on me that I just stopped adding hot water and just dumped the whole mess in the pitcher. 

Do you order from them on their website?  I'd be interested in ordering from 'em if I can get a better deal than what they sell it for in the stores.

Check your "instant" green tea.  I've seen several that are simply "green tea flavoring" and similar phrases.  I brew mine.  Sam's Club has a H-U-G-E box of Bigelow green tea for like $5-6.  It's got 180 bags.  The equivalent if I bought it at the grocery store would cost me $18-25. 

this is the Tea I drink, I was asking what type you drink because most of the brewed ones I tried taste pretty bad. I have tried the Earl Gray and did not like it.

I gotcha.  I only mentioned the info above because my wife brought some "instant" crap home, and not only did it have "flavorings" instead of tea, but sugar was the first ingredient listed, which is what I was trying to avoid.  Brewing tea needs some testing.  Some tastes like ass if you follow the directions, and it also makes a difference of where it came from.  My local grocery store has their own version of green tea, and I found out it's got a bunch of other crap in it and it ends up tasting burnt no matter how I make it, so I ended up ditching 3/4 of a box. 

Green tea happens to have all that good stuff yours mentions and has a crapload of benefits that other types may or may not have, and usually in equal/larger quantities.  I hate hot tea.  Can't stand it.  Cold, no worries.  A mix of black/orange, iced and with some sugar....jeez, I'd slug down a gallon right now if it were here!  I used to drop 4-5 packets of Splenda in the gallon to sweeten it up a touch for me, but I slowly cut that out, and now it's just the tea and the little bit of honey, and I'm good to go.

As for the caffeine, I guess it depends on who you listen to.  For instance, I've heard that a cup of coffee contains anywhere between 60-80 mg of caffeine, but it's widely said that green tea contains half the caffeine of coffee, and I indeed have noticed that I don't feel the same as when I drink an equal amount of soda (or coffee).  I'm fairly sensitive to caffeine, and can't have any after 3 p.m. or I'm easily awake until 2-4 in the morning - not so with the green tea now that my schedule is getting back to normal again.

Check your "instant" green tea.  I've seen several that are simply "green tea flavoring" and similar phrases.  I brew mine.  Sam's Club has a H-U-G-E box of Bigelow green tea for like $5-6.  It's got 180 bags.  The equivalent if I bought it at the grocery store would cost me $18-25.

If the man loves anything, it's a giant mass of teabags.

There's nothing good coming out of this thread for me, is there? 

[ChadTower]

What's coming out of this thread sure beats what's cuming out of those teabags.

[Chris G]

What a nut.  You're just having a ball today, aren't you?  It's like you have a whole sack of jokes...