My latest taste test to report on is the 52 Teas Sundae1888’s Mayan Chocolate Chai that I purchased from 52 Teas.

Tea type & form: Black Tea; leaves are fresh picked and withered to remove moisture then twisted and rolled. The "black" color comes from the oxidation of the leaves. Black tea is generally stronger in flavor and contains more caffeine than the less oxidized teas such as white and green teas. Spiced Chai is properly known as Masala Chai which originated in India hundreds of years ago. Chai tea has been consumed in India since the 1800’s! In India, Chai means Tea and the word Masala defines a combination of herbs and spices that are commonly used in Indian dishes as well as in Ayurverdic Herbal Medicine.

Tea Growing Region: 52 Teas uses Assam tea in this black tea blend. Historically, Assam is the second commercial tea production region after southern China. Southern China and Assam are the only two regions in the world with native tea plants. Assam tea revolutionized tea drinking habits in the 19th century since the tea, produced from a different variety of the tea plant, yielded a different kind of tea. This tea, most of which is grown at or near sea level, is known for its body, briskness, malty flavor, and strong, bright color.

What they say: April is traditionally the month when the Mayan people celebrated an annual festival in honor of Ek Chuah, the cacao god. Maybe you think it’s cool that the Greeks and Romans had gods of love and war and other anthropomorphisms, but how cool is it that the Mayans had a god of chocolate? I couldn’t resist the idea of this blend of our traditional masala Chai, cacao nibs, almonds and a hint of cayenne pepper to make things interesting.

Preparation method: I Used 1 teaspoon of loose leaves for each 6 oz. cup. I poured water of 208° F or 98° C over the leaves and let it steep or infuse for 5 minutes. It was then strained and enjoyed with some milk. Yogic Chai recommends the following for preparation: 1) Bring a cup of water to boil and add 1 full teaspoon of Chai. 2) Simmer for at least 2 min. 3) Add 1/4 cup (or your desired amount) of whole milk, skim milk or soy milk and bring mixture to boil without letting it rise (careful!!! it can rise quickly). 4) Add 1 tablespoon of your sweetener of preference. (at home we use either maple syrup or agave syrup.)

My Review: As many of you know, I really like a full bodied and spicy chai tea in the evenings and I heard about this tea from @52teas on a Twitter search. I decided to check out any reviews on the site and the thought of the Chai tea with chocolate and cayenne pepper was definitely an intriguing one. Well what a surprise. For anyone that likes a spicy kick to their tea, this is the one for you. The original Masala Chai is not a bad tea in itself but this new version is something special. The first thing you get from the smell is that wonderful chai fragrance followed by the hint of cocao. Tasting this tea is truly unique as you first taste the wonderful spices of the chai which is followed by the smooth taste of the cocao nibs and then WHAM! The effect of the cayenne pepper hits you. It is quite a shock to begin with, although pleasant, to have this warm tea flow down your throat only for the heat to stay at the back of the mouth for a much longer period of time. You get the same effect as you do when you eat a spicy hot bowl of chili. Having said that, I must say the cayenne in no way takes away from the chai spices or the cocao flavour; it only enhances it. I love the fact that every taste gives you a multiple of tastes with the ginger, cardamom and cinnamon all pleasantly noticeable and the cocao flavour mixing perfectly. The only complaint I have with this tea is I found that the distinct malty flavour of a good Assam tea was sadly lacking and I think that extra malty flavour would have made this tea perfect.

My Rating: I give this tea 9 Stars out of 10.

My latest taste test to report on is the Yogic Chai Original Masala Chai that I purchased from Yogic Chai.

Tea type & form: Black Tea; leaves are fresh picked and withered to remove moisture then twisted and rolled. The "black" color comes from the oxidation of the leaves. Black tea is generally stronger in flavor and contains more caffeine than the less oxidized teas such as white and green teas.

Spiced Chai is properly known as Masala Chai which originated in India hundreds of years ago. Believe it or not, Chai has been consumed in India since the 1800’s!
In India, Chai means Tea and the word Masala defines a combination of herbs and spices that are commonly used in Indian dishes as well as in Ayurverdic Herbal Medicine.

Tea Growing Region: Yogic Chai uses Assam tea in their black tea blends. Historically, Assam is the second commercial tea production region after southern China. Southern China and Assam are the only two regions in the world with native tea plants. Assam tea revolutionized tea drinking habits in the 19th century since the tea, produced from a different variety of the tea plant, yielded a different kind of tea. This tea, most of which is grown at or near sea level, is known for its body, briskness, malty flavor, and strong, bright color.

What they say: Unlike other Chai blends in the market, Yogic Chai is made with no concentrates, no syrups, no sugars, no dairy products, but pure loose tea and spices…best of all, made with 100% organic ingredients and Fair Traded Assam Tea.!

Preparation method: I Used 1 teaspoon of loose leaves for each 6 oz. cup. I poured water of 208° F or 98° C over the leaves and let it steep or infuse for 5 minutes. It was then strained and enjoyed with some milk.

Yogic Chai recommends the following for preparation: 1) Bring a cup of water to boil and add 1 full teaspoon of Chai. 2) Simmer for at least 2 min. 3) Add 1/4 cup (or your desired amount) of whole milk, skim milk or soy milk and bring mixture to boil without letting it rise (careful!!! it can rise quickly). 4) Add 1 tablespoon of your sweetener of preference. (at home we use either maple syrup or agave syrup.)

Review: I really like a full bodied and spicy chai tea in the evenings and I heard about Yogic Chai from a search on Twitter. The resulting review I found said that this was the best Chai they had ever tried so I decided to give it a try.

I am extremely glad I did. The smell of the spices hits you as soon as you open the package. I love the smell of the herbs and spices and they hit you in the way only really good chai can. The smell was so divine I could hardly wait for the tea to steep. I waited the 5 minutes with the thought of the taste of spices making me drool just a little. The first taste was exactly what I wanted from a chai with the taste being warm and enticing. The many flavors burst in your mouth, with each spice being discernable and perfectly blended. I love a good Assam and that malty flavor can still be found through the array of spices. The drink is most pleasurable with the wonderful smell enhancing the fantastic flavors. This tea reminds me of a good spice cake as the aroma is equally as good as the taste.

I prefer making my tea the way I prepare tea as I am not a fan of sweetening my teas. I like the taste of the tea and spices and I find the sweetness from any sweetener hides some of that flavor.

My Rating: I give this tea 9 Stars out of 10.

As I made my journey along to the way to health and weight loss I have been asked numerous times what diet I was on or following. I quickly respond with “I am not on a diet nor do I follow any specific diet”. People then give me a dumb look and ask how I can be losing weight when I am not on a diet. Almost everyone then asks me what exercise program I am on to which I respond “I am not on an exercise program”. I am then stared at again with that dumb “Deer in headlights” look.

That is one of the things I find funny with the mentality of most people these days. The thought that one has to be on a specific diet or exercise program to lose weight is not what is important and not what is going to make you successful. The secret to losing weight and getting yourself healthy is Changing Your Lifestyle.

That’s right, changing your lifestyle. Changing your lifestyle includes eating a healthy diet, getting some exercise and getting support for what you are doing.

Most diets either don’t work or will result in the yo-yo factor that many dieters encounter over the years. Eating a healthy diet that includes a balance of whole grains, vegetables, fruits, proteins and fats is the way to do it. Restricting the calories you eat over a day to what your body needs to fuel itself and not all the extras that most people typically put into their mouths. I follow a diet that gives me 1800 to 2200 calories per day. Another change that needs to be made is the number of meals you eat. I now eat 6 meals a day. The normal breakfast, lunch and supper with snacks mid-morning, mid-afternoon and again in the evening. This allows your body to be fueled all day and avoids the spikes in blood sugars associated in big meal crashes. Make sure your grains are whole grain too. Brown, red and black rices not white. Whole grain breads, not white. Use sweeteners or other sources for sweetening things other than white sugar. Brown rice syrup or Splenda works good for this.

Exercise programs are again over rated. Unless you can afford the time and expense of a personal trainer you have to do what you can. Walking is what I have done as much as possible (although at -40° C it is hard to walk outdoors) and we have purchased a treadmill for the winter and wet/cold summer days. We try and walk for 30-45 minutes whenever possible. My in-laws (who are some of the healthiest 75 year olds I know) actually go to one of the malls where they live and walk the malls at a good pace to get exercise. I also do some push-ups and sit-ups/crunches a couple times a week and that helps with the strength and toning of the muscles.

Consistency is the another component of the lifestyle change. You have to be consistent with what you do. You have to be consistent with recording what you eat. You have to be consistent with the foods that you eat. You have to be consistent with the exercise you do. Being consistent helps you take control of everything that you do.

Support is the final change in your lifestyle. Your family, friends etc. have to support you in your lifestyle change. Having a spouse/partner who doesn’t want to eat healthy with you will make it more difficult for you to eat healthy. Walking alone or exercising by yourself is also not a lot of fun. Involve your loved ones and your change will be easier and they will be benefitting along with you. It takes team work to succeed.

Technorati Tags: diabetes - type 2 diabetes - healthy eating - health - fitness - diet - lifestyle

Yes, I realize it has been way too long since my last post. I promised to keep you up to date with my health and the reasons that I have been successful.

To start off with, I went to the doctor since the last post and here is how things look.

May 2008:

• Weight – 257 lbs
• A1C – 10.6 Blood Pressure – 152/146
• Total Cholesterol – at least 8.2 but the tryglycerides were too high to give an accurate reading
• HDL (good cholesterol) - .76

My latest stats are:

• Weight – 178 lbs (March 1st, 2009)
• A1C – 5.2 (January 28th, 2009)
• Blood Pressure – 120/80 (January 28th, 2009)
• Cholesterol – 3.6 (October 10th, 2008)
• HDL – 1.0 (October 10th, 2008)

Ok, on to part 2. I really believe one of the things that helped me in controlling my weight and my blood sugars was the counting of everything that went in my mouth. Seriously! I started measuring everything I ate and drank. I looked around at ways of recording all this information and the place that I found was a site called SparkPeople or now their Canadian section at SparkPeopleCanada.

With this fantastic took I was able to make sure that I held my caloric intake in line with what I was supposed to be eating plus it was easy to go back to the list to determine what might have affected my blood sugars when I tested 2 hours after eating. I was able to figure out when certain types of carbohydrates would affect me or when a combination would throw those numbers out of whack.

It was also a good way to see how you were doing as far as percentages of the diet being carbs, fat or protein. It helped me make sure that my diet was correctly balanced. The site has a large database of foods and it is totally customizable for your own foods. In fact I have a personal database of over 300 items that I have added myself.

There are many groups that you can also join. People who are doing the same thing as you and are there for moral support for each other if you are having problems.

Counting also has another important function. It allows you to eat those things that you know you aren’t supposed to when you are “dieting”. For example, if I feel like a piece of chocolate then I can check my totals for the day to make sure that the 1oz square of chocolate I am about to eat fits into my numbers for the day. If not, then it will have to wait until the next day when I make sure I leave some room.

My big motivation for using something like SparkPeople was making sure I had the knowledge (Part 1) to be able to lose the weight I had to lose. How can you possibly lose weight when you have no idea how many calories you are eating? Even now that I have been doing this for almost 10 months I still record everything. Yes, I can guesstimate pretty good after this much time but I leave nothing to chance. I weigh it all and I record it all. That way there is no excuse.

If you want to start an account at SparkPeople and want some help, advice on how the site works or just some moral support, leave me a comment of connect with me on Sparkpeople through my SparkPage.

Next Time - #3 It’s Not a Diet

Technorati Tags: Type 2 Diabetes - diabetes - calories - dieting - health - change - lifestyle

Let me start off by saying that the tips I am going to post here are things that I found have worked for me. Most of these things are available through various means including searching the Internet. I am not a doctor, nutritionist or health professional just a guy who made the changes necessary to improve my health.

When I was first diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes I spent a month or so reading everything I could find to get a better understanding of my problems and how I could do something about it. I joined many Diabetes blogs and websites and read everything I could. I purchases several books and did even more reading. I then purchased several Diabetic cookbooks to see if I could see what the difference was between a regular recipe and a diabetic one.

Knowledge is the greatest weapon to fight any disease or ailment. If you know what you have and you understand what can happen if you don’t make changes it is easier to make those changes. It doesn’t matter if you have Diabetes, have high blood pressure, have high cholesterol, are over weight or pretty much any other disease, read and learn what you can do and the results you can expect if you don’t make changes. Trust me, having that knowledge should be reason enough to make changes.

If that isn’t enough then do it for your family. Think about how they are going to deal with things if you don’t make changes. And if that still isn’t enough, do it for YOU!!! Who intentionally wants to get sicker and deal with problems when there are alternatives. Do you not want to grow old? Do you not want to see you kids grow up? Do you not want to see your grand kids grow up? Do you not what to feel good about yourself? Think about it and do something about it. NOW!!!

The knowledge is a tool but it is still up to you to use your new found ammunition to make the changes you need to make. Here’s to a healthy change in your life. After all, isn’t 2009 the year of change?

Next time - #2 Counting to Success.

Technorati Tags: type 2 diabetes - diabetes - knowledge - health - change

First off I would like to wish everyone a belated Happy New Year. I have been negligent with my blog the last while and for that I apologize.

While I was away I kept up with the lifestyle change that I started last May when I was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes. For those of you who don’t know, here are the stats from last May:

• Weight – 257 lbs
• A1C – 10.6
• Blood Pressure – 152/146
• Total Cholesterol – at least 8.2 but the tryglycerides were too high to give an accurate reading
• HDL (good cholesterol) - .76

My latest stats are:

• Weight – 185 lbs (January 4th)
• A1C – 5.6 (October 10th)
• Blood Pressure – 110/70 (October 21st)
• Cholesterol – 3.6 (October 10th)
• HDL – 1.0

I have had numerous people send me e-mails, send me notes on FaceBook or even send me a message on Live Messenger asking how I lost all the weight and fixed my health. The first thing that many people ask is “what diet are you on?” I try as best as I can to tell people that I am not on a diet…that what I have done is change my lifestyle. The next question from those people is “what kind of changes are you talking about?”

So, instead of answering all these questions individually I figured that I would do a series of posts detailing what I have done to make a change in my lifestyle. Some are little things to do, some take a little more effort but at least I hope I can give those of you who have resolved to lose weight and become healthier this year.

After all, isn’t the biggest buzzword these days change?

Tags: health diet lifestyle change Type 2 Diabetes

I have been extemely diligent this year in making sure that the snow is cleared from my walks as soon as I can. There have been evenings when I have shoveled the walks after work and with the snow still falling, swept them while taking the dogs out before bed. I am in the best shape I have been in a long time and the snow removal doesn’t bother me. Sure there are the sore arms and shoulders that come with the labor of snow shoveling, but I am happy (albeit tired of the continual snowing) to keep the walks clean.

On Thursday I was out doing the walks again and I was shoveling out the dog pen when a lady walked by with her dog. I am sure she didn’t see me and I stopped to watch as her dog squated on the city sidewalk beside our house. I deliberately stood there while her dog did his thing. The dog finished and the lady started to walk away until she looked up and saw me standing there. She quickly pulled a bag out of her pocket and walked back the 3 feet or so to pick up the present her dog had left on the sidewalk. I wonder if she would have bothered if I had not been there watching.

I finished doing the back yard and walked around to the front to do the walks there and what did I find in the middle of the front sidewalks? You guessed it. Dog doodie. That’s right. Someone had been out walking their dog and allowed the dog to dump on the sidewalk I have to shovel and didn’t pick it up. That pisses me off.

We have a dog pen where are dogs do their business and we pick up the doodie all the time. When we go for walks with our dogs, we always pick up the presents they leave. Why do some dog owners think that letting their dogs dump whereever they want without picking it up is okay? Do they think because it is winter that the snow will hide it until spring so they don’t have to care? This is one of the subjects I had planned to write about earlier and was on my list.

If dog owners can’t be responsible enough to pick up what their dogs leave behind they shouldn’t be dog owners. Owning a dog is more than feeding and walking that furry friend. It includes all the other things that go with it like picking up after them.

My complaint this fall was seeing all the dog doodie along the city sidewalk beside my house. It is disgusting and many dog owners out walking their pets need to be more responsible. PICK UP THE DOG DOO WHEN YOUR DOG DUMPS WHILE OUT ON HIS WALK. Not only is it disgusting, it is unhealthy to leave it sitting anywhere but in the proper place.

Technorati Tags: Yellowknife - pedestrians - dogs - walking - doodie

I did a post a couple of weeks ago about how some pedestrians in Yellowknife really annoy me   ok, piss me off. So, while I can bash those who are not in my good books, I should commend those who are.

I was out the other day after work diligently clearing snow from the front walks. I don’t want to get another warning from the By-Law officer for not clearing them like I did a couple of winters ago.

Clearing the front walks is not an easy chore either. It will snow all night and all day and by the time I get to them after work, several 100 people have walked by packing the snow into near cement hardness.

Anyway, as I was clearing the packed snow by scraping the walks, I was continually interrupted by people walking home from work. As I waited for them to pass by so I could continue the cleaning process, many commented on how they wish everyone would clean their walks and thanked me for doing so. I even had one fellow ask me if I wouldn’t mind cleaning the walks all the way down to the Laing Building where he worked.

I really appreciated the words of thanks and the positive comments however, I will not be cleaning down the 2 full blocks to the Laing Building. It took me 1½ hours to do the shoveling yesterday at my place so the additional several hours down to the Laing Building is out of the question…unless someone wants to pay me handsomely to do so.

Tags: Yellowknife, snow, winter, shoveling, sidewalks

As I have gone through my lifestyle change the last 6 months,  I have had to find and develop many different healthy snacks. When you eat 6 times a day (in one of my tips and tricks to come), you can only eat the same snacks for so long.

I decided that I had to make some of my own healthy snacks.  I used to love muffins but many muffins are loaded in empty calories and carbs that make a diabetic’s glucose levels shoot through the roof.

The picture is of my lastest creation; Banana, Pumpkin, Blueberry Whole Grain muffins. At around 130 calories per muffin, it is low calorie, healthy and most of all tasty.

If you are interested in the recipe you can download it below:

Try it. I think you’ll like it and it will fill that void when you have that need to grab something to eat.

Tags: pumpkin, banana, blueberries, muffins, whole grains, snack

So does everyone have their costumes on or ready for tonight. It is a rare occurance that All Hallows’ Even falls on a Friday. In fact it is only the 4th time in the last 23 years.

I imagine that with Halloween being on Friday everyone should get lots of “trick or treaters”. There is no school tomorrow for parents to worry about. I would also imagine that there will be lots of Friday night parties too with no school or work (for many) tomorrow.

Here’s hoping that everyone has a fun, safe, happy Halloween and a great All Saints’ Day on Saturday.

Technorati Tags: Halloween - All Hallows’ Even - All Hallows’ Eve - All Saint’s Day