Brenda HedrickAs the Matcha and Essential Oil Workshop is coming up just around the corner we thought it would be fun to hear how Brenda’s health journey began.  Brenda is an avid user of green teas, matcha, and essential oils.  During the workshop as Brenda will be leading the Matcha Workshop we look forward to having Dr. Katie Waynar lead us through her Essential Oils 101.

Brenda, owner and innkeeper, began her health journey in the 1990’s in response to how her body’s immune system had begun to shut down due to food and environmental allergies.  Her body hit a wall of sickness as it struggled to absorb nutrition.  Aggravated and inflamed her body simply said “no more!”   Brenda is a strong advocate for eating well, staying active, and daily consuming premium tea.  As she states “I’m convinced the “tea for health” should be a main stay to create a healthy diet.”  Brenda grew up on a farm where her early years enjoyed all whole foods produced on the family farm.  Since her youngest of memories, Brenda has been an outspoken advocate for a daily simple clean diet,  rich in whole foods.  In the last 20 years her advocacy now includes premium tea.

“I was born into a farm family with many different types of allergies. These allergies included food, pharmaceuticals, and the seasonal environment. My mother’s health mantra was “everything in moderation”.  Well, the sneaky part about food allergies is a person’s food cravings can escalate on a particular food item they may actually have a food allergy for.

For me it begin very early with allergies to oranges, chocolate, milk and some environmental issues.  As a registered nurse and watching my siblings struggle with their own allergies I have always been attuned to how allergies effect me and my body.  As I grew older my own allergies increased in both symptoms and in the number of things I had become super sensitive to.  22 years ago I suffered a heart attack.  The heart attack was triggered by a severe allergic reaction to mold!  My poor immune system had hit a wall and so together with the help of my doctor I decided to change the path I was on.  Dietary changes along with the very healthy benefits of tea I began re-building and strengthening my immune system.  In just the last few years I have also added essential oils to supplement and to relieve my symptoms.

Because I had been a loyal coffee drinker, at first,  tea seemed so difficult to adapt to.  I began with very strong flavored black teas.  Drinking black tea and changing my diet also had a side benefit I was not expecting.  A burning of calories and a reduction of body fat.

As my palette was cleansed of coffee and only drinking black tea – I then began to try green teas.  Gradually, my favorites began to be lighter teas until today… my favorite tea is matcha.  This superb green tea, matcha, is receiving so much attention in the news these days.  From my personal experience I know matcha helps me resist colds and flues.  Only when I forget my daily cup of noon matcha do I feel like I am catching something.  I reach for my cup of matcha and it does seem to “knock it out” of my system.  The difference in me when I drink matcha is also an increase of energy.  After drinking matcha that energy boost seems to clear my head and helps me to focus on the rest of my day.  I drink it daily and simply see it as a necessity in my life.

I believe green tea – especially matcha is truly a prescription to good health.  Bruce Richardson is a well published tea expert and I agree with his personal tea advice.  I think he is spot on and generally follow it myself.”

A Prescription for Good Health, Bruce Richardson

“After attending several health symposiums over the past decade, I can offer these suggestions about incorporating tea into your prescription for good health:

  • Drink four to six cups of both green and black teas every day, without sugar.  The health effects of tea dissipate after six hours so spread your tea consumption throughout the day.
  • Make tea a part of your hydration routine.  According to Tufts University Professor Jeffrey Blumenthal, “Contrary to popular belief, tea is not a diuretic.  It’s time to put that myth behind us.”
  • Make teatime part of your daily ritual.  The act of making tea quiets a busy mind as the kettle makes us wait for the water to boil, the tea in the pot makes us wait for the full steep, and the tea in the cup makes us wait for the liquid to cool. It’s during these short periods of waiting that our hearts beat more slowly and our minds become calmer.  Tea’s 2,000-year-old recipe could be exactly what the doctor ordered.”