In the eyes of a guy who last saw the light of day when the United States had 5 million people and 38 states, skyscrapers were 10 stories tall, and penny-farthing bikes with 5-foot front wheels were all the rage, I am an ardent writer and exerciser. Though it has nothing to do with the number of articles I’ve written or miles I’ve ridden.

According to that guy, poet-philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson, it simply boils down to this: “A man is what he thinks about all day long.”

If this observation is indeed true, I’m one other thing to boot: an extremely healthy eater. To get you thinking the same way - at least for part of today - here’s some of the latest information about two great-for-you foods.

Green Tea

I’ve written about green tea many times in the past and for good reason.

After hundreds of studies, the general consensus is drinking two or three cups a day can improve brain function, the rate in which you burn fat, your odds of losing weight on a diet, and your chance of living longer. In addition, it can reduce your risk of cardiovascular disease, certain cancers, and type 2 diabetes.

New research performed at Penn State and Ohio State Universities and published in the June 2022 issue of Current Developments in Nutrition lends insight into how the last in that list comes to be. It also offers a brand-new benefit: that green tea reduces the gut inflammation that leads to abdominal pain, food sensitivities, bloating, and indigestion, as well as the increased gut permeability that can create much of the same and then goes by the name of leaky gut syndrome.

In this clinical trial, 21 adults diagnosed with what’s generally seen as the precursor to type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome, and 19 who were not were given a gummy containing the catechin equivalent of five cups of green tea every day for 28 days.

(Don’t sweat the terminology in this article. Catechins are merely one type of plant chemical. Plant chemicals are often called polyphenols, but just as likely to be called flavanoids. Flavonols and flavanols are specific types of the latter.)

The 40 participants then spent an equal number of days free from the catechin supplement, and that was followed by another 28-day period where they thought they were taking it again. Instead, they were ingesting a placebo.

During the entire 84 days, all participants ate a diet intentionally low in foods high in catechins to make sure it was the catechins in the gummies having an effect, if any.

And they certainly did have an effect.

They not only improved blood sugar levels in the 19 participants who started the study healthy - but also in the 21 with metabolic syndrome and likely to get type 2 diabetes without such improvement.

As for the new benefit linked to the catechins in the green tea extract - decreased gut inflammation and gut permeability - the researchers theorize it’s a byproduct of the better glycemic control and enhanced insulin sensitivity that results from lower blood sugar levels.

Cocoa

While catechins abound in green tea, flavanols are abundant in cocoa. And in the same way metabolic syndrome often leads to type 2 diabetes, so it is with high blood pressure and cardiovascular diseases like heart attack and stroke.

Prior studies, though, have shown that flavanols and various other polyphenols can reduce high blood pressure. Now, according to one published in the June 2022 issue of Frontiers, flavanol cocoa supplements can make blood pressure readings better and heart disease less likely to happen.

To start the study, researchers taught 11 healthy adults how to properly use a blood pressure cuff and a finger clip. Over the course of eight days, the 11 then adhered to the following pattern.

They took a pill first thing in the morning, but had no clue what was in it. The researchers, however, did.

They made sure each participant received a cocoa flavanol capsule one day and a placebo the next.

Every 30 minutes for the next three hours after taking the pill and once an hour for the nine hours after that, the 11 applied the blood pressure cuff and finger clip to check their blood pressure and heart rate. That info was then sent to the researchers using iPads.

Once all the info got tabulated, what came to light was certainly worthy of publication.

The cocoa flavanol supplement reduced arterial stiffness and lowered blood pressure. Moreover, the lowering never went so low to create its own health concern.

A Quick Summary

As cliche as it is to say, healthy eating does indeed happen one food at a time. So if you want or need to make your eating healthier, begin by finding ways to include two or three cups of green tea into each day (decaf is fine) and cocoa into the beverages and foods you regularly consume.

It can easily be added to coffee, pancakes, yogurts, smoothies, or just about any dessert you bake.