Book Review: The Ultimate Tea Diet by Mark Ukra

I was fortunate enough to be chosen to receive a free copy of The Ultimate Tea Diet book by Mark Ukra in exchange for reviewing it. In addition, the publisher, Collins Nonfiction, asked me to take part in a Tea Diet Challenge, along with several other people, that would last for one month. I would have to read the book, follow its guidelines, do a book review and write a short article each week chronicling my experiences as I followed the tea diet plan. I said yes mostly because a winner would be chosen to receive a tea gift basket prize.

Iced tea has always been one of my favorite drinks and I had already noticed on my own that when I drink it and I am visiting with my friends that I become relaxed and positively cheery. I always thought it was the effects of good company and caffeine. So it came as no real surprise when I read within the first six pages of Mark Ukra's book that tea has some pretty amazing benefits to drinking it. Mark Ukra says in his book that the secret of tea is the "synergy of tea's three main ingredients: caffeine, L-theanine, and epigalloccatchin-3-gallate (EGCG)." These three ingredients work together to help you lose weight. Caffeine is a stimulant and that will help you lose weight but unfortunately there are some side effects however these are countered by the second ingredient, L-theanine. L-theanine is "an amino acid that works to counter caffeine's harmful effects." L-theanine affects your dopamine and serotonin levels, the part that tells your brain that you aren't hungry. And if you aren't hungry, you aren't eating, right? Tea actually contains less caffeine than coffee, about half of what is in a cup of coffee. The third ingredient in tea (EGCG) is an antioxidant "that stimulates your body's metabolism....and also lowers the levels of triglycerides in the blood and inhibits the accumulation of fatty acids in fat cells."

The book, The Ultimate Tea Diet, isn't so much about being a diet as it is about a lifestyle change for the rest of your life. I know that sounds like a long time (or a life sentence) but eating healthy foods from the basic food groups in moderate portions along with moderate exercise, plus drinking your tea, will help you to achieve a healthier lifestyle that YOU are in control of. You will feel healthier from eating healthier and getting some exercise but you will also feel like you have some control of your life, which of course we all do but sometimes we forget and need a little reminder. And I believe that Mark Ukra's book is an excellent reminder to all of us of what a healthy lifestyle can be. He just happens to include tea in that lifestyle.

There are meal plans included in the book, fourteen days worth to be exact and each day sounds delicious. There are also recipes, mostly using tea to cook with that are included. Unfortunately for me, the meal plan creates a small problem because I do not have the financial resources to go out and buy anything that is on the list. But really, there's not a big problem here. Mark Ukra only suggests the meal plans as guidelines. The tea diet plan can be adapted to whatever food plan you are following. There are no absolutes in this book! There are no extremes, just plain common sense backed up by scientific and historical facts and information.

When I first started reading the book, The Ultimate Tea Diet, author Mark Ukra grabbed me and sucked me in from the very beginning! Something that I'm sure all authors want to hear when someone reads their book! I found the book to be extremely readable with a comfortable feel about it; as if its knowledge is being shared with friends over a pot of tea (or in my case, a glass of iced tea). Mark Ukra doesn't set himself above everyone and make outrageous claims of magic weight loss. He simply tells the facts about tea, gives you the information you need to make an informed decision and then leaves you to decide what you will do with the information yourself.

Did I learn anything during the four weeks I followed the tea diet challenge? I think the biggest change was in my ATTITUDE. I'm sure that must sound strange, I mean, come on, how can a change in attitude help you lose weight and get healthier? In his book, Mark Ukra says over and over again "Say you can and you will. Say you can't and you won't." He says we need to stop making excuses and telling ourselves that we can't lose weight and start saying that we CAN do it!

Another part of the attitude change for me was to learn to focus on my food successes and not my failures. I had to focus on the broiled chicken I ate and NOT on that McDonalds double cheeseburger. If I look at only the things that I should NOT have eaten, then I would just quit trying to live a healthier lifestyle right now! Does that mean that I am a failure? No way! All it means is that for my next meal, I will make and eat a healthy choice such as broiled chicken with vegetables and perhaps some tea rice and for dessert a small bowl of sugar free jell-o. I will have a giant cup of iced tea with that meal and I will be happy that I am living my life by eating healthier! I must learn to concentrate on thinking positive thoughts about my next healthy meal and I must never beat myself up for "falling off the healthy food wagon."

In the past, I have tried starving myself to lose weight, but it never worked. "Lose weight quick schemes" can kill you or worse yet, destroy your health completely. Mark Ukra does NOT advocate that whole yo-yo dieting; lose-weight-and-then- gain-back-even-more weight lifestyle. That's dangerous and it WILL destroy your health. The bottom line here is that Mark Ukra wants you to add tea to your healthy diet. You can drink it any way that you want, hot or cold, you can even cook with it but just drink your tea. Drink it before meals, during meals, and after meals, but just drink your tea!

I did lose weight during my time participating in the Tea Diet Challenge. Unfortunately no one except my doctor has a scale that is able to record my weight so I didn't get to know the exact amount of weight lost but I do know that my clothes were slightly looser, the seat belt in the car finally fit around me, and I felt better overall. Unfortunately I did not win the gift basket at the end of the Tea Diet Challenge but Collins Nonfiction did send me a tin of chocolate tea and a package of scones for participating. So I'm happy with both Collins Nonfiction and Mark Ukra plus I had fun participating in the Challenge and I did get a free book (one of my favorite things to receive) out of it.

I recommend The Ultimate Tea Diet book by Mark Ukra for anyone who likes to read about different diets and how they work. But if you are looking for a book with new ideas and a magic way to lose weight, you will not want to read this book. This particular book stresses common sense and a moderate lifestyle which I found very enjoyable to read about.

The Ultimate Tea Diet: How Tea Can Boost Your Metabolism, Shrink Your Appetite, and Kick-Start Remarkable Weight Loss

By Mark Ukra and Sharyn Kolberg

Hardcover, Collins Nonfiction, 320 pages.

ISBN-10: 0061441759, $12.99 from Amazon.com