A New Year & Gut Health
As I look back on 2023, a lot of good things happened in the 50Cups world. As most of you know, we had our store grand opening in July and began the slow and steady march to introduce our high-quality organic products to the marketplace. We launched our monthly health features, and if you’ve been a blog reader, hopefully our content has enabled you to become a little smarter on nutrition and health.
For me, my health journey took me away from gluten and dairy for much of the year (currently slowly beginning to reintroduce), I tried to improve my workouts with more bands and shorter but faster cardio, and I began biking more. I hiked over 13,000 feet (and hope to make it to 14,000 this year). I’ve also come to love our herbal teas, especially the refresher. Prior to this year, I strictly was a black tea drinker with an occasional green thrown in. Our refresher and holiday blend became a staple in my diet beginning in August, and I can honestly say I feel better.
Hopefully most of us are always trying to improve our faith, health, family, and work life. To grow, one must continue to change. If you have time, we’d love to hear about your 2023 journey as we are looking to feature our customers. Please feel free to share your experiences by emailing us at info@fiftycups.com.
In 2024 our themes will be health, unity, and most importantly, our customers. To that end, we may reach out to you to see if you’d have interest in going on our podcast or doing a quick video sharing your experiences. Our goal is to be the best tea company in the US, and we want to have customers in all 50 states who are enjoying our products as they self-improve, become healthier, and feel united in our community.
As January is Gut Health month, we wanted to pass along how important your gut is to your wellbeing. Until recently, the gut has been relatively ignored; however, everything we eat ends up in our gut. It is the epicenter of our body, where food is processed, nutrients extracted, and the rest is eliminated.
Unfortunately, our food is loaded with chemicals, sprayed with pesticides, and packaged in plastic. As a result, our gut is processing many more toxins than our parents and grandparents processed, and we are seeing our country becoming sicker and sicker. We’ve seen significant increases in auto-immune, cancers, and other diseases.
For me, I previously mentioned my gluten/dairy elimination in 2023. I went on that journey as I was having some periodic gut discomfort. I took multiple tests and labs, and although I did not test positive for celiac or lactose intolerance, it was suggested I eliminate some things that may be inflammatory which could be causing some of my discomfort.
Today, I feel better than I did this time last year. In addition to eliminating certain foods, I try and eat as clean as possible by avoiding anything out of a box or bag, going organic, and eating fresh protein, fruits, and vegetables.
Lastly, it’s important to drink filtered water and enjoy simple drinks like tea, with no additives. Avoid all the “healthy” bottled or canned drinks as they are loaded with chemicals and sugars that will only irritate the gut.
So, what can you do to protect your gut?
As I close, let’s talk about the benefits of tea and gut health. There has been a growing body of evidence evaluating inter-relationships between tea compounds and the gut microbiome. After multiple studies, initial evidence suggests that teas could benefit gut health. Evidence appears to be strongest for green tea and emerging for black, oolong, and other teas.
For green tea in particular, evidence shows improvement in gut health triggered by obesity or processed high fat diets mainly by mediating gut microbiota profiles. So, as always drink tea and see us at 50Cups. Happy New Year!