(NC)—Data emerging from several recent studies on black, green, and oolong tea – each one derived from the same plant species, camellia senensis – consistently demonstrate that tea may indeed give your diet a boost. The findings have sparked great interest, so here are the answers to the most frequently asked questions, courtesy of the Tea Association of Canada:

Q: What health benefits are attributed to tea?

A: More people are turning to tea for its antioxidant appeal. Antioxidants are compounds, which neutralize free radicals and potentially protect against disease. Tea is rich in antioxidant plant compounds called flavonoids, which are widely believed to prevent damage to body cells that can result in cancers. As such it is good to incorpo You Asked: Is Black Tea Good For My Health? Recipe

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Your Frugal Fridge!

by Cyndi Roberts

Now that it's summer, most of us start thinking about keeping our electric bill in bounds!

One way to do that is to keep your refrigerator and freezer, if you have one, running efficiently.

Be sure to vacuum the condenser coils on your refrigerator at least once a year. You may have to pull your appliance out from the wall to do this, but when the coils are dusty, it keeps the fridge from cooling efficiently.

If you have an older fridge, check the door gaskets to make sure you have a tight seal and aren't losing cold air around the doors.

Another "small" thing you can do: when you are putting away your groceries after a trip to the store, gather all your items for the fridge in one place. Then you can open the r Your Frugal Fridge! Recipe

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Wrapping Up the Cigar Boom

by Tynan Szvetecz

At age 98, the infamous cigar aficionado George Burns said, "If I had taken my doctor's advice and quit smoking when he advised me to, I wouldn't have lived to go to his funeral." While it's tempting for us to use Mr. Burns as the poster-child for the anti-anti-smoking movement which is gaining little ground against anti-smoking legislation in the United States, we would be hard-pressed to answer why the honor shouldn't go to Mark Twain, Peter Falk, Sigmund Freud ("Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar") or Rudy Giuliani. As more and more restaurants find themselves under regulation to prohibit smoking and many of the cigar bars from the last decade close their doors, it seems that today's cigar smoker is a bit lonely.

The cigar boom that swept t Wrapping Up the Cigar Boom Recipe

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