The ad encourages a switch to water, sparkling water and tea. While you can’t go wrong with water, tea is packed with antioxidants—specifically, catechins, which make up some 25% of the dry weight of a fresh tea leaf.

What if you don’t like unsweetened tea?

The one or two teaspoons of sugar you’d add to a cup of tea are a better choice than the 10 teaspoons of sugar in a can of Coke or apple juice, or the 8 teaspoons of sugar in a can of orange juice.*

*Sugar levels can vary in different brands of fruit juice.

But first, try some really, really good tea, purchased loose in a tea shop or bottled by a premier company. Top-quality tea is so flavorful that no sugar or milk is needed.

Huge flavor, no calories. Photo by Naheed
Choudhry | THE NIBBLE.

We used to drink a bottle of Green Jasmine, Lemongrass Green and Rose Green daily. In the name of green living, we subsequently bought the loose tea and started to brew our own, carrying it around in a water bottle. Now, we can’t live without it, preferring iced tea to water.

If those catechins don’t deliver us to a ripe old age, we’ll have still enjoyed great refreshment.

• Find more of our favorite teas.

[1] A glass of Sauvignon Blanc wine with a side of feta and olives (photo © Vermont Creamery).

[2] A Greek salad with Rose wine (photo © Loes Klinker | Unsplash).

[3] Try any of the wines with a spinach and feta flatbread or pizza. Here’s the recipe (photo © King Arthur Flour).

[4] Want to try Greek wines? Look for the Boutari label (photo © Boutari Wineery).

Feta is Greece’s most famous cheese: a pure white, aged curd cheese that crumbles easily.

While the cheese has been made since antiquity, the name came into the Greek language in the 17th century, from the Italian word fetta, meaning slice.

The name refers to slicing the cheese from the brick.

Authentic feta is a sheep’s milk cheese, or a mixture of sheep’s and goat’s milks.

Outside of the EU, where the recipe is protected by law, it can also be made of cow’s milk.

Feta is formed into bricks and salted and cured for several months in a brine solution.

The cheese is semi-hard, with a flavor that can range from mild and milky to salty with a very tangy acidity.

Watch out: Cheaper brands of feta can be inedibly salty.

If you purchase a brand that turns out to be too salty, soaked the cheese in water or milk to remove some of the saltiness.

If your experience with feta cheese is limited to Greek salads or a pita pocket, branch out: There are many ways to enjoy this tangy cheese.

As we were looking at recipes* on the website of Nikos brand feta, we were inspired by the suggested wine pairings.
 
 
FETA CHEESE & WINE PAIRINGS

Of course, the logical place to look for wine pairings is the Greek wine section. But many stores don’t carry them, and most Americans don’t know about them.

So Nikos recommends pairings with familiar wines, that enhance the flavor of feta. If you’re searching for Greek wines, try the Boutari wines.

 
 
FETA RECIPES

 
 
>>> THE HISTORY OF FETA CHEESE <<<
 
 
________________

*Feta and Roasted Eggplant Terrine, Feta Cheese Beggars Pouches, Feta Cheese with White Bean Hummus and more.

Last year, a media blitz let America know that trans fat was bad for us. Some cities legislated that it could not be used in restaurants. Manufacturers reformulated their products and declared “No Trans Fats!” on the packaging.

Trans fats are no longer the enemy.

Know what is? Saturated fat!

Knowing which fats raise LDL cholesterol (the bad cholesterol) and which ones don’t is the first step in lowering your risk of heart disease—America’s number one killer. You can’t wait until you’re 50 to change your diet. Your healthy future starts today.

Saturated fat is the main dietary cause of high blood cholesterol. It is found mostly in foods from animals, plus some plants.

And darn it, saturated fat is found in America’s favorite foods: beef, lamb, pork, poultry, veal and their fats (chicken fat and lard, e.g.), for starters.

 
The American Heart Association strongly advises these fat guidelines for healthy Americans over age 2:*

 
If your calorie goal is 2,000 calories each day (recommended for sedentary females 21-50), that means no more than 16 g saturated fat and between 50 and 70 grams of total fat each day, with most fats coming from sources of polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats.

It isn’t easy to cut back on that delicious saturated fat. But a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single teaspoon.
 
BEYOND SATURATED FATS:

WHICH FATS & OILS ARE HEALTHY VS. UNHEALTHY.
________________
*Conventional thinking, currently being studied by researchers, is that infants need relatively large amounts of fat, including saturated fat, for proper growth and development.

America isn’t even in the Top 10.

That’s no reason to celebrate (or to over-indulge). The better focus would be to move our students up the Top 10 list in math and science.

In a 2009 study, U.S. eighth graders ranked 11th in science and 9th in math.

Next question: Why do people in Luxembourg drink so much?

Chart courtesy Grafikdienst.com.

[1] Infuse tea to make a “marTEAni” (photo © Hershey Resorts.

Earl Grey Tea Leaves[/caption]
[2] America’s favorite flavored tea is Earl Grey (photo © Tay Tea).

Combine your passions for martinis and tea with a tea martini. Green tea, Earl Grey and chai are three of the more popular teas to infuse.

You can substitute another tea variety in this recipe for an Earl Grey MarTEAni, from Tavalon Tea.

The key to any good recipe is to use the best ingredients. So use fine loose tea, not a supermarket brand which typically requires milk and sugar to compensate for the blandness.

(We buy the best tea, and rarely add milk or sugar to it. When properly steeped•, the plain tea is delicious on its own.)
 
 
RECIPE: EARL GREY TEA MARTINI

Ingredients Per Cocktail

 
Preparation

1. INFUSE the tea by combining tea leaves and vodka in a large bottle‡. Replace bottle top and shake vigorously to distribute evenly. Allow to “steep” for just 30 minutes (no longer, or else the bitter tannins start to infuse). Strain into the vodka bottle.

2. COMBINE the vodka, lemon juice and simple syrup in a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake for 15 seconds to fully incorporate.

3. STRAIN into a chilled martini glass. Top with a splash of ginger ale and garnish with lemon wheel.
 
 
> THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF TEA
 
 
> THE HISTORY OF TEA

*Black tea is generally brewed by pouring boiling water over the loose tea and allowing the leaves to steep for three to five minutes. The boiling water releases the volatile oils in the leaf, which provide the flavor.

†See our Lemon Glossary for the different types of lemon. The “supermarket lemon” is the Lisbon lemon.

‡If you don’t have an extra bottle, you can infuse the tea in the vodka bottle. Then, strain into a pitcher or other container and pour back into the vodka bottle.