Take a 10 minute Ginseng Break

Caffeine (Coffee, Tea, Cola)	Ginseng (The Herb of Life)
1. Catabolic: Caffeine is catabolic. It builds energy in the body but at a heavy price. This is a destructive process that involves the breakdown of nutrients stored in the body. In the long run it can wear you out.	1. Anabolic: Ginseng is anabolic. It builds energy in the body at the same time increasing health and vitality. This is a constructive process which breaks down food into natural sugars which can easily be used by the body's cells.
2. Nerves: Regular caffeine use can produce anxiety. The symptoms of many coffee drinkers are the same as those of people under continual stress. Irritability, agitation, nervousness, rapid breathing, trembling hands and muscle twitches can all be the result of too much coffee.	2. Anti-Stress: Regular Ginseng use has been found to help build a resistance to stress. Ginseng can help to relieve the typically overburdened adrenal glands and release the nervous system from tension.
3. Mental Dullness: Missing the morning cup of coffee can bring on the typical reaction of dullness and languor. Caffeine generally removes the awareness by draining nerve energy and causing a crashing energy lag.	3. Brighter Minds: Much hopeful research is demonstrating ginseng's ability to stimulate mental clarity, accuracy and awareness. Results have included fewer errors at work, better grades in school, and a general increase in optimism and activity.
4. Kidney Irritation: Why does your cup of coffee make you have to go to the bathroom? Prolonged use can agitate the kidneys and lead to kidney damage. Caffeine also contributes to the buildup of toxins in the blood.	4. Boon to Health: The natural benefit of many herbs, especially ginseng, is their ability to help cleanse the blood. The normal function of the kidneys is also to filter the blood. Because of air, water and food pollution, your kidneys can use all the help they can get.
5. Ulcers: Drinking coffee causes irritation to the stomach lining and can contribute by degrees to the destructive pain of gastric ulcers.	5. Healing herb: Ginseng has been shown to aid in the healing process. Traditionally used as an aid to digestion, it can help restore broken body cells.
6. Heart disease: Rising blood pressure, higher nervous tension, irregular heartbeat and the increase in the blood cholesterol all spell out serious trouble for your heart. All these are stimulated by the regular use of caffeine. One study showed a double incidence of coronary heart attacks among people drinking five cups of coffee a day.	6. Heart Help: Scientists have found that ginseng can both help lower blood pressure in people suffering from high blood pressure and increase it for those with low blood pressure. Using ginseng regularly can ease tension and the resulting strain on the heart. You heart is bound to be happier for it.
7. Diabetes and hypoglycemia: These are both serious and common diseases caused by an inability of the body's natural mechanism to regulate sugar in the blood. Coffee can increase the level of blood sugar in diabetes and lower it in hypoglycemia. This is exactly what is unwanted and can invite a blood sugar crisis.	7. Sugar Control: Using ginseng has been found helpful for both diabetics and those suffering from hypoglycemia for its ability to help regulate sugar levels in the blood. Thus ginseng works to restore harmony and balance of good health.

Why Ginseng Beats Coffee

Scientists usually are very proud of their specialized knowledge. When it comes to ginseng, however, it seems that some country folks in Arkansas know even more than scientists.

That, at least, is how Steven Foster, himself one of the best known writers on ginseng, sees it. He says that he met some folks in his adopted home state of Arkansas with such specialized knowledge that they can recognize genetic variants that aren't even recorded by scientists.

He learned something else from them as well. If you want stamina and energy, take ginseng. Now, whenever he needs to take longer trips in his car, you won't see a coffee cup on his dash, but you will see him chewing on some ginseng root.

Energy is something most Americans want more of. Most take the sledgehammer approach to getting more. They take substances that stimulate the central nervous system. Some of them are caffeine, ephedra, nicotine and amphetamines. The other approach to energy enhancement is to take a tonic and it's a different story altogether.

Tonics Vs Stimulants

Tonics and stimulants appear to be closely related, because they both provide a boost of energy, however, their effects are actually quite opposite to each other. How is this possible, you may ask?

One way to understand this is by looking at your finances. Taking a stimulant is like putting all your purchases on charge cards until there is no more room on them, leading to the inevitable financial crash of your bank account.

Taking tonics, however, is comparable to gradually letting your money work for you in an interest bearing account and continuing to do so until the interest earned on the account is great than the amount of money you need for daily living. More and more Americans are realizing that cutting up their credit cards is better for them. More and more are also discovering that for energy enhancement tonic and adaptogenic herbs are a far better way to go than pumping oneself full with caffeine.

A Caffeine Addicted Nation

The overuse of coffee and tea was recognized as a medical condition in turn-of-the-century-American medical books, says Paul Berger, author of the excellent book "The Healing Powers of Ginseng"

Over the last hundred years or so, our society has turned to caffeine consumption as a normal activity, he says, with some pretty harmful consequences.

Symptoms of chronic caffeinism include, but are not limited to:

• Physical exhaustion
• Muscular weakness
• Mental exhaustion
• Dejected spirits
• Poor Digestion

Especially with regard to gastrointestinal symptoms, caffeine is doing quite a job on our population. Symptoms include

• Acidity
• Dyspepsia
• Better and sour belching
• Flatulence
• Constipation

If you have any of these symptoms, don't think that they are unimportant. Over the long run they can really blow up in your face. Try cutting out caffeine completely and see if the problems go away. And don't worry that you'll run out of energy, quite the contrary.

Tonic Herbs - The future is here

Tonic herbs, unlike stimulants, do not have instant effect. It usually take a couple of weeks or more before their energy building effects are clearly recognizable. Astragalus, Dong Quai, Asparagus Root, Eleuthero and Schizandra are some of the more well known tonic herbs and among them, Ginseng is King.

You won't experience any "crash", such as you're likely to feel after taking large amounts of caffeine, or food high in refined sugar, in case that's one of your "energy-building" habits.

Neither will you have to deal with jitteriness, anxiety or tension. The general effect of ginseng is to increase alertness while relaxing tension. This is also means that you won't have to worry about insomnia. On the contrary, drinking ginseng tea at night on an empty stomach, as Mrs. Hsu suggests, will help you sleep better. This is not true with "Red" Ginseng or with some ginseng preparations that contain alcohol or other unwanted substances.

So take it from Mrs. Hsu who for more than 20 years has relied upon ginseng for life-giving energy and health. Drink three cups a day on an empty stomach, prepared with distilled water and sweetened with honey or royal jelly to your liking. It will do your body and your mind a lot of good.