Weight Loss With Green Tea: Useful Tips
Green tea is packed with health benefits. But did you know it also burns fat and boosts metabolism? This site was made to show studies about weight loss and tea, describe its health benefits, and answer any other questions you may have about green tea for weight loss.
Additional Benefits of Green Tea and Weight Loss
Numerous clinical studies that have been performed to evaluate the nutritional and medicinal benefits of green tea and green tea extract. These studies have found that green tea can help reduce the risk of cancer and cardiovascular disease. As early as 1994 an article published by the Journal of the National Cancer Institute found that a diet with regular green tea consumption could reduce the risks of esophageal cancer by as much as 60%.
The study found that certain compounds found in green tea tended to inhibit the growth of cancer cells. It was also concluded that green tea could reduce total cholesterol levels and increase the ratio of HDL (good) cholesterol to LDL (bad) cholesterol.
Green tea can also boost the immune system by fighting free radicals, and reduce the incidence of conditions such as chronic fatigue, stomach disorders, allergies, asthma, arthritis, and oral disease.
Most teas are rich in a variety of antioxidants called gallate compounds. Similar to proanthocyanidins, gallate compunds are powerful antioxidants that prevent the oxidation of low-density lipoprotein, a risk factor for coronary heart disease. The most active antioxidant among these compounds appears to be epigallocatechin gallate. It accounts for about 30% of the flavonoids in green tea. Epigallocatechin gallate can also inhibit the growth of antibiotic-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, an often life-threatening infection.
How Much Green Tea Should You Drink?
For most people, two to three 8-ounce cups of green tea will help provide the medicinal and nutritional benefits of the plant. If weight loss is the goal, you may wish to drink five to eight cups a day. Green tea is highly beneficial for you, and researchers have yet to identify an amount that is considered “too much” when it comes to this herb. If you don’t like the taste of green tea, or if you just don’t find it practical to drink this much tea in one day, you can try taking green tea extract in supplement form. Choose a high quality green tea supplement that will be sure to contain all of the nutritional components of the plant.
Lose Weight Tips With Green Tea
* Understand a little bit about how green tea works. It is said that drinking a couple of cups of green tea each day will aid in increasing energy as it boosts metabolism. Green tea provides high levels of polyphenols which are antioxidants with chemotherapeutic and anti-inflammatory effects. In other words, green tea speeds up your metabolism to burn more calories and slows down the ability of the body to store sugars and fat.
* Brew a pot of green tea and drink it as a hot beverage in place of regular hot tea or coffee. Let the pot cool down and refrigerate any left-over green tea and drink as iced tea later in the day.
* Drink some of the new carbonated green teas on the market. Coca Cola has a new one out called “Envigra,” which claims to have an immediate weight loss of 30 calories for each can you drink. These come in various flavors such as berry and peach to make them even more appealing and refreshing. Read the labels of the various green teas bottled for consumption to make sure that they do not have a lot of sugar added, which would keep you from losing weight.
* Add green tea supplements or green tea extract into your diet. It is always best to talk to your doctor before adding any type of supplements to your diet plan. The supplements and extract are supposed to be able to have the same metabolism boosting effect as drinking green tea.
* Chew some green tea gum to get some of the benefits of green tea when you are not able to brew your own or purchase a beverage with green tea. Most of the green tea gums are sugar free and there is supposed to be a minimal weight loss effect by chewing this gum.
Warnings
Green tea does contain caffeine, but is slightly less strong as the caffeine in regular tea and coffee.
