Losing weight has been the most prominent task to lead a healthy life. Apart from stringent exercises, having a cup of green tea will certainly help you to shed extra fat from your belly. Being used in traditional Chinese medicine, green tea has proven the best beverage for weight loss. With the help of this article, we will try to figure out some of the proven health benefits of green tea for weight loss.
What is Green Tea
Green tea is a type of tea that is made from Camellia sinensis leaves and buds that have not undergone the same withering and oxidation process used to make oolong teas and black teas. Green tea originated in China, and since then its production and manufacture have spread to other countries in East Asia. Green tea contains caffeine and a type of flavonoid called catechin, which is an antioxidant. Studies have suggested that both of these compounds can speed up metabolism. Catechin can help to break down excess fat, while both catechin and caffeine can increase the amount of energy the body uses. Whereas antioxidants are substances in the human body that remove free radicals by donating an electron and reducing oxidative stress and protecting the body from illnesses. To increase antioxidants in the body, a person’s diet is as important as anything else. Consumption of foods rich in antioxidants in the form of fruits and vegetables provides many useful antioxidants in the form of vitamins and minerals that the body cannot create on its own.
How Helpful is Green Tea
For weight loss, green tea proves a miracle as it contains antioxidants and nutrients to provide you with overall health benefits. Green tea consists of a high concentration of vitamins and minerals, which allows for enhancing metabolism, resulting in fat burn. The power pack beverage comes with antioxidants that help to combat cell damage, which primarily occurs due to free radicals in the body. The antioxidants in green tea for weight loss contain vitamin E, vitamin C and beta-carotene which help to protect the body and keep it away from any health deterioration.
How Much Green Tea to Be Consumed for Weight Loss
Having two and three cups of green day in a day will certainly keep your excessive weight away. It is to be noted that during the preparation of the green tea you must not add any sweetening agent such as sugar, honey, milk or cream. Adding such ingredients will alter its effects, and thus your green tea will no more be a weight loss agent anymore. Adding sugar, honey, milk or cream to your green tea will elevate the calorie levels thus making it unfit to drink. It is advisable to have plain green tea for weight loss, as it offers a perfect addition to your weight loss plan.
Proven Health Benefits of Green Tea
Are you thinking to shed extra flab from your body? No need to worry, as a cup of green tea will wave off all worries about your weight loss. Let’s look at some of the benefits of green tea.
1.) Helps to Reduce Cholesterol– Reduction in cholesterol levels is one of the benefits of green tea. An increase in cholesterol level is a major concern for heart disease. Having green tea gives you an added advantage to reduce cholesterol levels in your body, thus leading to a healthy lifestyle.
2.) Perfect Weight Loss Beverage – Green tea is considered a perfect weight loss beverage Several studies have suggested that the flavonoids and caffeine in green tea can help elevate metabolic rate, increase fat oxidation and even improve insulin activity. One study showed that those who consumed green tea and caffeine had lost an average of 2.9 pounds during 12 weeks while sticking to their regular diet. Another study suggested the increase in calorie output was equal to about 100 calories over 24 hours.
3.) Manages Type 2 Diabetes – Managing diabetes is one of the benefits of green tea. An increase in blood sugar levels in the body is the major concern of diabetes and weight gain. Consumption of green tea offers an added advantage to maintain optimum sugar levels in the body. The antioxidants in green tea limit the total amount of carbs absorbed by your body after a meal, which simultaneously improves sugar metabolism.
4.) Recovery after Post Workout – Post-workout exertion is one of the benefits of green tea for weight loss. You must have experienced tiredness and soreness after your every workout regime. Such kind of soreness can keep you away from doing your regular exercise and following your gym schedule. To overcome that, it has been observed that consuming three cups of green tea for a week on a daily basis will have fewer marks of cell damage caused by resistance used in the exercise.
5.) Improves Brain Functions – Apart from the consumption of green tea for weight loss, this healthy beverage is also helpful to improve brain functions. Besides the presence of caffeine, green tea consists of an amino acid known as L-theanine, which can cross the blood-brain barrier. L-theanine increases the activity of the inhibitory neurotransmitter GABA, which has anti-anxiety effects. It also increases dopamine and the production of alpha waves in the brain. Studies have proved that caffeine and L-theanine can have synergistic effects. This means that the combination of the two can have particularly powerful effects in improving brain functions.
Ideal Time to Consume Green Tea
- During Morning– Having green tea for weight loss is the most organic way to lose weight. However, it has some specific timing, where it does miracles once consumed. Kickstart your day, especially in the morning with a cup of green tea. It is good to have green tea for weight loss in the morning because at the moment our metabolism remains at the highest level and thence it can be boosted with a nice hot cup of green tea.
- During the Evening- It is observed that during the evening our metabolism tends to dip due to the day’s workload. In such a situation is advisable to have green tea for weight loss during the evening, to boost our dipping metabolism.
- After Exercise– Apart from weight loss, green tea helps to recover muscle pain and strain that we have after every exercise. In such a condition having green tea post-workout will reduce muscle damage caused by exercise. On the verge of our busy lifestyle, the consumption of green tea for weight loss is the key element; that one can incorporate into their diet to reduce weight. As discussed above, green tea has proven numerous benefits and fits every one of all ages.
Conclusion
This health-oriented beverage offers an array of health benefits to keep us healthy at all times. Besides having soft drinks as a refreshing drink in our daily drinking habits, we should start infusing green tea into our daily and regular drinking diet. There are wide ranges of green tea varieties that are widely available in the market. Well, it is to be noted that we should choose the right kind of green tea which is herb-based and free some any sought of artificial agents and adulteration.
Disclaimer:
The information contained in this article is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as a health advice. We would ask you to consult a qualified professional or medical expert to gain additional knowledge before you choose to consume any product or perform any exercise.
