Detox & Weight loss
What is green tea and why is everyone clamoring for its ability to induce weight loss? The truth is obesity is presently a growing challenge in the health of populations in many countries around the globe. Most obese individuals have attempted several methods like prescription drugs, exercise routines, and diet plans with little or no weight loss. Green tea for weight loss is one natural method that has been endorsed to help lose body fat healthily. This tea has received much positive attention recently due to its several health benefits. In this article, we discuss how green tea helps weight loss, its component, and the best way to brew your green tea for weight loss.
Does Green Tea Help Weight Loss?
Yes, it does. Many weight loss diets have shown to be effective in achieving weight loss and green tea is top on the list. Green tea for weight loss has made its mark globally due to its antioxidant and nutritional value. Also, its ready availability, ease of preparation, and consumption have made it to be favored by many weight loss enthusiasts. Especially when it is used along with other methods such as regular exercise and a healthy diet, you are guaranteed of achieving the desired weight loss. It does this by stimulating digestion and aiding metabolism. Not only does green tea help with weight loss, but green tea also helps you focus, fight aging, and can boost your energy to go about your daily activities.
Why Is Obesity So Rampant?
In recent times, due to the increasing rate at which processed food is consumed, and the practice of a sedentary lifestyle, it is no surprise that people end up putting on more weight than required. It is common to meet an obese person in the streets or the shopping malls, possibly still buying junk food.
According to the Centre for Disease Control, 42.4% of Americans 20 years old and older were estimated to have obesity from 2017 to 2018. (1). Obesity has been reported to be a major risk factor for diabetes, cardiovascular, pulmonary, osteoarticular, and metabolic diseases in the past decades. Hence, more attempts targeted at weight loss are made to circumvent the possibility of having these chronic conditions.
Suggested factors related to the development of obesity include increased energy intake, especially from increased energy density via increased fat intake, and decreased energy expenditure, particularly from reduced physical activity (sedentary lifestyle). Body weight and fat loss can thus be attained by reducing energy intake and/or by increasing energy expenditure through the consumption of green tea for weight loss. (2)
What is Green Tea?
Tea comes in many varieties, but all are gotten from the same plant. black, green, white, and oolong tea are derived from the plant, Camellia sinensis. Next to water, Tea is regarded as the second most ingested beverage in the world. (3).
Green tea is popularly produced by steaming the leaves of Camellia sinensis. It does not undergo the same fermentation process used in manufacturing other types of tea, such as black or oolong tea, which is responsible for many of its benefits. This helps green tea retain more of its antioxidants, alkaloids, and nutrients found in them.
What Are The Components Of Green Tea?
The main chemical component found in green tea is caffeine, catechins, saponins, fluorine, epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), potassium, iron, calcium, and l-theanine. The quantity of caffeine in green tea is about 30mg for every 8-ounce cup, which is average. The l-theanine found in green tea is known for the steady delivery of caffeine without an increase in blood sugar levels. Green tea contains folic acid as well as tannins and b vitamins.
How Is Green Tea Produced?
To manufacture green tea for weight loss, freshly plucked leaves are instantly steamed to avert fermentation, yielding a stable product. The steaming process damages the enzymes that dissolve coloring in leaves, thus leaving the green tea to sustain its previous color during the subsequent drying and rolling processes. These procedures conserve the natural constituents concerning the health-promoting properties. It is worthy of note to know that green tea is fermented to Oolong tea before the black tea is eventually derived. Green teas have different biological activities due to the Catechins being dimerized to form many theaflavins. (4)
There are two main species of green tea known by the method in which they are made, either in Japan or Chinese. Chinese green tea leaves are roasted in the drying stage of production. This results in green teas that are woodsy or toasty in flavor. Japanese green tea leaves are steamed during the drying stage. That is why tend to be more floral, vegetal, and sweeter than that the Chinese.
How much Green Tea For Weight Loss Should You Consume?
The exact amount of green tea for weight loss to consume will differ from person to person, depending on your natural metabolism and how much caffeine you consume. The intake of green tea must meet certain requirements to have an effect. Over time, research has used varying amounts of green tea extract to determine its effect on participants. The key factors to be assessed when ingesting green tea are its catechin content and caffeine content. It was discovered that an average cup of green tea contains 110 to 300mg of catechins as well as 55 to 90 mg of caffeine. Green tea is commonly taken as a beverage. Drinking about 4-5 cups of green tea for weight loss daily is likely safe for most people and should be enough to supplement your weight loss.
If you are iron deficient, you may want to limit your green tea intake, as it may decrease your body’s ability to absorb iron. It is recommended to drink your green tea between meals or wait for at least one hour after eating before drinking tea (5,6). Green tea for weight loss comes in different varieties but there are not so many differences between them. Plain, barely processed green teas will likely have the most retained nutritional content. A highly recommended green tea for weight loss would be this organic green tea.
Organic Green Tea
How Can You Prepare Green Tea For Weight Loss?
Here’s a simple and easy method you can adopt on how to make your green tea for weight loss(using tea bags or green tea leaves)
Add half a teaspoon of your preferred organic green tea leaves to a regular-sized cup.
Heat your water to about 160-180 degrees (This temperature is optimal to avoid a bitter taste). If you are using a stove, put down the kettle just before it boils and allow it to cool.
Then pour the water into the cup and let it soak for a few minutes(2-3). I think after 2 minutes of brewing, you can keep trying it till you are satisfied with the taste.
If you are making use of the plain green tea leaves, you can add lemon for flavor, and generally make it more pleasant to drink.
How To Make Green Tea For Weight Loss Taste Good
Even though most people like their green tea plain, there are still individuals who would like to increase the flavor of their tea. Here are some ways to spice up your green tea for weight loss:
- Add some ginger; could be fresh ginger, ginger syrup, or powder
- Add some organic eatable flower petals for extra flavor. Rose, lavender, and jasmine go well with green tea.
- Use dried fruits like blackberry, mango, peach, strawberry, and apple as a natural sweetener and booster.
- Herbs: mint, chocolate mint, or peppermint all go well with green tea.
- You can also add essential oils for flavor.
Potential Ways Green Tea Can Aid in Weight Loss Goals:
Drinking green tea for weight loss can help you cut back on sugar
Not only does drinking this green tea provides a sugar-less drinking alternative, but the polyphenols contained in green tea have also shown to have a positive impact on heart disease risk factors like high blood pressure and cholesterol. A high intake of sugar is one of the biggest wreckers to overall health. Overconsumption of sugar can affect the hormones that control a person’s weight. Leptin is a hormone that tells the brain a person has had enough to eat. A diet high in sugar may cause leptin resistance which means that a high sugar diet can prevent the brain from knowing when one has eaten enough. (7). Therefore, adding a sugar-free beverage like unsweetened green tea, to your regular diet will promote healthy weight loss.
Green Tea Bilberry Leaf
Helps support a healthy metabolism.
Research has shown that caffeine and catechins (an antioxidant) found in this green tea for weight loss may assist with modest weight loss, likely because both compounds can speed up metabolism. Studies have shown that drinking a cup of green tea for weight loss increases the number of antioxidants in your bloodstream. The most important antioxidant present in green tea is the epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), a substance that can improve metabolism. Catechin helps to break down excess fat, while both caffeine and catechin can increase the amount of energy used by the body. Metabolic rate is the number of calories your body burns while doing everyday activities like walking, talking, exercising, reading, etc.
Spearmint Green Tea
Taking Green Tea For Weight Loss Helps To Suppress Chronic Inflammation
Chronic inflammation directly adds to the development of obesity. An example can be seen in overweight women who have been observed to generally have elevated serum levels of inflammatory cytokines, such as TNF-α. Therefore, suppressing chronic inflammation may be a good strategy to promote weight loss and treat obesity.
Studies propose that green tea polyphenols could have a positive effect on weight loss through their ability to suppress chronic inflammation (8)
Green tea extract has also been indicated in studies to be effective in altering obesity-related genes, anti-inflammation activity, as well as estrogen-like actions. This in turn regulates appetite, metabolism, or absorption of calories.
Green Tea Regulates Obesity Genes
Researchers found that green tea can regulate obesity-related genes (14). This is said to be done by inducing browning of white adipose tissue which in turn, helped reduce obesity. The EGCG found in green also decreases the expression of genes that induces fat deposition, thereby promoting weight loss.
Green Tea Helps Maintain Weight Loss
Maintaining weight loss is a lot harder than losing weight because to lose weight is one thing, to maintain it is another. Research has shown that green tea can help maintain weight loss. In two studies, drinking green tea for weight loss for three months also helped improve weight loss maintenance through increased thermogenesis and fat oxidation (15). This is to say that drinking green tea even after weight loss will prevent weight regain.
Help Your Workout Get a Boost
Consuming green tea for weight loss is one way to improve your fitness journey. The caffeine contained in green tea is a stimulant that activates the nervous system. It is a cognitive enhancer and increases alertness, attention, and performance. A study carried out among men indicated that those who consumed green tea before exercise burned more fat when likened to those who did not take the drink. This implies that green tea can facilitate the fat-burning effects of exercise. So drinking a cup of green tea for weight loss before your gym workout may help you perform slightly better. Note that caffeine does not affect everyone the same way and high doses of caffeine can be detrimental to one’s health by experiencing undesirable side effects like stomach upset or anxiety.
Green Tea Lemon Verbena
Aids Breakdown of Fat
To burn fat, the body has to break it down before moving it into your bloodstream. These active compounds present in green tea aids this process by increasing the impacts of some fat-burning hormones like noradrenaline. Catechins in tea have been shown to inhibit catechol O-methyltransferase, the enzyme that is responsible for degrading noradrenaline. (9) Thus, the number of noradrenaline increases, promoting the breakdown of fat. EGCG can also inhibit fat cell development, preventing your body from forming new fat cells,
Also, it has been indicated that the catechins present in green tea might play a role in the inhibition of lipolysis, a process by which dietary fats (triglycerides) are broken down in the body. This prevents the absorption of fat and ensures weight loss.
Things To Note while Taking Green Tea For Weight Loss
- It is not wise to drink this tea on an empty stomach. This is because the tannins present in green tea can increase stomach acid and could cause digestive problems like heartburn, nausea, vomiting, and also headache.
- Use water with less total dissolved salts, for example, RO water, to get the maximum benefits of green tea. This is because minerals found in water can interfere with the compounds and decrease their efficacy.
- It is best to drink green tea for weight loss one hour after a meal because it has the added advantage of assisting in digestion and boosting metabolism too. Having green tea half an hour before working out can also provide you with a boost of energy.
- Avoid taking green tea before going to bed as it can disturb your sleep pattern. You might end up not sleeping at all or spending a lot of time before sleeping off.
- Avoid consuming green tea with your meals that contain tannins as well. You can leave a gap of at least an hour between green tea and your meals.
- Loose green has been observed to have a richer flavor than the ones available in tea bags. You can use them instead if it is available. If not, your teabags will do just fine.
When Is The Best And Worst Time To Drink Green Tea For Weight Loss?
Surprisingly, timing when and when not to drink your green tea has a great deal of effect on your weight loss journey. The best time to drink your green tea for weight loss is;
- ) In the morning; For example, organic oolong green tea is an amazing option for a morning drink. It gives you a morning boost just enough to get your day started. The amino acid L- theanine prevents caffeine rush and gives you a nourished energy boost for many hours. It can also be taken in the evening time depending on the quantity of caffeine contained in your green tea.
- ) Before your workout session; Since your goal for consuming green tea is for weight loss, the appropriate time to have a cup or two is before you start your workout session. This is because EGCG contained in green tea increases the fat oxidation rate. Research suggests that doing this may enhance the fat-burning process, and increase focus and endurance during your workout for weight loss.
Oolong Tea
The Worst Time To Take Green Tea For Weight Loss
The worst time to drink your green tea would be after a meal and before going to bed at night. Some compounds in green tea may impede the absorption of some vitamins present in your food, hence why it should not be taken immediately after eating. Again because of the caffeine present in green tea, taking it at bedtime might lead to insomnia, nervousness, or anxiety.
Can You Use Cold or Ice Water Instead To Make The Tea?
There is no actual chemical indifference between hot green tea and the iced version. Some people may prefer the cold brewed green tea because it has a much smoother, sweeter taste compared to hot green tea. Plus, the tannins responsible for the bitter taste are not extracted. But since iced teas are often over-diluted with water, it is safe to say that hot green tea preparations are better at retaining the weight loss benefits.
Possible Side Effects While Taking Green Tea For Weight Loss
Just as we have said earlier on, green tea is considered one of the healthiest and safest beverages to consume. Nevertheless, there are a few things to note when drinking green tea. There are various side effects, although most are rare. The majority of these side effects affect people who are sensitive to caffeine or tannins. Here are the following side effects you may experience.
Liver Damage
Drinking more than eight cups of green tea for weight loss daily might cause side effects due to the caffeine content. These side effects can range from acute to chronic disease which includes irregular heartbeat and headache. Since green tea extracts are highly concentrated, high doses could lead to liver toxicity. (10)
Dizziness and Convulsions
When drinking green tea for weight loss, you should know that the caffeine present can make you feel lightheaded or dizzy when taken in large quantities. Caffeine reduces blood flow to the central nervous and in rare cases, consuming green tea can lead to seizures. (11)
Pregnancy
Drinking more than 6 cups of green tea will amount to over 300mg of caffeine. this amount of caffeine during pregnancy is unsafe and has been linked to miscarriage and other negative effects. Also, consuming excess green tea for weight loss might enhance your risk of birth defects associated with iron deficiency. (12)
Breastfeeding
Breastfeeding mothers should take caution while consuming green tea for weight loss as caffeine, tannins, and tea catechins can pass into the breast milk and affect your nursing child. Your child might experience increased bowel activity, irritability, or insomnia. 2-3 cups of green tea per day are suitable while breastfeeding.
Anemia
Drinking green tea may make anemia worse because Tea impedes iron absorption and can lead to an iron deficiency when consumed in large quantities. (13) To combat this effect, add lemon to your green tea for weight loss.
Bleeding Disorders
The caffeine in green tea might reduce your levels of fibrinogen, a soluble protein that forms a blood clot when you have an injury. Green tea also impedes the oxidation of fatty acids, which often leads to blood thinning. If you have a blood clotting disease, avoid consuming green tea for weight loss.
Heart Conditions
When taken in large quantities, the caffeine present in green tea might cause palpitations. While research has shown that drinking green tea for weight loss can help reduce blood pressure, some studies say green tea may cause irregular heartbeat in certain individuals. Green tea is considered safe to consume for weight loss. However, care should be taken as a large amount of caffeine can cause problems for those with high blood pressure or at risk of heart problems.
Diarrhea
The caffeine in green tea, especially when consumed in large quantities for weight loss can worsen diarrhea. Caffeine produces a laxative effect by stimulating the colon muscles to contract and release more frequently causing you to visit the toilet often. If you suffer from irritable bowel syndrome, do not take green tea for weight loss.
Insomnia
Caffeine in green tea can cause sleeplessness for individuals who are sensitive to it. This is because it inhibits the production of melatonin, a hormone the body releases to induce sleep.
Factors That Can Affect Weight Loss While Using Green Tea
Just like in any disease that one is treating, some factors can slow down one’s result. These include;
Family History and Genes
Being overweight and obese has been observed to run in families. This suggests that your genes may contribute to a high chance of gaining weight. If your parents are overweight, then you have a high chance of doing so. Also, your genes may influence the amount of fat you store in your body and where the extra fat is located in your body.
Age
It's natural for most people to gain weight as they age. Adults with a normal BMI usually start to gain weight in young adulthood and continue to do so until they are ages 60 to 65. There is also a huge possibility for obese or overweight children to grow into overweight adults.
Eating Habits
If you eat a lot of high-calorie foods and drinks that have high added sugar content, your weight loss journey would likely be a difficult one as these foods increase your chance of being overweight.
Sex
Obesity has been discovered to be more common in black or Hispanic women than in black or Hispanic men. Your sex may also determine where your body stores fat. Women tend to build up fat in their hips and buttocks while men often build up theirs in their bellies.
Physical Activity
Lack of physical activity/sedentary lifestyle is a huge factor in overweight and obesity. The extent to which you are active during the day and the activities you do both have an impact on the number of calories your body burns and how your weight loss journey turns out.