The Benefits of Drinking Green Tea & Weight Loss

The Green Tea Diet started around 5,000 years ago and the health benefits of drinking this tea have been known for centuries. Drinking green tea is a regular part of everyday life for people in China, Japan, and Hong Kong just to name a few. Green tea has been used by the Chinese to treat everything from headaches to depression as well as a long list of other ailments since ancient times.

Here in North America, Western culture is just beginning to understand the benefits of drinking green tea. Extensive scientific research which has been conducted in both Asia and the west has provided evidence that not only does drinking green tea provide many health benefits, but it also aids in weight loss. The most popular type of Chinese tea is green tea.

Some of the health benefits associated with drinking green tea is the possible prevention of arthritis - green tea contains anti-inflammatory properties that can help with arthritic pain or other types of joint pain. Green tea also helps to alleviate damage from “bad cholesterol” (LDL cholesterol). Bad cholesterol can cause heart disease. This tea also contains powerful antioxidants called polyphenols which help to promote anti-aging as well as help to fight diseases such as cancer.

Green tea also contains high concentrations of catechin polyphenols particularly the said epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG). These compounds work with other chemicals in the body to increase the levels of oxidation of fat and it raises one’s metabolic rate. As a result, the body burns fuels as fat and this will help in your weight loss program. Drink just a couple of cups of green tea a day and this will help to boost your immune system. Not only will it give you that energy boost but it will also give you more endurance to work out longer as part of your exercise program.

Green tea has also been used by many people as part of their weight loss efforts to control their blood sugar levels. It has also helped many dieters to control their sugary cravings and as result they have higher energy levels. If you are able to control your sugar intake, in turn you will probably eat healthier foods and this will greatly help in losing weight.

Some other benefits of green tea and weight loss are the fact that green tea is an effective appetite suppressant. Studies that have been done indicated that controlled groups who drank green tea noticed a decrease in their appetites and this in turn helped them to lose weight more quickly. Green tea is also known to be a natural diuretic which will help in shedding water weight.

Per serving, green tea by itself only contains about 4 calories and its caffeine level is low therefore, green tea is a great replacement for coffee drinkers. If you drink between 3 to 5 cups a day you will burn about 70 calories. When you make a cup of green tea, remember to keep the tea bag in the cup for at least 3 minutes to allow infusion of its powerful properties to take place. Keep in mind that green tea is not for everyone as it can be a tea that you have to acquire a taste for. If you don’t like the taste of green tea, then you can always purchase it in tablet form. Green tea or green tea extract is included in many of the more popular weight loss supplements on the market today.

In closing, not only is drinking green tea very beneficial to your health but it can also be used as an aid in your weight loss efforts. Remember that exercise and diet are essential to any weight loss program, but green tea can provide that additional boost to help you in keeping that weight off for good. So sit back, and enjoy a nice cup of green tea today.

Sandra Hanson likes to write articles on a variety of topics. To read more great articles about the benefits of green tea & weight loss you can visit my blog at Green Tea & Weight Loss

http://sandra-greenteaweightloss.blogspot.com

Fast Weight Loss With Green Tea

One of the most popular dieting trends today is green tea. There is good reason why green tea is becoming the dieting choice for millions of people worldwide. It has become a celebrity diet trend and the beverage of choice for people who are serious about losing weight naturally.

Throughout history, Green tea has been known to be a very powerful beverage for health and now more and more research has been conducted regarding green tea’s outstanding abilities to help you lose weight.The benefits of green tea are numerous. At Pubmed.com you will find over 2,000 studies on green tea and its main components Ecgc and L-theanine. Many of these studies describe the benefits of green tea for weight loss. You can read study after study for yourself and discover the tremendous body of evidence describing green tea’s healthful benefits.

LET’S HEAR WHAT SCIENCE HAS TO SAY! There is real, documented clinical proof that green tea promotes weight loss. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition published a groundbreaking study that concluded drinking green tea increased energy expenditure and fat oxidation in humans.

Oprah Winfrey discussed the health and weight loss benefits of Green Tea on her show when she had Dr. Nicolas Perricone as a guest. Dr. Perricone is a world renowned physician and authority on antiaging and health. He has written numerous books, including the bestselling, “The Perricone Weight Loss Diet”, in which he recommends drinking green tea on a daily basis for health and weight loss. Dr. Perricone told the audience that they could easily lose 10 pounds in 6 weeks just by switching to green tea instead of coffee! He explained that coffee raises your blood sugar and insulin levels which blocks you from losing body fat. Green tea on the other hand, drops your insulin levels, causing you to lose the body fat more rapidly.

So if losing weight is a serious desire for you, you should definitely switch over to drinking green tea. In addition to losing weight, green tea has a myriad of other documented health benefits so overall it is a terrific beverage to add to your daily diet.

*This article may be reprinted.*

To learn more about the amazing weight loss benefits of Green Tea, visit: http://www.skinnygirltea.com Skinny Girl Tea is a superior weight loss Green Tea beverage that is both delicious and extremely effective.

The Benefits Of Green Tea

Many health products use extracts of green tea in their formulation; although primarily known for the benefits it provides as an antioxidant, it has many other positive health properties. People requiring a natural product to burn calories will not find anything to compare with green tea weight loss supplements.

It has a wide range of benefits for the human metabolism but first and foremost, it has great anti-aging properties, accelerating cell regeneration and slowing the oxidation process in the system. With weight loss however, both the laxative effects and anti-oxidant abilities are used to help improve the metabolism. The product increases the metabolic rate and the number of calories burnt so less fatty tissue forms.

No matter how good green tea weight loss products are, some steps must be taken by the user to be careful with their diet so if you are a junk food addict, this will not work. If you want to achieve a healthier body and lifestyle then changes to your eating habits will be necessary along with other adjustments.

When prepared as infusion, green tea should be used in the evening before going to bed. It is possible that during the first two or three days, you may experience some bowel discomfort, but that is very likely to pass soon. This is not something to be concerned about as it only normally affects someone who has never taken green tea weight loss products before and then because the tea is improving the body’s metabolism. If you maintain other parts of your diet; exercise, plenty of liquids and vegetables, results of using it can be seen within a week.

Sometimes you will find ginseng is mixed with green tea to improve its properties and effectiveness. Used in Asia for thousands of years ginseng is well known and respected there and provides essential vitamins and minerals for good health when combined with those already found in the product.

Ginseng is a valuable source of energy when added to green tea products especially noticeable when a person is trying to lose weight and it helps improve the immune system during a difficult time. Both ginseng and green tea have excellent safety records even when the diet lasts up to 26 weeks.

Green Tea For Dieting - Will This Cup Of Brew Make A Slimmer You?

Many people have requested information about the benefits of green tea for dieting. More importantly, can green tea help you lose weight? Well, preliminary studies indicate that green tea appears to have the potential to promote weight loss. Specifically, green tea may support a weight loss program by increasing metabolism and promoting fat burning.

A small but interesting study published in the in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 70, No. 6, 1040-1045, December 1999 found that “green tea has thermogenic properties and promotes fat oxidation beyond that explained by its caffeine content per se. The green tea extract may play a role in the control of body composition via sympathetic activation of thermogenesis, fat oxidation, or both.”

However, don’t be fooled about the benefits of green tea for dieting as some type of “magic potion” for shedding unwanted pounds. Put simply, some preliminary studies suggest that green tea may be helpful, but it can’t provide miracle weight-loss solutions. In fact, there is no magic pill out there for weight loss.

On the other hand, green tea offers other health benefits that go way beyond its possible weight loss aid benefit that exuberant excellence.

The properties that have helped green tea’s claim to fame are a group of compounds known as polyphenols, particularly epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG). These polyphenols are potent antioxidants. In fact, researchers found EGCG to be 200 times more powerful than the well renowned antioxidant vitamin E in neutralizing free radicals.

Antioxidants are disease-fighting substances that mop up the continuous onslaught of free radicals. Free radicals are unstable oxygen molecules that damage cells as they travel through the body and are thought to be instrumental in causing cancer, aging, and many degenerative diseases, including atherosclerosis and heart disease if left unchecked.

Among the arsenal of possible health benefits of green tea that go way beyond the possible benefits of green tea for dieting, meaning as weight loss aid include:

  • Stave off tooth decay (high in fluoride)
  • May help to prevent various types of cancers
  • Counter aging
  • Ward off heart disease by lowering cholesterol levels and reducing blood pressure
  • May delay the onset of atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries)

Bottom Line…

Can green tea help you lose weight?

It is difficult to know if green tea will be helpful to you because we are all different.

Nutritional-Supplement-Educational-Centre Opinion on the Benefits of Green Tea for Dieting

Unfortunately, additional studies are needed to confirm green tea’s effectiveness for promoting weight loss. On the other hand, it certainly appears to be no harm in integrating this ancient brew into your daily diet for its other proven health benefits. However, if you decide that you want to try the benefits of green tea for dieting, meaning as a weight loss aid, reducing a high calorie diet and increasing physical activity is also needed.

Do we have other suggestions besides green tea for dieting?

In general, permanent weight loss requires a lifetime commitment to a healthier lifestyle. I know, easier said than done. However, most Americans are overweight because of poor diet and/or eating habits and the lack of exercise.

So, what supplements may be helpful along with a health-promoting diet and a healthy lifestyle?

  • A high quality foundation supplement that contains a broad range of vitamins, minerals, amino acids, herbal extracts, enzymes, antioxidants, and specialty nutrients to support good health. In fact, we take green tea as part of our foundation multi nutrient supplement.
  • A high quality pharmaceutical grade fish oil supplement (omega 3 essential fatty aids).
  • A natural appetite suppressant and energy supplement.

Cindy Amorin is the chief editor of Nutritional-Supplement-Educational-Centre.com an information-rich site that discusses nutritional, dietary, and herbal supplements and their potential therapeutic value.

For detailed info on what to look for when buying green tea in a beverage or supplement form to ensure quality, please visit us on the web at our Benefits of Green Tea Extract page.

Fit to a Tea! The Link between Green Tea and Weight Loss

Green tea is the latest health drink that has taken the whole world by storm. Nowadays, if you want to be healthy, you have to be drinking green tea regularly. Although there are many studies that have provided well-documented evidence to the perceived benefits of green tea, only a few have extensively tackled the link between green tea and weight loss.

Can this healthy drink lead the path to physical fitness as well?

The Health Benefits of Drinking Green Tea

Before we attempt establishing a link between green tea and weight loss, let’s begin by studying the various health benefits associated with green tea.

Green tea is actually a drink that has been used for medicinal purposes as early as four centuries ago in China. Today, it continues to be a widely important drink in the Eastern world although its influence is growing in the Western hemisphere as well especially because more and more people are becoming health conscious.

Besides providing general aid to the human body and helping it become and stay healthy, green tea can also assist in the following situations:

Impede Growth of Cancer Cells - Numerous researches have already shown that drinking green tea can indeed slow the growth of cancer cells, possibly enough for medical professionals to perform a successful operation and save patients from certain death.

Reduce Cholesterol Levels - Several studies have also shown that there’s a link between cholesterol levels and green tea. The more you drink, the lower your cholesterol levels. This will be discussed further later on and when the connection between green tea and weight loss will be established.

Rheumatoid Arthritis - People suffering from arthritic problems can now have a less painful lifestyle with the help of green tea. The curative properties of green tea can effectively reduce the symptoms of arthritis in the long run, enabling affected individuals to have a normal lifestyle once more.

Other possible benefits for drinking tea are a more effective treatment for infection and heart diseases and even the prevention of tooth decay.

The Link between Green Tea and Weight Loss

Finally, we come to the most important part: can drinking green tea help you lose weight?

If you ask the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, they’ll either say no directly or appear undecided since they’re maintaining the position that the health benefits of green tea are still unproven. The American Medical Association, however, states the contrary and some of the benefits it does acknowledge include possible links to weight loss.

Lowering Cholesterol Levels - Once again, we go back to cholesterol, which is a compound that can make it harder for us to lose weight. There are two types of cholesterol: HDL and LDL. The latter is what causes us weight problems, and thankfully, drinking green has been shown to effectively reduce the amount of LDL in our bodies.

Increased Metabolism - A body’s metabolism rate determines the speed of which our body is able to digest the food we’ve eaten. A higher metabolism rate is generally better for people who intend to lose weight because this means that their bodies are able to quickly get rid of the food they’ve consumed, thus preventing them to carry excess fats.

Lower Stress Levels - Stress and pressure has been long acknowledged as an important factor in gaining weight. Consequently, if you can significantly lower your stress levels, you’ll have better chances of losing weight. Drinking green tea has also been shown to have the desired effect on a person’s stress levels because of the high amount of antioxidants it possesses.

Possible Concerns When Drinking Green Tea

Drinking green tea however is not for everyone. If you are carrying or breast-feeding, anemic, or experiencing sleeping problems, certain properties of green tea may simply aggravate your situation so it’s best if you consult your doctor first before proceeding to drink green tea.

In the end, whether you believe or not that green tea can help you lose weight, you’ll gain more and lose nothing at all if you try drinking it all the same. Drinking green tea to be healthy has already been satisfactorily proven; if it helps you lose pounds as well then so much the better! If it doesn’t, then at least you’re healthy!

Lee Dobbins writes for http://tea.topicgiant.com where you can learn more about different kinds of tea including green tea.

How Does Green Tea Help Weight Loss?

For many people, finding a weight loss supplement that’s safe and effective would be nothing short of a miracle. We all know that there are no magic bullets when it comes to weight loss; we have to consume fewer calories in a day than our body uses in order to lose weight. However, finding ways to burn fat faster would speed up the process and make it easier.

One product that seems to have much promise in helping people to lose weight is green tea. In some studies, green tea has been shown to help regulate insulin and lower cholesterol and triglycerides. In addition, it is believed that green tea speeds up the metabolism, so that we burn fat faster, and can even turn off the receptors that make us want to eat.

In addition, green tea, unlike many other weight loss aids is very healthy overall. Green tea is a potent source of anti-oxidants, which help us stay healthy and disease free by fighting free radicals. Free radicals are oxygen containing molecules that are a by-product of our digestive processes. Left unchecked, they damage our cells and DNA, eventually leading to disease.

However, green tea and other foods with anti-oxidants keep free radicals at bay, preventing aging and disease. For example, diets rich in green tea and other anti-oxidants have been linked to a reduction in the risk of heart disease and cancer. So, green tea is a weight loss supplement that you can feel good about, because it can improve your overall health while it helps you shed the pounds.

Most of us are aware of the problems that many other weight loss supplements can cause. Ephedra, for example, has proven to be an effective way to speed up the metabolism, but can have very dangerous side effects. In fact, it has even been linked to heart attacks and death in some users.

But, just how does green tea work? There are several components in green tea that seem to work together to provide the health and weight loss benefits that green tea’s so famous for. Researchers have pinpointed three components in green tea that seem to have an effect on weight loss.

Caffeine

Green tea has lower caffeine content than coffee or black tea, but it does contain caffeine. Interestingly enough, however, green tea’s caffeine does not seem to have the negative side effects found in other products containing caffeine. Green tea doesn’t cause jitters or speed up the heart rate the way that other caffeinated beverages can. However, the caffeine in green tea does appear to speed up the metabolism.

Many of us take our caffeine intake for granted, but caffeine has been shown to aid in weight loss. Many studies have shown that people on a low calorie diet who consume caffeine daily lose more weight overall than those who are on a low calorie diet alone.

Catechins

Catechins are the anti-oxidants in green tea. Catechins are polyphenolic antioxidant plant metabolites, specifically flavonoids called flavan-3-ols. They are found in many plants, including the cocoa plant and the coffee plant, but the best source of catechins is the Camellia sinensis (tea) plant.

The reason that green tea is considered a better source of catechins than black tea is because of the difference in processing. Black tea is fermented, which changes the catechins. Green tea, however, is unfermented, leaving the catechins in their natural state.

Because tea catechins are some of the most powerful anti-oxidants around, they are some of the most effective at preventing disease. This is why diets rich in tea are thought to prevent many diseases, including heart disease and cancer.

In terms of weight loss, catechins are believed to suppress lipid (fat) absorption from the diet. This is important because it helps reduce cholesterol, but it is also thought to prevent the accumulation of body fat.

Theanine

Theanine is the main amino acid in green tea. Theanine may be important to weight loss because of its ability to induce relaxation and the release of dopamine. Dopamine is a chemical produced by the brain that helps in providing a feeling of well being in the body.

Theanine also seems to minimize the effects of caffeine, which is why the caffeine in green tea doesn’t seem to cause jitters and an increased heart rate the way that caffeine in other beverages can. So, while theanine may not actively cause weight loss, it can be effective in creating a feeling of calm in those who ingest it. This power may help those who overeat as a result of stress to curb this tendency.

It is certain that more studies are needed on how green tea helps with weight loss. One interesting study on the subject, by the Shizuoka University in Japan, evaluated all three of these green tea components individually, as well as in combination, to try and determine just what components are most important.

This study concluded that the most important component of green tea for weight loss is caffeine. Caffeine is responsible for speeding up the metabolism and creating thermogenesis, which burns fat. However, the study also showed that catechins do seem to have an anti-obesity effect on their own, helping the body to eliminate dietary fat rather than absorbing it.

In short, green tea seems to be the near perfect combination for helping lose weight and improve health at the same time. Diet and exercise are still critical to taking off excess weight and keeping it off for good, but it does appear that green tea can be an effective tool in fighting the battle of the bulge.

Jon Stout is Chairman of the Golden Moon Tea Company. For more information about green tea, oolong tea and chai tea go to goldenmoontea.com

Jon Stout - EzineArticles Expert Author

Benefits Of Green Tea For Dieting

Benefits Of Green Tea For Dieting are still being explored by medical science in research that may take many years; although primarily known for the benefits it provides as an antioxidant, it has many other positive health properties. Green tea weight loss extracts can be consumed in many ways including as regular tea plus it can be purchased in liquid or tablet form but whichever way it is used it has an excellent record as a calorie burner.

It has a wide range of benefits for the human metabolism but first and foremost, it has great anti-aging properties, accelerating cell regeneration and slowing the oxidation process in the system. However, weight loss treatments using it rely on the laxative and toxin purging qualities of the plant that speed up the metabolism. The body’s system is stimulated into burning more calories than usual, and will thus avoid useless accumulation of fat tissue.

Despite the success of green tea weight loss products, they cannot work on their own so the user must be responsible for what food they eat and any exercise they perform. It is important to remember that weight loss also requires a person to completely change their eating habits otherwise just consuming the product will be a waste of time.

For the best results when using green tea as a hot drink; you are advised to use it prior sleep when the metabolism is slowing down. It is quite normal for most people to find they’re stomach and bowel upset during the first few days after using the product but this should not last much longer than this. Some people are worried about this reaction but this is how green tea weight loss supplements work, by making adjustments to the body’s metabolic rate. Indications that it is working can generally be seen within seven days of use providing other aspects of the diet are followed like drinking plenty of fluids combined with physical activity, fruit and vegetables.

Extracts from the ginseng root are often mixed with green tea as combined; the two prove to be more effective. Considered to be the root of life in China and Tibet, ginseng root brings the vitamin and mineral supplement the body needs during a detoxification period.

When ginseng is used in association with benefits of green tea for dieting it stimulates the immune system and fortifies the user, representing a valuable energy source, during the stressful period when you are returning to normal weight. Although safe to use, ginseng and green tea are not normally used for periods beyond six months at a time.

Karel Micek - EzineArticles Expert Author