Green tea is one of the most nutritious and delicious beverages. This hot beverage has been very popular in traditional Chinese medicine for the treatment of headaches, wound healing, anxiety, and many other health concerns. However, in the recent past, it has gained immense popularity in Western countries especially as a supplement for weight loss.
Daily consumption of 2 to 3 cups of green tea is enough to stimulate your metabolic rate which aids in healthy and speedy weight reduction. However, the actual quantity that one needs to consume in a day may vary from person to person depending upon their specific health status, age, and other influential factors.
Other than that it is a rich source of antioxidant so protects your body several ways against oxidative damages which otherwise has the potential to impact your health extremely. In this article, we are going to discuss how effectively you can use the green tea diet for weight loss and how it actually works.
What Is the Green Tea Diet?
Table of Contents
Green tea is one of the true teas just like oolong tea, black tea, and white tea. It is extracted from Camellia Sinensis tea plant leaves. This is one of the least processed true teas rich with essential chemical compounds and antioxidants. Green tea diet has gained immense popularity in the recent past because of its tremendous medicinal properties including a benefit for weight loss.
In this particular diet, the user is required to drink the green tea several times a day to ensure its optimum possible benefit for health. The diet works on cutting excess fat of your body by blocking the fat absorption ability of your body with its potent ingredient effect.
Apart from this green tea diet stimulates the metabolism function that aid in the speedy fat burning process of the body which further helps in reducing excessive weight. This particular diet gained popularity at first by the diet and weight loss experts over at Eat This, Not That! It was promoted by the Med-Health organization.
The initiator of this program for weight reduction goal recommends to follow it for 17 days. However, this is too healthy for everyone’s health that can be easily followed afterward without any risk of negative impact on health. This diet is widely used by Chinese citizens for the improvement of their overall health. They prefer drinking several cups of green tea in a day throughout their lifetime.
How Does Green Tea Diet Help in Weight Reduction?
It was found in a study report conducted for weeks time that people who consumed green tea and caffeine regularly while following their regular diet plan manage to lose 2.9 pounds on an average. Another study showed the hike in calorie output was equivalent to 100 calories within 24 hours of time.
These researches prove that the regular intake of green tea has the potential to stimulate the weight loss ability of your body. In order to incorporate green tea extract safely in your life, you should drink plenty amount of water in a day because caffeine could be diuretic. The green tea extract generally works below-mentioned ways to help you out in your weight loss goal-
- Green tea is a rich source of caffeine that works as a stimulant to speed up fat and calorie burning ability of your body, thus help in weight reduction.
- Green tea is rich in essential antioxidants known as Catechins which stimulate the metabolism function of your body and ensure speedy fat burn with high metabolic rate.
- Green tea drink improves fat oxidation and accelerates insulin activity that further contributes to healthy weight reduction.
- As green tea is very low in calorie content so no matter how many drinks you have in a day you won’t have to worry about further weight put on.
- In many cases, excessive weight gain and difficulty in reducing so is the result of mental level stress that leads to binge eating habits in the affected person. In such cases also green tea can play an effective role with its active ingredient content called Theanine which is one type of amino acid known for its ability to ease out stress and make you feel relaxed instantly.
The Green Tea Diet Plan
The green tea diet plan is a simple and effective way to lose your unwanted body fat and weight thereon. While on this diet routine the dieter is required to drink a minimum of 4 cups of green tea every day. It is consists of two simple steps in which you need to drink a cup of green tea early in the morning and after that, before each meal, you are supposed to drink this true tea.
This diet plan doesn’t impose any restrictions on your regular diet. You are free to eat anything according to your will such as ice creams, pasta, red wine, meat, etc. This is what makes this diet very easy to follow even for a very long duration or for a lifetime as per your will.
However, for the best and sustainable weight loss result of any diet plan, it must be backed by healthy overall diet choices and a good exercise regimen combination. So we can describe this diet plan under below mentioned two steps-
- Start Your Day with a Cup of Green Tea- While you are on the green tea diet plan you should start your day with an eight-ounce cup of green tea drink, not anything else. As per your personal preference you can brew this drink hot or cold. This tea is rich with a mild amount of caffeine which works as a natural stimulant that helps in waking you up without early morning drowsiness or sickness. Moreover, the vitamins and antioxidants content of this healthy tea give a quick boost to your immune system and help in keeping you stay energetic and refreshed throughout the day.
- Drink Green Tea Before Your Each Meal- This is another and final step of this diet plan. In this step, you need to drink a cup of green tea just before your breakfast meal. The idea behind this trick is that when you drink green tea before a meal you naturally feel fuller hence your portion size automatically reduces. Hence you are likely to consume a lesser amount of calories throughout the day that you usually consume in non-green tea days. Similarly, another two cups of green tea drink of this diet plan you will have right before your lunch and dinner meal.
Green tea is also rich with chemicals compound that sends a signal to your brain that it’s time to turn stored fat into energy which is another prominent reason behind ramp up the fat burn and speedy weight reduction. Apart from this when you drink green tea before your every meal it stimulates your digestion function and improves the fat-burning ability of your body.
The best part of the green tea diet is that it doesn’t restrict your drinking more than four cups of this tea in a day if you want so. This is a great replacement for unhealthy snacks as it makes your stomach feel fuller easily so curb your binge eating habit. However, experts suggest limiting the green tea drink 5 to 6 cups in a day not more than that for the best result.
Weight Loss Components of Green Tea Diet
Green tea or green tea extract contains some special components such as Catechins, caffeine, and antioxidants that together make this hot beverage effective for weight loss goals. All three compounds aid in detoxification of harmful chemicals from your body and helps in burning belly fat which is the highest fat accumulated area of the body. These essential compounds are discussed elaborately below one by one-
Catechins
This particular compound existing in green tea or green tea extract sends signals for chemical changes in the body that stimulate the fat burning procedure. Out of different catechins in green tea, the most effective one is known as EGCG or epigallocatechin gallate. The effectiveness of this particular catechin for weight loss and energy has been proved in a study report published by the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
In this particular research, the participants were provided with green tea drink before their every meal. When the result came it was found that the users who had green tea before each meal managed to lose 80 calories more every day than the control groups.
The EGCG catechin organizes the fat burning process smoothly and ramps up the metabolism. Apart from these benefits, the catechins existing in green tea increases the fat oxidation process of the body that helps in breaking down already stored fats in the body as per the study report published in Physiology and Behavior. Also, this vital compound of green tea stimulates your energy levels, liver function, and metabolic rates which all directly or indirectly accelerate fat burning and the weight loss process of the body.
Green tea diet stimulates the metabolism by increasing your body’s internal temperature. This effect sends a signal to the digestive tract to ramp up the fat-burning work to generate more energy levels. The more your body burns fat, the faster the rate of overall weight reduction will be.
Also, this tea triggers the secretion of cellular fatty acids called catecholamines. These vital compounds prevent the production of certain enzymes that reduces fatty acid productions. All these effects of this particular compound of green tea aid in the speedier weight loss process.
Antioxidants
Green tea is a great source of antioxidants that protect your overall body against damages caused by free radicals. The free radicals are atoms or molecules that do not have paired electrons. This feature makes them highly reactive on the chemical level. Hence these agents can easily pair up with the damaged cells in your body creating major havoc on health.
Some common heath damages caused by free radicals attack include premature aging signs growth on the skin, heart disease, certain types of cancer, and weight gain. These agents create damages by developing oxidation that is your body’s kind of rust. However, with regular green tea intake, these health damages can be easily prevented. Certain antioxidant compounds existing in green tea helps in eliminating these harmful free radicals that aid in weight loss and overall health improvement.
The regular green tea diet intake helps in reducing the oxidation risk by eliminating harmful toxins from the body by stimulating the digestive process of the body. The impact of green tea drink on the body’s oxidative stress was studied by the European Journal of Nutrition. The research conducted on 16 college-level sprinters over four weeks time period.
The participants were divided into two groups, the first group received a placebo and another group received green tea extract. Finally, it was concluded that the athletes who get green tea supplement for the stipulated period of time had remarkably lowered the levels of oxidative stress with comparison to another group who got placebos.
Oxidative stress is primarily associated with weight gain issues. That means by reducing the level of oxidative stress, green tea can aid in significant weight loss.
Caffeine
Green tea diet is a potent source of caffeine which is a natural stimulant that boosts your energy level and accelerates the weight loss process of the body. Green tea gives a quick boost to your mind and body in the early morning by keeping you wake up. It does so by blocking a neurotransmitter called adenosine.
Along with blocking this chemical it also increases the release of dopamine and norepinephrine chemicals in the brain also known as happiness chemicals. These chemicals stimulate energy level and brain alertness or attentiveness. Also, it eases out the feeling of fatigue occurring on different muscles group. Caffeine helps you in your weight loss goal by empowering you with a high energy level that you need in order to practice lots of exercises for speedy fat loss and muscles toning up.
Over time it also increases your exercise performance level. Also, it doesn’t let you feel lethargic even after a hardcore workout session by releasing happy chemicals in your brain that keep your feel refreshed and energetic when you have a hot green tea drink after your everyday fitness session.
Low-Calorie Level
Last but not the least, the amazingly delicious, nutritious green tea has very low-calorie content. So not to worry about gaining more calories level even if you increase your regular limit set by this diet plan. It is also considered on the list of calorie-free beverages which makes it an ideal choice for people belonging to all ages and health groups to grab its versatile benefits.
This feature of this hot drink makes it a great replacement for unhealthy sugary sodas and other unhealthy beverages that play an important role in increasing your body weight by exceeding your daily calorie limit to achieve your health goal.
While preparing this healthy drink make sure to use only limited additions of sweeteners like maple syrup etc so that your drink will be fully a healthy drink for you not a source of calorie-dense drink. To make your green tea more healthy it’s better that you brew your drink with a dash of flower blossoms or mix natural stevia leaf instead of using sugar.
Other Health Benefits of Green Tea
Green tea is a natural source of many essential compounds including B vitamins, magnesium, folate, flavonoids, and other antioxidants. These compounds offer the drinker with many health benefits apart from the weight loss such as-
- Improves heart function
- Reduces High Cholesterol Level
- Manages Type 2 Diabetes
- Improves attentiveness and other brain function
- Reduces the risk of Alzheimer’s disease
- Reduces the risk of certain types of cancer
However, the evidence of these claims is limited and needs a detailed study in this regard. Still, the green tea diet is effective in different areas of health if followed properly and consistently. If you are concerned about your excessive bodyweight you must use the green tea diet for weight loss as it will streamline other bodily functions that directly or indirectly aid in your ultimate goal journey success, along with benefiting other areas of health.
[expand title=”View Article Sources“]
- https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/320540#other-benefits
- https://parenting.firstcry.com/articles/shed-kilos-and-get-a-flat-belly-using-green-tea/
- https://www.cupandleaf.com/blog/green-tea-diet
[/expand]