If you’re partial to tea, you’re in good company. About a third of Americans enjoy nearly 100 billion cups of tea each year. While most tea drunk is the black variety, people are beginning to switch to green tea. In a recent study, it was found that green tea consumption enjoyed much higher growth rates than regular tea. After years of blogs, videos, podcasts and website copy promoting green tea, people today are beginning to understand how valuable green tea is.
Green tea can help with your weight loss goals
Many research papers report that the flavonoids in green tea help improve fat oxidation, and make for healthier insulin behavior. One study has shown that when people consume green tea, and make no other changes to their diet, they are likelier to lose 3 pounds over 3 months than those who don’t drink green tea. Another study has found that consuming green tea raises the body’s metabolic rate greatly enough to burn off an additional 100 calories each day.
It doesn’t take a lot of green tea
The specific weight loss benefits of drinking green tea that you experience can vary based on different factors. For most people, however, all it takes to begin experiencing these benefits is 2 ½ cups of green tea a day.
You need to choose the right variety of green tea for the best results
If you’re interested in green tea for its weight loss benefits, you need to look for Matcha green tea. Usually, with green tea varieties, you’re supposed to steep the leaves in water, strain them out, and only drink the tea. When it’s Matcha green tea, however, you take ground-up tea leaves, mix the powder up in water and consume the leaves with the tea. Matcha green tea is the best source of antioxidants among all green tea varieties.
Don’t use too much tea leaf
Green tea isn’t supposed to be brewed with as much tea leaf as regular black tea. Green tea is unoxidized, and is intended to be brewed lighter than regular tea.
You need to learn to brew green tea the right way
When you brew green tea, you need to be careful to use water that is merely hot, rather than boiling. Boiling temperatures can destroy important nutrients called catechins in green tea. They can also scald the leaves and make the tea taste bitter. All you need to do is to steep the green tea leaves in hot water for about a minute, and serve.
Green Tea for Weight Loss Summary
If you’re drinking green tea to lose weight, make sure that you don’t add too much sugar or honey. You wouldn’t want to negate the weight loss benefits of green tea by adding too many calories.
Green tea can help you lose weight. With its rich store of antioxidants, however, it comes with a number of other health benefits, as well. A green tea habit is thought to help prevent cancer, and protect the brain. It’s a beverage that you can’t go wrong with.
Different varieties of tea leaves can vary greatly in their stimulating or relaxing qualities, partly due to different caffeine content. You’re also likely to enhance your experience of drinking green tea if you stick to certified organic green tea brands.