Green Tea Diet

Green tea is considered the high society of teas as of late, due to the many advantages over other teas. Green tea has long been revered in Japan and China for its wonderful health benefits such as the antioxidant EGCG, which is responsible for lowering cholesterol, skin protection from sun damage and for aiding in diets to lose weight. Antioxidants are important to the immune system to help fight off disease as well as prevent illness and certain medical conditions. The Eastern part of the world has been drinking green tea for hundreds of years as part of a healthy diet.

How Does Green Tea Work?
Green tea is made from the tea plant called Camelia sinensis, and I used to help prevent breast, stomach and skin cancers as well as help to lose weight. Due to the high polyphenols in green tea, these substances help to speed up thermogenesis or heat production in the body. This in turn speeds up the metabolic process. In fact, this does not mean that you actually feel warmer after drinking green tea, it simply means that the EGCG in the tea helps to increase the calories that your body burns when taking part in daily activities. This will not melt off the weight overnight, but if used in conjunction with a healthy diet and minimal exercise, the pounds will come off.

Green Tea Information

Results of Green Tea Studies
Many studies have been done to look at the effects of EGCG on the human metabolism, and most have found that the energy used in men drinking green tea extract versus water or caffeine, the men drinking the green tea extract lost more weight than any others in the study. A noticeable metabolic boost is found to be enjoyed by those who regularly drink green tea. There is a small amount of caffeine in green tea, and this should be taken into consideration when dieting, although it is less than a cup of coffee.

The Oprah Show
According to the Oprah show that aired on November 19, 2004 a Dr. Perricone stated that Oprah could lose 10 pounds in 6 weeks if she simply replaced coffee daily with green tea. He states that coffee has components that raise blood sugar and cause insulin to rise, while green tea gives the caffeine you crave, but insulin levels drop and will help to block body fat. The American Journal of Clinical Study came to the conclusion that green tea promotes the oxidation of fat beyond the caffeine content and helps with thermogenesis and fat oxidation naturally.

Additives
The most natural and beneficial way of drinking green tea and getting all the health benefits as well as aiding in losing weight, is to drink it free of sugar, honey milk, cream or any additives. It is already naturally calorie and fat free without adding anything to it. Hot or cold, green tea has the same thermogenic affects, and is still great for boosting the metabolism. Burning fat and helping you to lose weight are only a few of the plus sides to green tea, but they are of the most importance to those dieting.

When using a green tea diet, it is important to remember that you still have to eat normal meals. You will not get all of the nutrients from green tea that you will get from food or supplements. It is always a good idea when dieting to use dietary supplements that include vitamins A, C, E, D and calcium. These will all aid in keeping your skin and body healthy while losing weight. If you lose weight too fast, your skin can tend to hang in folds from the rapid loss. It did not have a chance to bounce back to its natural placement, and these vitamins help your skin to retain its elasticity so it can return to its normal placement.

Also very important when using a green tea diet is to drink 8 glasses a day. This will help you to drink the 8 glasses of water a day that is recommended for a healthy body and aiding in weight loss, but it also gives you the green tea you need daily to help curb appetite and feel full. This helps you to not eat as much or as often when dieting, and can help shed additional pounds.

Aiding Weight Loss
Exercising daily for at least 10 minutes can make a huge difference in weight loss with a green tea diet. If you are normally sedentary or do not participate in many physical activities, simply being up moving around for 10 minutes a day can make a difference. The fact that your body is not still being sedentary makes the body use and create energy, therefore stimulating the metabolism and muscles. When muscles are used, the acids in the muscles are released and are able to help reduce the body fat absorbed.

Daily Intake
It is important to watch the fat intake and calories of the foods you eat while on a green tea diet. Green tea diets are great for helping you shed the last 20 pounds, but for losing more weight, it is best to use other methods as well. Eating a healthy and well rounded diet will help to reduce the body fat and will help to shed body fat that already exists. 3 meals a day or 5-7 small meals for diabetics are recommended, to help keep the blood sugars normalized as well as keep hunger at bay. If you eat when you are bored, but have already eaten a small meal, the hunger is not there to be satisfied. Eat only until you no longer feel hungry, do not eat until you are stuffed and cannot move without discomfort. Fresh fruits and vegetables contain EGCG that is found in green tea, and will help your green tea diet to speed up the metabolism. Fruits and vegetables that include this powerful antioxidant are blueberries, cranberries, spinach, collard greens, grapefruit and even peaches.

Instead of eating a candy bar or sandwich, grab a handful of peaches or blueberries and sit down with a steaming cup of green tea. The blueberry juice can be added to the tea for a natural sweetener that will boost the metabolism boosting powers of the EGCG, and it will taste great.