Drinking tea after one of those giant meals that we occasionally indulge in is an excellent way to digest food, as it accelerates fat burning by stimulating metabolism.
The tea also helps increase blood flow, which slows down after a big meal, leading to a lack of energy and therefore less fat burning. It is very common to feel very sleepy after eating due to this effect.
Drinking a cup of green tea , or drinking red Pu-erh tea after meals will help you feel less bloating overall. For this fundamental reason it has been the preferred drink of the Chinese for thousands of years to accompany food.
EYE! This is not to say that tea should always be taken after meals and never drunk on an empty stomach. Quite the contrary: drinking tea on an empty stomach has many advantages.
Advantages of drinking tea on an empty stomach
For example, a good way to accelerate fat burning is to drink the tea before exercise, precisely because it activates the metabolism, as indicated in many reports .
The goal of exercising for weight loss is to get your metabolism up and running quickly so that you can increase the effectiveness of your exercises.
Many people don’t know this secret and instead eat food beforehand for more energy when in fact they should be taking a fat burning supplement like green tea.
Drinking tea before a workout can increase fat burning by 20% and should be taken 30 minutes before a workout. In fact, in China many athletes drink tea at a moderate temperature during their workouts and will continue to drink it afterwards, but with protein foods to help with muscle recovery.
In addition to a healthy and balanced diet, the Chinese use tea to stay slim and it is an essential drink in restaurants and in supermarkets it is the most sold drink next to water.
Among the most used teas for breakfast is chai tea , it has slimming properties due to its pepper content, which is responsible for metabolizing fats and preventing their accumulation.
Furthermore, the presence of milk minimizes the astringent effect of tannins on the gastric mucosa.
Teas that are frequently drunk on an empty stomach to lose weight are Pu erh tea and green tea. The former has a more energetic taste and effect and is better for winter, while green tea is lighter and probably a more suitable flavored tea for Western breakfast types.
If what you are looking for is a caffeine kick like coffee and you don’t have heartburn or gastritis problems, a pure black tea on an empty stomach will give you all the energy you need to wake up.
Remember that a breakfast must be balanced and also contain dairy products, cereals and fruits. Tea is an option for a side or first drink before exercise, but it is not a substitute for a full breakfast.
Many people accompany a balanced breakfast with tea instead of coffee to avoid the gastric irritation effect suffered by coffee and also because tea is more satisfying. Therefore, they eat less and feel full for longer hours.
However, drinking tea on an empty stomach has its disadvantages in some people, mainly related to gastric irritation due to the presence of tannins.
Disadvantages of drinking tea on an empty stomach
Tea is naturally acidic, so heartburn sufferers may feel worse after a cup of tea on an empty stomach. They need the stomach to contain food to counteract this acid effect on the gastric mucosa.
Likewise, this gastric irritation can lead to nausea, which is the body’s instinctive mechanism to eliminate what is irritating it.
Both effects are very annoying, and more intense with black tea than with green or red.
A good way to avoid them is:
- Leave the tea bag in the water for less than 3 minutes. This way you will achieve fewer tannins.
- Add a little milk. This will counteract the acidity.
- Eat a few bites of breakfast before tea.
Tea, in all its varieties, has countless benefits that are backed by its millennial history. You can surely find the best time of day to enjoy it, alone or with others.