If there is a drink that has gained international fame for its slimming properties, it is green tea. In magazines, newspapers, social networks, the Internet and even television, we can find information talking about this or that celebrity who managed to lose weight following the green tea diet. Now, is this true? Does green tea help you lose weight?
The truth is that green tea has shown different health benefits and, in this article, we have set out to test if it really loses weight and, if so, how we should drink it to promote its effects.
Overweight and obesity in the world
The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned on different occasions about the need to carry out campaigns of healthy lifestyles that include not only food education but also the need to perform physical exercise on a regular basis in order to combat overweight and obesity.
This entity has pointed out that obesity has already reached epidemic proportions and is the cause of the development of different diseases that cause the death of almost 3 million people each year.
Undoubtedly, weight problems are directly related to our way of life: they are a current problem in societies that do not need to travel to obtain food or shelter.
Today, we can work from the comfort of a sofa, shop for groceries with a click, and find entertainment in seconds, not to mention that our homes offer us all the comforts we need. This way of life affects our quality of life; Thus, we exercise less, eat more processed foods to “save time” and fall into a vicious circle that involves gaining weight and losing weight.
In the middle of this maelstrom, are also our aesthetic desires.
We want to see ourselves well in the mirror, like ourselves and others like us. And, for this reason, we look for all kinds of remedies that magically help us lose the extra kilos caused by pastries, sweets and lack of mobility. Among these options, we find green tea, but is it useful for losing weight?
Green tea for weight loss: myth or reality?
Green tea has been used for hundreds of years to relieve all kinds of ailments, from digestive to premature aging and obesity. But let’s focus on this last point.
This infusion is rich in flavonoids, a component that is present in greater quantities in this variety of tea than in black tea due to its minimal oxidation process. Remember that while black tea leaves are oxidized before undergoing the rolling and drying process, green tea leaves are dried quickly to better preserve their essential oils, aroma, color and herbal flavor.
Specifically, green tea contains EGCG (epigallocatechin gallate), a catechin with proven antimicrobial and antioxidant properties. It is important to point out that antioxidants are molecules that fight against free radicals, substances that generate oxidative damage in the body and can trigger all kinds of cardiovascular and degenerative diseases and even cancer, in addition to influencing premature aging.
Furthermore, researchers found that daily EGCG consumption in conjunction with caffeine is linked to weight loss and also reduced body fat.
However, this has not been the only research that has concluded that green tea is used to lose weight. The group that had consumed green tea for 10 years had a lower body mass index than the control group.
Researchers also concluded that green tea affects metabolism, promoting fat burning. The explanation for this lies in the combination of caffeine and catechins in green tea.
In conclusion, it is a reality that green tea can help you lose weight. However, it is not a spell or a magic potion. To lose those annoying kilos, we need to adopt healthy habits, by taking care of our diet and also including physical exercise in our daily lives.
When to drink green tea to lose weight?
In general, it is recommended to drink green tea after meals or even on an empty stomach, but why? Researchers have determined that tea activates the metabolism, and this, in turn, affects fat burning.
In particular, obtained favorable results regarding the use of green tea for weight loss. In fact, the conclusion indicates that green tea acts by generating a significant decrease in body weight.
Based on this information, drinking tea on an empty stomach, before or after eating, would be beneficial to give our metabolism a little boost to work more efficiently and eliminate excess fat.
A separate comment deserves the use of green tea in intermittent fasting diets; that is, in those diets where intake is restricted for a period of time. For example, nothing is eaten for 8 hours. In these cases, green tea acts by promoting the metabolism and, in addition, as a palliative against hunger since some studies define it as a “hunger suppressant”.
In any case, it is advisable to consult your doctor to obtain the best recommendations for the consumption of green tea to lose weight. In general, you should not drink more than 3 cups a day to avoid exceeding the recommended dose of caffeine.
You could drink one cup on an empty stomach to start the day with your metabolism firing on all cylinders, and drink the other two cups about 20 minutes after your two main meals; in this way you would help your body not to store the excesses.
An idea? In addition to drinking green tea, you can combine this infusion with other herbs to vary its flavor. Good options could be green tea with ginger, green tea with honey, green tea with mint, green tea with cinnamon, and even a green tea with jasmine.
In conclusion, drinking tea to lose weight is not a myth, but it is not a solution to all our problems either. Green tea can be part of a weight loss diet but not the centerpiece of it.
To maintain a healthy weight, it is necessary to pay special attention to our daily life and adapt it through healthy habits that allow us to modify our body to our liking and maintain it over time.