by admin on July 19, 2010
Green Tea has long been recognised by the Chinese for its health benefits; they’ve been drinking it of over 4000 years. But its only relatively recently that it has travelled to the west and word of its various healing properties have been given any credence. Over the last 30 or so anecdotal evidence that green tea benefits are able to combat everything from weight loss to cancer has started to be backed up by scientific proof. Of course everyone is different and there is no guarantee that individuals will all experience the same results but there is definite evidence that drinking green tea on a regular basis can help cure or prevent any number of ailments including:
Reducing cholesterol
Shrink tumors/cause cancerous cells to die
Improve blood vessel function
Slow the passage of glucose in diabetics and regulate insulin levels
Lower blood pressure
Reduce triglycerides
Provide protection against heart attack and stroke
Act as an anti-inflammatory and promotes the growth of good bacteria in the intestine
Staves off Alzheimer’s – investigations taking place suggest it may work on Parkinson’s as well
Inhibit viral infections
Fight bad breath
Prevent aging
Trigger weight loss
Pretty impressive. But how can a simple drink whose origins are as distant as the mountains from which it has sprung provide so many benefits? Well here’s the science bit….
Antioxidants.
Green tea is full of them. Antioxidants are the ingredients we find in fruit and vegetables on a daily basis (and we know how healthy they are), but green tea carries almost 8-10 times as many as you’d find in your daily apple. It is these same antioxidants that are able to combat the effect of ‘free radicals’ on our bodies. A free radical is a complicated scientific term for the atoms in our bodies which contribute to aging, damage skin, liver disease, emphysema and some types of cancer.
Overall then it seems that there is growing support in the west for the benefits to be gained from drinking green tea, and after all 1.3 billion chinese people can’t all be wrong!
It is amazing who we have become so overweight as a nation. We have eaten so much pizza, so many hamburgers, fries, hot dogs, so much chocolate, so many candies, so many donuts… Still some people seem to think that our obesity is caused by a gene or a disease of some sort. That is ridiculous. The only reason people are getting fatter is poor nutritional education. People are not taught what to eat. They don’t know how to eat. They serve pizza, lasagne and hot dog at schools. That’s crazy, how are people going know what healthy food is, when all this junk is put in front of them.
The good thing is that people are trying to lose weight. They just should educated on what is a healthy meal and what is good exercise. Most people think that they need to jog for hours and only eat salad to lose weight. When the reality is totally different. If you eat enough protein, vegetables and healthy fats, you will never feel hungry and you’ll still lose weight. It really is not so difficult as most people think. Jogging is not a good exercise either. The fact is that weight training makes you burn calories for hours after you leave the gym. Where as with running, the calorie burning stops the second your feet stop moving.
Supplements are another thing that can help you shed those pounds. It is not impossible to lose weight without them, but they really you need all the help you can get when you are obese. I find that green tea is the best natural supplement for slimming and the best green tea for weight loss is Tava Tea. Drinking a healthy refreshing cup of tea three times a day is an easy way to make you reach your goals faster.
Many of you have heard of green tea and all of its health benefits, and are wondering if it is a miracle cure for obesity. First things first, there are no magic pills. I wish it was as simple as taking a pill or drinking a tea but the fact of the matter is you still have to lose weight the old fashioned way.
The only true way to initiate weight loss is to burn off fat or eat fewer calories than your body burns. That being said, there are several benefits to a green tea weight loss plan. If you are willing to add green tea to an overall game plan of eating a well rounded diet with plenty of fruits and vegetables, and exercise than it can be helpful.
Green tea weight loss occurs because of the thermogenic properties of tea. What is thermogenesis? It is a process that causes your body to increase its metabolism, mostly caused by the caffeine in green tea. Coffee also causes thermogenesis mostly because of caffeine and also has many of the antioxidant effects that green tea has.
So why green tea over coffee? Coffee really can be quite beneficial, the problem usually occurs because we often add cream and sugar at which point the benefits of coffee are nullified. Green tea also seems to have a slightly better antioxidant profile due to the polyphenols in green tea.
So is green tea a shortcut to losing weight? The short answer is not really. Green tea is about as magical as blueberries but there is always somebody trying to sell you the secret, so just be wary. Green tea is a nice alternative to drinking plain water and it will help you burn some extra calories but it will only benefit those who add it to a larger idea of overall weight loss that includes eating correctly and exercising.