If you are interested in methods that help you lose weight then green tea weight loss is something you may have already heard about. Green tea is made from the leaves of the camellia sinensis bush and oolong and black tea are made with the same leaves too. The difference is that black tea is highly processed and green tea is the least processed with oolong sitting somewhere in the middle.
So far, all the research involving green tea has shown us that green tea is very rich in antioxidants that help us drop the pounds and burn off some fat. These antioxidants are also extremely beneficial to many aspects of our health and well-being. It is surprising what a cup of tea can do for you!
Researchers gave these antioxidants the name 'catechins' after they realized there was more to green tea weight loss, up and above, its caffeine content. Caffeine, in itself, is a very mild weight loss food that can burn a few extra calories each day if we consume enough of it. Catechins, however, were found to be substantially more effective at burning up extra calories than caffeine.
These catechins, which are also commonly referred to as EGCG, induce a strong stimulatory effect within our nervous system, which has the knock on effect of speeding up the metabolism. The beauty of green tea and its EGCG content is that there no negative side effects, where as too much caffeine/coffee can give you the 'shakes'. EGCG boosts the metabolism without aggravating or inflaming any of the bodily systems.
If our metabolism speeds up then the amount of calories the body burns increases with it. Normal daily processes like breathing, the heart beating and even sleeping all require a little more energy to perform. The good news is that to supply this extra energy the body may need to use the fat tucked away in our cells!
The effects of green tea weight loss don't just end there either. On any given day that we should eat more calories than the body needs, those calories get converted into a from of fat called triglycerides. Once triglycerides are created they hang around in the blood stream for a period of time before the body stores them as fat. This is where EGCG comes to the rescue by actually dissolving some of the triglycerides in the blood stream before they get a chance to become stored as body fat!
To get the best benefits of green tea weight loss it is recommended to drink about 12 cups a day. Clearly that is a little too much for most of us. However there is a great alternative called green tea extract.
Green tea extract is a supplement that extracts the EGCG from green tea into a concentrated form. By taking green tea extract every day at a dosage of about 900mg we can burn about an extra 70-80 calories each and every day! And remember this is all solid science
Green tea is a scientifically proven way to lose weight. To read more about green tea studies in laymans terms and to see just how effective green tea is at losing weight visit green tea and green tea supplements.
Posted under Tea
This post was written by Braeden Stone on October 16, 2010


