How much should I drink? What is the most effective time of day to drink it?
We’re a nation of tea drinkers, there’s no doubt about it, so it’s not surprising that a lot of us have embraced green tea with open arms and empty mugs!
Some people simply enjoy the delicate, soothing flavour, while others claim it helps them to lose weight. But is there any connection between green tea and weight loss?
Green tea has gained widespread attention globally as a weight loss product, making it the second most popular beverage around, after water.
Due to its nutritional and antioxidant value, green tea has been associated with several health benefits, including weight loss. It has been used for ages in traditional Chinese medicine to treat various health conditions.
In this guide, we will explore the link between green tea and weight loss and help you discover if it could be worth brewing a pot of the green stuff for yourself!
What is green tea?
Let’s start with the basics. Green tea is, unsurprisingly, green in colour and, surprisingly, made from the same plant as our beloved black tea – the Camellia Sinensis. The difference between them lies in the way they are processed.
Green tea isn’t processed at all, it’s a black tea that goes through the fermentation process, which changes the colour and the flavour.2
One of the green tea’s compounds is caffeine.
The most important of these is epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), a substance that can boost metabolism.
The caffeine content in green tea
The caffeine content in a cup of green tea depends on the duration of infusing time and the amount of tea. Green tea contains less amount of caffeine compared to black tea and coffee. In general, 200 - 250 ml of green tea contains 20-45 milligrams of caffeine, which is quite less than the amount of caffeine found in coffee and tea.
The right way to prepare green tea
When it comes to enjoying the taste of green tea, how your brew it can make all the difference. Do not overheat the water, as excess boiling will damage the catechins. For the best taste and result, boil water and then allow it to rest for ten minutes. Then pour it over the tea leaves and brew it for a minute before pulling out the leaves.
The best time
To reap maximum health benefits from green tea, it is important to have it at the right time. Studies suggest that the best time to drink green tea is in the morning and before the workout session.
Swapping your cup of coffee with green tea is the best way to kick start your day. Like coffee, green tea also contains some amount of caffeine and L-theanine. Both of them together can help to improve your mood and enhance your concentration level.
If your motive is to burn fat then, drinking green tea before your workout session is the best for you. Several studies suggest that doing this may increase the fat burning process during the workout.
For weight loss, you can have green tea right after your meals. But you should do it if you do not have a sensitive stomach because green tea is alkaline in nature and stimulates the secretion of extra-gastric juices.
The worst time
Drinking green tea after your meal and at night is the worst of all.
There are different types of compounds found in green tea, which can bind with the minerals present in the food and can block their absorption in the body. Iron, copper and chromium are some minerals that might not get absorbed by the body if you drink green tea immediately after your meal.
Sipping a warm cup of tea before going to bed might seem like a nice idea, but it is not. Again, the caffeine content in the green tea might make it difficult for you to fall asleep. It might also lead to anxiety, high blood pressure and nervousness.
How to make green tea healthier
Green tea is healthy. But if you want to maximize the positive effects of green tea, and make it taste better at the same time then here are a few things you can do.
The water you use for green tea should not be too hot or too cold. Water that is between 160 and 180 degrees is the best.
Do not steep green tea for more than 2-3 minutes. Less time will prevent the tea leaves from releasing their flavour while more time will make your tea bitter.
Adding 2 grams of tea leaves to 177 ml of water is the right ratio to make a healthy and tasty cup of tea.
You can add some mint leaves, lemon juice and a teaspoon of honey to your green tea to improve its taste.
5 Ways green tea helps with weight loss
Here are 5 more potential green tea weight loss benefits:
1. Gets fat cells moving
For fat to be burned, our bodies need to break down the fat inside our fat cells and move it into the bloodstream. All with the help of fat-burning hormones like norepinephrine (noradrenaline).
EGCG – the main antioxidant in green tea – can help keep norepinephrine levels healthy by inhibiting the enzyme that normally breaks it down. This allows the body to break down more fat to be released into your bloodstream for energy. More EGCG = more norepinephrine = more fat breakdown!
2. Helps you push harder and burn more fat during your workouts
Exercise is one of the best ways to lose excess body fat. It forces your body to dig into fat stores for energy and increases your total calorie burn.
There’s a good reason why green tea extract is listed on the back of most fat burning/weight loss supplements. Not only does green tea contain caffeine to help perk you up before working out, but it may also increase the amount of fat-burning during exercise.
3. Green tea metabolism benefits
Metabolism is the culmination of all the chemical processes that your body goes through to keep you alive.
From helping you to breathe and repair cells to breaking down the food you eat into micronutrients and macronutrients and sending them where they need to go, metabolism is very important.
Several studies suggest that green tea or EGCG supplements can help speed up your metabolism so that you burn more calories, even when you’re resting. Most studies found that it increased metabolism by roughly 3-4%, with some even recording an 8% rise.
Green tea and EGCG supplements can help increase your metabolism, causing your body to burn more calories
4. May reduce your food cravings
There is a lot of evidence that green tea may help you to burn fatter and lose weight by increasing your body’s energy expenditure, but not so much for reducing your appetite.
Studies have produced conflicting results on whether green tea can help reduce your appetite and help you to consume fewer calories. However, we think you should give green tea a break – it can’t do it all!
However, it is known that being dehydrated can cause us to feel ‘false hunger’ when all we need is a nice drink. So, the next time you feel snacky in between meals and don’t want to give in just yet, try making yourself a soothing cup of green tea to see if that helps you avoid the biscuit tin.
5. Targets the most dangerous body fat
The majority of people think about body fat in terms of visible fat and want to get rid of it. However, some excess fat is found deep inside our bodies surrounding some of our internal organs.
This ‘hidden’ fat is called visceral fat or belly fat. It’s normal and healthy to carry some of this fat as it protects our organs, but it can be dangerous to have too much. Having high amounts of visceral fat puts you at a higher risk of developing conditions like type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
Some studies have shown that green tea may help to target visceral fat. This means you may not see fat loss from the areas you want from drinking green tea – but it may help to reduce this dangerous ‘hidden’ fat.
How many cups of green tea does it take to lose weight?
Drinking 2-3 cups of green tea a day seems to be a sensible option if you are trying to lose weight, or simply swapping all your hot drinks for green tea.
Everyone is different and so are our metabolisms and tolerance for caffeine, so just play around and see what consumption is best for you.
Green tea is very low in calories and has so many suggested health benefits that it is unlikely to do you any harm. But if you have developed a taste for green tea and plan to drink a lot of it, it is always best to check with your dietitian as large doses of caffeine can cause problems for some people, e.g. those with high blood pressure.
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