Can tea drinking reduce body weight?
There have been various researches conducted in recent years regarding the association between tea drinking and weight loss and the results are promising and consistent: all teas (beverages made of Camellia sinensis) are effective in assisting in weight loss.
The reason behind tea and weight loss is that tea increases body metabolism rate, thus energy expenditure. In addition to many other health benefits of tea drinking, mainly due to their high anti-oxidant content, assisting in weight loss is the driving force for many taking up tea drinking as a new lifestyle fashion. Tea however is not a cure nor a magic. It need to be combined with other lifestyle changes, such as healthy diet and being active to product long term sustainable and desirable results.
A few facts and tips for using tea to help with weight loss:
- The difference in weight loss effects of different teas is minimum (more overlap than differences), should it be green tea, white tea, Oolong tea, black tea or pu-erh tea.
- Take a long term approach for a desirable result. My advice to tea drinkers is always to pick a tea you really enjoy drinking and make it part of your lifestyle. The weight reduction and many other health benefits will come naturally as the by-products.
- There are some herbal remedies which include conventional teas, such as our lotus leaf slimming tea which include 15% Oolong tea plus 5 other herbal ingredients recorded in Chinese medicine with weight reducing effects, are more potent than using one single tea (for example Oolong tea) alone.
- For coffee and fizzy drink consumers, it is a good idea tying to replace some part of your daily intake by tea and gradually increase the tea proportion.
- Tea preparation is important when it comes to premium teas: you cannot improve poor quality teas, but can reduce the premium teas to a lower grade if not prepared probably. Tea preparation does NOT have to be complicated. Lean some basics and the rest is more personal preference than skills.
- There are also tea accessories to facilitate loose tea (better quality generally speaking) drinking in the office, such as the tea infuser-all-in one: http://www.valleygreentea.com.au/tea-infuser/view-all-products.html
Conclusion:
Remember there is NO magic bullet for weight loss, but shedding a few kilos is absolutely achievable and sustainable. Taking small but consist and solid steps, as the Chinese ancient wisdom says ‘a river is made of individual small drops of water’!