The BackgroundĀ
Tea is one of the most popular beverages consumed worldwide. It’s extracted from the plant Camellia Sinensis, and it’s consumed in different parts of the world as a hot beverage like Green, Black, or Oolong Tea.
Among any other type of tea, the most significant effects on human health have been observed with the consumption of green tea.
Best green tea for weight loss is the one that’s enriched with vitamins like (B, C, E), xanthic bases (caffeine, theophylline), pigments (chlorophyll, carotenoids), and volatile compounds like aldehydes, alcohols, esters, lactones, hydrocarbons.
The chemical composition of green tea is a set of complex proteins. Amino acids such as theanine, glutamic acid, tryptophan, glycine, serine, aspartic acid, tyrosine, valine, leucine, threonine, arginine, and lysine all can be found in a cup of green tea.
It has also shown minerals such as calcium, magnesium, chromium, manganese, iron, copper, zinc, molybdenum, selenium, sodium, phosphorus, cobalt, strontium, nickel, potassium, fluorine, and aluminium.
Due to the importance of the flavonoids and catechin compounds present in one cup of green tea, studies have determined that daily consumption of green tea is a vital superfood that helps in the anti-ageing of the brain from chronic lifestyle diseases like Alzheimer’s, Dementia, and Parkinson’s disease.
4 Best Green Tea For Weight Loss
Types of steps involved in the processing of green tea can lead to different kinds of tea.
For example, the Japanese and Chinese green tea leaves differ in the steaming process as Chinese farmers pan-fry the leaves to flatten and dry out the leaves immediately after picking.
Whereas the Japanese farmers steam and fry the leaves because they believe pan-frying makes the leaves stiffer.
The most common types and four best green tea for weight loss are as follows:
1. Sencha Green Tea
Sencha is a steamed green tea produced using little leaf Camellia Sinensis (tea shrubberies). Tastes of this green tea shift with various sorts of sencha and how they are prepared.
Japanese sencha will, in general, have a refreshing flavour that can portray as vegetal, green, seaweedy, or verdant.
Likewise, sencha is also harvested in China, South Korea, and various other Asian countries.
They all might have a slight difference in flavours because they all use different cultivation and packaging techniques.
Medical advantages:
- Sencha tea is perhaps the most elevated wellspring of Vitamin C.
- It has high amounts of Vitamin C, which aids in battling the regular cold and boosts better brain functioning.
- A few research shows that the customary utilization of green tea (multiple cups a day) alongside a sound, dynamic way of life may help keep you slim and trim by enhancing your metabolism.
2. Fukamushi Sencha Green Tea
The fukamushi tea produced using sencha leaves has a lot higher leaf content and green colour due to the more deeply steamed interaction. Due to this action, the tea becomes even more finner and better in taste.
This interaction gives a more extravagant flavour contrasted with Sencha because of removing water vapours and oxidation.
The taste and flavours are less astringent than the original sencha. Fukamushi is a very gentle and smooth brew in taste. It has a long-enduring flavour in the mouth.
Fukamushi word signifies “steamed for quite a while.” Fukamushicha contains leaves from the Sencha, Gyokuro, Kabusecha, and Bancha. The extra interaction is profound, steaming three to four times longer, leaving a deeper colour and potent brew.
Medical advantages:
- It effectively affects your stomach size because of its light flavour and intense antioxidants levels, which are easy to assimilate.
- This tea also helps in reducing the risk of cancer, heart disease, and diabetes.
3. Gyokuro Green Tea
Its fragrant smell and umami, gyokuro green tea is otherwise called shade-grown green tea. It is a top-notch tea with many medical advantages.
Gyokuro is an exceptional, rare, and premium green tea in Japan because the tea leaves are concealed from daylight just 20 days before gathering and harvesting these leaves.
This extraordinary collecting measure delivers a better sweet after taste and less astringent taste with a higher concentration of essential supplements.
Gyokuro utilizes just tiny tea leaves culled from the highest point of the plant. Therefore, Gyokuro has an unmistakably smooth, sweet umami flavour and a very refreshing smell.
Medical advantages:
- This tea guarantees that you can appreciate a stable condition of long-lasting readiness and attention without any disturbed sleep cycle. Unlikely caffeine does.
- Sluggish and slow digestion will make your wellness objectives a lot harder to reach. Gyokuro contains high EGCG and high amounts of antioxidants. Thus, this tea can help fasten your digestion and supports the body in quickly burning calories.
- Drinking unsweetened gyokuro may likewise help bring down your circulatory strain, shield your body from various poisons, and control your glucose levels.
- Vitamin C from this tea can likewise ease the dark spots brought about by age and help improve skin elasticity.
4. Matcha Green Tea
Matcha green tea is very bright green tea leaves powder. Matcha Tea is stone ground and powdered form from tencha tea which is another form of green tea.
Being very fragrant, rich in antioxidants, and concentrated with umami flavours, all this makes it’s one of the most globally renowned green teas now.
After shading, harvesting, steaming the leaves, the leaves are air-dried and later grounded into a fine powder used in many forms. This tedious procedure of processing makes it a costly green tea in the market.
It is also available in one other variant, known as Dark Matcha or Koicha. It was harvested from ancient tea bushes (over 100 years old). Hence its colour is dark.
Medical advantages:
- It is a high source of revitalizing antioxidants of all sorts. Therefore, women must consume matcha regularly.
- You can also try making a Matcha face pack for instant glow and soothing texture in the skin.
Other Green Tea Varieties for Weight Loss
And likewise, any other green tea also helps you aids in promoting a healthy digestive system for weight loss.
There are few more green tea varieties readily available in Asian markets for weight loss and other multiple health benefits. Like,
- Tencha Green Tea
- Hojicha Green Tea
- Bancha Green Tea
- Kabusecha Green Tea
- Genmaicha Green Tea
- Genmaicha Green Tea
- Funmatsucha Green Tea
- Shincha (Ichibancha) Green Tea
Tips to Prepare a Perfect Cup of Green Tea
The type of green tea you use, its temperature, and its steeping time significantly affect the antioxidant levels in a cup of brewed Green Tea.
- Over brewing can cause deterioration of essential micronutrients. Warm and ambient temperatures are the best to retain all the antioxidants.
- Let the boiling water cool slightly before pouring onto the tea leaves and steep for between 2 and 3 minutes.
- Add fresh slices of lemon and mint to make it even more refreshing, and serve hot.
I Drink Green Tea, But Never Lost Weight!!
PRO TIP*
All types of green teas are good for weight loss, but that is not enough to get in your dream shape.
Over or under eating food with zero amounts of movement involved can never be hidden with a hot cup of green tea.
Green teas can only provide you with faster metabolism overtime only when you take care of your eating and workout habits. You always have to work on other aspects, like food, water intake, exercise, regular sleep, and recovery time.
Thus, for healthy weight loss, try to be patient, drink green tea twice a day, and eat balanced meals with a regular workout routine (yoga for weight loss). Only then you’ll be able to see positive results overtime.
Fun Facts & Health Benefits of Green Tea
Green tea is one of the most widely consumed beverages globally, next only to water for enjoyment and health. All the evidence from scientific research on green tea is very promising. As a result, nutrition experts have been advising regular consumption of green tea nowadays.
Here are some facts and health benefits you must be aware of:
- Green tea is a ‘non-fermented tea, and contains more catechins, than black tea or oolong tea.
- Scientific studies suggest that green tea may reduce cardiovascular disease, some forms of cancer, liver disease, etc.
- Green tea also helps promote oral health and other physiological functions such as anti-hypertensive effect, body weight control, antibacterial and antiviral activity, solar ultraviolet protection, bone mineral density increase, and anti-fibrotic properties, and neuroprotective power.
- The primary polyphenols in green tea are flavonoids which help your age gracefully. The four major flavonoids in green tea are the catechins, epicatechin (EC), epigallocatechin (EGC), epicatechin gallate (ECG) and epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG).
- There is also a wide range of uses for green tea in diabetes, exercise enhancement, inflammatory bowel disease, skin disorders, hair loss, weight loss, and iron overload.
- An imbalance between antioxidants and reactive oxygen species results in oxidative stress, leading to cellular damage. Catechins are hypothesized to help protect against these diseases by contributing enzymes and antioxidants (like vitamins C and E).
- Recent data from human studies indicate that the consumption of green tea and green tea extracts may help reduce body weight, mainly body fat, by increasing postprandial thermogenesis and fat oxidation. Tea catechins, especially EGCG, appear to have antiobesity and antidiabetic effects.
Side-Effects of Green Tea
Harmful effects of tea overconsumption (black or green) are due to three main factors:
- It is essential to control overconsumption of green tea due to it’s caffeine and diuretic effects. Its caffeine content can hurt your sleep cycle. Therefore, try not to drink more than 5 cups of green tea in a day.
- Effects of tea polyphenols on iron bioavailability are very crucial. Green tea catechins may have an affinity for iron, and green tea infusions can cause a significant decrease in iron bioavailability from the diet.
- Pregnant and breastfeeding women should drink no more than one or two cups per day because caffeine can cause an increase in heart rhythm and headaches.
The Bottom Line
Green tea has a wide range of possible health benefits.
To help you feel better, lose weight, and lower your risk of chronic diseases, you must consider making green tea a regular part of your diet.
Although, be mindful of the fact that overconsumption of green tea can make things worse for you. Hence, portion control is essential in every situation.
