Not Just For Serving With Chinese Food
Green Tea may contribute to weight loss programs. There are a lot of claims being made, both in sales letters on the internet and in junk snail-mail, that green tea is the answer to weight loss. These claims are made to promote the sale of green tea extract or concentrate or some other weight loss program using green tea as the main constituent. Think about this: One pound of fat is equal to approximately 3,500 calories. In order to lose one pound, a diet must be cut by that many calories. For the loss of one pound in one week, that is a reduction of 500 calories per day. At a 70-80 calorie reduction from five cups per day, green tea alone may not contribute much to a shrinking waistline, but coupled with a reduced calorie diet, it can increase the efficacy of a weight loss program.
According to research by the Japanese, if an average person were to drink five cups of green tea per day, they would burn an extra 70-80 calories per day from thermogenesis, the process by which heat is generated in organisms. If nothing else in a diet changed, a person might lose one pound every 43 days and eight pounds in one year. This is a far cry from the 500 calorie reduction required to shed one pound of fat per week from our overfed and overweight bodies.
Most of the thermogenesis attributed to green tea comes from caffeine, but the studies in Japan suggested that some calorie burning also comes from other elements present in this aromatic brew, such as epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG). According to herbalists, green tea has other benefits, something to do with its antioxidant properties, and they encourage its consumption. So enjoy a brisk, delightful cup of green tea several times a day and know that you are contributing to your health.
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