If you like green tea, you are likely one of 158 million other Americans that starts each day with a cup of it. It is estimated that over 80 billion cups are consumed in the country each year, mainly because tea enthusiasts enjoy the taste so much. But, do you know how to drink green tea for weight loss? It turns out this unique leaf is good for more than boosting your caffeine levels each morning. There are many benefits of green tea, and enjoying a green tea diet or adding its extract to your health and beauty products can make a difference in your overall weight at the end of the day. If you are ready to learn more about the benefits of this prized drink, keep reading to learn how green tea helps weight loss. What are the Health Benefits of Green Tea?Not just flavored water, a green tea diet is full of health benefits. Steeping tea leaves in boiling water causes it to absorb their bioactive compounds. Rich in nutrients, green tea leaves contain anti-inflammatory and detoxifying compounds that help protect your body from the threat of free radicals. However, the most profound benefit of green tea is the antioxidants (specifically catechins) it contains. EGCG (epigallocatechin gallate) is the most common catechin in green tea, and it is renowned for boosting the metabolism. However, does green tea help you lose weight? Let’s look at the facts. Does Green Tea Help Lose Weight?Recently, green tea has gained widespread attention as a weight loss product. Green tea supplements were a $140 million industry in 2015 and globally, tea is the second most popular beverage around, second only to water. Because each cup contains almost no calories, green tea can boost your metabolism and improve your body’s efficiency for burning energy. Research has suggested that the flavonoids it contains are responsible for increasing fat oxidation levels and improving insulin activity in your body. Some studies show that substituting tea for calorie-filled drinks can lead to about a pound of weight loss a week. In fact, because green tea is a natural diuretic, it is an ideal treatment for combating fluid retention problems and overall tissue inflammation. For this reason, some estimates show that drinking green tea regularly can reduce body fat by up to 19 percent. Even green tea’s caffeine level contributes to weight loss. Drinking green tea every day makes weight loss simple because the caffeine it contains acts as a stimulant that improves exercise performance and aids fat burning in the process. While each cup contains just a quarter of the caffeine of a cup of coffee, it is still enough to give you a boost. It does not take much to begin feeling the benefits, as most people start noticing results after about three cups a day. Drinking green tea might also lead to better fat burning during exercise. One study found that men who took green tea extract before exercising burned 17 percent more fat the those who did not, and other research shows that green tea specifically helps your body burn more fat, which leads to a lower body weight in the long run. While the actual amount of weight you can lose from green tea tends to be relatively modest, the weight that is lost tends to be belly fat. Subcutaneous (abdominal) fat tends to be the most dangerous, as it is strongly linked to inflammation, insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and other chronic conditions. Because green tea specifically reduces your levels of this kind of fat, it is a beneficial drink even if you do not have significant weight loss goals. How to Drink Green Tea for Weight Loss |