The “Green Diet”

There are many ideas on weight loss such as reducing calorie intake or exercising more. Others preach the effectiveness of a certain product or meals in convenient packets. Allow me to introduce green tea, proven to be effective for weight loss and general health care.

Green Tea works by decreasing LDL or as the health professionals label it, bad cholesterol and is highly linked with heart disease and strokes. Also, green tea increases HDL which is the useful counterpart of LDL. It is also shown to decrease the amount of fatty triglycerides in our body. In other words: you become slimmer the more green tea you consume.

Green tea also boosts antioxidants and anti-cancer agents in the body. This in effect boosts our immune strength, whilst regular use has proven to facilitate weight loss of up to five pounds a month. Another research paper indicates that green tea contains 50 times more benefits than various Vitamin E and C supplement in the market. Isn’t that something?

So how much green tea should I take?

Up to now, there has been no quoted limit to the daily intake of green tea. Some people have been drinking as much as twenty cups daily without any side effects. However, it is advised to consume more of the decaffeinated varieties. It has also been recommended to replace the daily intake of coffee, and it is advised to take a cup just before going to bed.

Preparing green tea

Preparation is very important. Smaller tea leaves boil faster, have better infusion and are preferred to tea bags. If you choose to use the bags instead, immerse them on a continuous basis to extract the maximum amount of antioxidants.

Tea leaves should be completely immersed in hot water and not left just floating on the top. Boil them for longer periods and use higher stepping times to maximise antioxidant extraction.
Finally do not add any sweetener to the tea as it dissipates completely the dietary benefits it contains. Should it be too bitter for your liking, try the herb “Stevia” instead.