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Green Tea Diet
Review
Due to the
popularity of recent findings, green tea has almost become
synonymous with weight loss and diet. The addition of green tea
diet into diet pills and weight loss supplements is perhaps
spurred by reports of harmful side-effects of other drugs like
ephedra.
Why choose green tea diet?
For four thousand years, green tea diet has been used all
throughout Asia as a beneficial health and medicinal drink.
Green tea diet is different from all other tea diets because
its liquid is extracted by steaming the leaves of the Camellia
sinensis plant as opposed to full oxidation. In this way, green
tea diet manages to preserve a lot more antioxidants and keep
them intact for the body to use.
Green tea diet is an excellent source of polycatechin
polyphenols, a group of antioxidants that act on free radicals.
These free radicals have harmful effects on the body since they
are the major causes of diseases and aging. With green tea
diet’s polycatechin polyphenols, a person has a better chance
of avoiding ailments and keeping himself healthy for a much
longer period of time.
Another antioxidant in green tea diet is also being studied as
a potential cure for cancer. Epigallocatechin gallate or EGCG
found in green tea diet has been discovered to destroy cancer
cells while keeping surrounding healthy cells unharmed.
The EGCG in green tea diet also acts with another compound,
caffeine (a small amount of this is found in green tea). The
interaction of these two compounds causes green tea diet to
promote thermogenesis in the body.
It has been noted by a study published in the American Journal
of Clinical Nutrition that with the consumption of green tea
diet, the body’s total 24-hour energy expenditure is increased
by up to four percent. This is roughly equivalent to losing
more than 10 pounds of weight a month.
Green tea diet helps increase the body’s metabolic rates. With
its thermogenic properties, it is only natural that green tea
diet can also promote faster metabolism of fats and sugars.
Excess glucose found in the body is turned into fats by the
hormone insulin. Because green tea diet has an inhibiting
effect on insulin, green tea diet therefore helps keep sugar
from being stored as fats and instead, send them directly into
the muscles for immediate use.
The downside to a green tea diet
Although green tea diet has a reputation for boosting health,
scientific proofs of its health benefits are still somewhat
mixed. However, in an article published in the Archives of
Internal Medicine, American researchers collaborated with their
Chinese counterparts to discuss the beneficial effects of green
tea diet on cholesterol levels.
Using 240 men and women (average age 55) who possess mild to
moderately high LDL cholesterol levels, the researchers
instructed them to retain their usual low-fat diet, green tea
diet intake, and activity levels. After twelve weeks, it was
found that those who consumed green tea diet extract with their
regular meals lost more than fifteen percent of their total LDL
cholesterol levels.
Although the researchers never explained how green tea diet may
influence cholesterol levels, previous studies have shown that
certain compounds in green tea diet play a role in reducing the
amount of cholesterol absorbed by the body, increasing amount
of cholesterol excreted, and thus keeping cholesterol from
being stored in the liver.
Subsequent studies were made to test the findings of the first
group of researchers. Their results were contradictory. They
found that green tea diet has no significant effect on the
cholesterol profiles of their subjects.
There is no such thing as a miracle diet. Green tea diet, like
all other diets, needs a lot of work and input from those who
enroll in it. Green tea diet required both discipline and heart
for it to make any significant impact on your weight loss
goals.
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