Everything you need to know about Green Tea

If you’re looking for a herbal tea that supports weight management while offering a wide range of health benefits, green tea could be just what you need. In this guide, we’ll explore what green tea is, its most powerful natural compounds, the wellness benefits it’s known for, and whether it can truly help with losing weight as part of a healthy lifestyle.

What is Green Tea?

Green tea is a type of tea made from the leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant. Unlike black or oolong teas, green tea is minimally processed, which helps preserve its natural antioxidants and nutrients.

It originated in China over 4,000 years ago and is now enjoyed worldwide both as a beverage and as a health supplement.

Green tea is packed full of health-promoting compounds. Whether enjoyed as a warm drink, iced, or in supplement form, green tea is often associated with benefits such as improved metabolism, enhanced fat oxidation, heart health, and overall wellness.

Health Benefits of Green Tea

  • Supports weight loss: EGCG and caffeine may boost metabolism and increase fat oxidation.
  • Improves brain function: The caffeine and L-theanine combo can enhance alertness, focus, and mood.
  • Protects the heart: May help lower cholesterol and reduce blood pressure.
  • Boosts antioxidants: Helps fight free radicals and reduce inflammation.
  • Promotes healthy aging: Antioxidants may protect cells from age-related damage.
  • May reduce cancer risk: Some studies link green tea to a lower risk of certain cancers.

Key Nutrients & Compounds in Green Tea

  • Catechins (especially EGCG): Powerful antioxidants that may support fat burning and heart health.
  • Caffeine: A mild stimulant that boosts energy, focus, and metabolism.
  • L-theanine: Promotes relaxation without drowsiness; balances caffeine’s effects.
  • Flavonoids: Support immune health and reduce inflammation.
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Can Green Tea help you lose weight?

Green tea can help support weight loss by:

1. Boosting Metabolism:
Green tea contains caffeine and catechins (especially EGCG), which can slightly increase your resting metabolic rate – the number of calories your body burns at rest.

2. Enhancing Fat Burning
Green tea may increase fat oxidation which is the process of burning stored fat for energy – especially during exercise.

3. Improves Workout Performance:
The mild caffeine content can give you a small energy boost, helping you exercise longer or more intensely, which contributes to more calories burned.

4. Supports Appetite Control:
While green tea doesn’t directly suppress appetite like some supplements, drinking it between meals can help you feel hydrated and satisfied, reducing unnecessary snacking.

Good skin and Green Tea

Those who want to improve the condition of their skin should pop the kettle on, an article about the benefits of green tea has suggested.

The piece, published in the Times of India, claimed that green tea is rich in particular minerals, vitamins and acids which are great for the skin.

It said that people should make a green tea liquor by boiling green tea leaves in pure water and then putting this in an ice cube tray.

When these green tea ice cubes are rubbed on the face, they prevent sweat and oiliness and allow makeup to stay on for hours.

These aren’t the only benefits of green tea, as others include banishing body odour and cleansing the skin.

“Drinking tea has a soothing effect on the digestive and nervous system, creates a sense of wellbeing free from intemperance and stimulates the spinal cord, stomach and intestine,” the newspaper reports Dr Sandeep Lakhtakia, senior gastroenterologist at Care Hospital in Hyderabad, as saying.

Green tea is said to be a good antioxidant, which Carina Norris of the British Nutrition Foundation recently claimed maintain good health and prevent ageing.