How Green Tea Can Promote Fat Loss
Since the dawn of humanity, people realized that chewing certain plants would give them health benefits. Within agrarian societies, green tea had the opportunity to be cultivated some est. 4,000 years ago. Since then, it quickly gained momentum and spread across the Globe like crazy. Now, people of all ages and sexes use the magical concoction to promote fat loss at the expense of no side effects whatsoever.
But, What is Green Tea Exactly?
As some of us may know, oolong tea, black tea and Green Tea are all products derived from the famous tea plant, or in Latin: Camellia sinensis. This beautiful herb natively grows in South and Southeast Asia, but can be also found all across the world where the ‘hots’ overthrow the ‘colds’ (mainly tropical and subtropical regions).
And while all types of teas (oolong, black and green) are strained from the same plant – they differ in how they become processed afterwards. Oolong and black tea are fermented. green tea is not. Therefore, all active substances remain untouched within the plant.
WHY BOTHER?
But why do people go to great lengths to drink green tea on a regular basis?
Well turns out, there are substances called ‘Polyphenols’ crammed inside the plant. Scientifically speaking, these polyphenols can be also referred to as either catechins or flavanols.
Green tea abounds with, and please bear with us since it’s already starting to get technical – epicatechin, epicatechin-3-gallate, epigallocatechin and epigallocatechin-3-gallate (in short: EGCG) – the most potent catechin of them all.
The majority of scientific studies were done on EGCG and catechins as whole.
Such rigorous research showed a link between consuming green tea and activation of the body’s “thermogenic fat-burning activity”. According to the same study which showed up in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition – drinking the ideal amount of green tea (equivalent of 690 mg of catechins) for 12 straight weeks lead up to losing fat in several body areas, including waist, under the skin and other ‘critical’ spots.
So How Does It Work?
The famous catechins we talked about contain an enzyme with a rather peculiar name: catechol-O-methyltranferase or COMT in short. When this enzyme comes in contact with the body’s natural processes, it actually breaks down norepinephrine – a hormone whose tasks include burning body fat.
Isn't That Counterproductive For Fat Loss?
Well, no. By ‘pumping’ the body with large amounts of catechins by ingesting green tea, the enzyme starts doing its work and the body signals that it’s losing norepinephrine fast. Basically, you’re getting more norepinephrine than you bargained for which drags out another chemical process in the body called thermogenesis (body heat). This in turn promotes fat loss at rapid rates and tones one’s figure to Apollo’s or Aphrodite’s likings.
Still not sold? Check this out then: the caffeine and EGCG in green tea work together in a symbiotic manner to ‘crank up’ the body's calorie consumption, which in turn produces energy to function. And, according to a study in the British Journal of Nutrition, this flirtatious relationship between the caffeine and catechins in green tea also leads up to an increase in the body’s resting metabolic rate.
You heard it right and you read it here: thanks to Polyphenols, Green Tea became the go-to plant for people to battle those protruding love handles under the jeans that shamed oneself in public.
ADDITIONAL SUPPLEMENTS
Before you know it, green tea has taken the bodybuilding communities by storm. And it’s no mystery since as we saw, the herb proved useful when one is determined to get rid of fat fast.
But, hold your horses: studies have shown that swallowing green tea by the dozen is trumped by taking those same substances only in nutritional supplement form.
Also, a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition read that green tea polyphenols worked best when taken as extracts through capsules.
Thus, to avoid the hassle of gulping as much as a bucketload of green tea goodness per day – it’s best for one’s organism to put those green tea extract capsules to good use: by devouring them whole. Or in other words: green tea extract capsules offer the greater benefit than green tea the concoction.
To recap those juicy green tea benefits:
- Boosts the body’s immune system
- Works as a powerful antioxidant
- Increases thermogenesis’ duration (body heat regulation)
- Increases norepinephrine – key component in burning body fat
- Stimulates energy-spending in accordance with calorie intake
GREEN TEA + OTHER SUPPLEMENTS?
- Yes, go for it. When paired with substances like yohimbe, goji berry or other supportive herbs, green tea can become even more powerful an extract.
Moreover yohimbe, better known in the scientific communities as methyl 17 alpha-hydroxy-yohimban-16 alpha-carboxylate hydrochloride – turns out also promotes healthy fat loss at rapid rates.
The yohimbe compound blocks certain alpha receptors inside the fat cell – thus increasing the overall thermogenic potential of the body, in turn bringing you even closer to that 80’s Schwarzenegger body that itself sported muscles within muscles – layers deep until subatomic level of ultimate ripped awesomeness.
TO CONCLUDE
Green Tea – good. Green tea extract supplements – better.