If you want to incorporate green tea into your diet plan, professionals are ready to help. For best taste and antioxidant retention, you should brew green tea yourself. If you like iced tea, you can brew a large batch and refrigerate. Drinking six cups a day can boost the effects of a calorie-restricted diet, but be careful of intake if you are sensitive to caffeine. Consult your doctor before beginning any new diet.
Antioxidants in Green Tea
Green tea contains more than five times as many fat-fighting antioxidants as black tea, but only if you use loose tea or top-rated tea bags. You can drink six cups of brewed-at-home green tea to get its weight-loss effects, but you'd have to drink 60 cups of bottled green tea to get the same amount of antioxidants, according to a study conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
How Much Green Tea to Drink
Aim to drink about 600 milligrams of antioxidant catechins daily to achieve the weight loss demonstrated in a recent study by Kevin Maki, president of Provident Clinical Research and Consulting. According to the results of a clinical trial, published in 2009 in the "American Journal of Clinical Nutrition," men who drank 660 mg of green tea catechins lost twice as much weight as men who drank 22 mg of black tea catechins daily. Loose green tea leaves provide 127 mg of catechins per 6-ounce cup; unflavored organic tea bags made by Stash provide 100 mg, according to the USDA.
Weight-Loss Expectations
The men in Maki's study also followed a moderately calorie-restricted diet. The green tea catechins augmented, but were not fully responsible for, their weight loss. Drinking green tea helped the men lose an extra 2.5 pounds in 12 weeks, and to lose significantly more abdominal fat than the men who didn't drink green tea. If you want follow a plan similar to the one in Maki's trial, reduce your calorie intake by 500 a day and drink six cups of a green tea containing at least 100 mg of catechins per cup. In 12 weeks, you could lose 12 pounds through dieting and an additional 2.5 pounds because of the green tea, if Maki's results hold true for you.
Sample Menu
You can eat unlimited fruits and vegetables and plenty of complex carbohydrates on a 1,500-calorie-a-day plan devised by the Mayo Clinic. Ellen Frazier, a caterer and nutritionist in the Los Angeles area, provides a sample menu based on the Mayo Clinic plan: for breakfast, a bowl of whole-grain cereal topped with blueberries and bananas, a cup of low-fat milk --- dairy, soy or almond --- and a cup of green tea; in mid-morning, a handful of almonds, a black plum and a glass of iced green tea; for lunch, mixed salad greens topped with grilled chicken, sliced green apples, dried cranberries and balsamic vinegar, a slice of whole-grain bread and a glass of iced green tea; at mid-afternoon, low-fat yogurt with granola, a pear and a cup of green tea; for dinner, a vegetable and tofu stir-fry served with brown rice, blackberry cobbler and a cup of green tea; for mid-evening, plain popcorn, a mixed fruit plate and a cup of green tea.
How to Brew
If you're brewing your green tea, water temperature is crucial, experts say. According to the "Washington Post," you should keep water temperature between 175 and 185 degrees --- below boiling. If you don't have a food thermometer, boil the water, then let it cool. One method for this is to pour the boiling water into a Pyrex cup and let it sit for two to three minutes. It takes only several minutes to steep green tea, but you can go longer if you like a stronger flavor. Water at boiling temperature can destroy the catechins in, as well as the taste of, green tea. Although green tea contains far less caffeine than black tea, drinking it in large quantities could have adverse affects for pregnant women and some others.
References
- U.S. Department of Agriculture: Brewing Up the Latest Tea Research
- Amazing Green Tea: Green Tea Brands What Catechins Levels
- "Biotech Business Week"; New Obesity Study Findings Have Been Reported by K.D. Maki and Colleagues; March 2, 2009
- Mayo Clinic: Mayo Clinic Diet
- Ellen Frazier; President, I Can't Eat Anything!; Los Angeles, California; Oct. 6, 2010
- "The Washington Post"; Give Green Tea a Try, but Get a Handle on the Perfect Brew for You; Robert L. Wolke; April 25, 2007
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