Your body will store the excess calories you consume as fat all around your body. When fat accumulates, it can hit your waistline first and leave it last. Increasing your body's energy use -- or metabolic rate -- boosts your calorie burn and helps remove fat from your body. Research shows that three teas can improve your metabolism and promote fat loss from your stomach.
Green Tea
Green tea, which is packed with antioxidants called polyphenols, has been used to regulate body temperature, promote water excretion, regulate blood sugar and serve as a stimulant in Chinese and Indian medicine for ages. The catechins and caffeine that are responsible for these effects also boost metabolism and promote fat loss. Green tea increases your metabolic rate by improving thermogenesis and fat oxidation, according to a study published in the journal Physiology and Behavior in 2010. Regular consumption of green tea can improve weight maintenance.
White Tea
Unlike green tea that is dried using high temperatures, white tea is dried naturally using sunlight or low temperatures. This preserves the antioxidants, which allows white tea to contain three times as many polyphenols as green tea, according to the Bodybuilding.com website. A study published in the journal Nutrition and Metabolism in 2009 showed that white tea induces lipolysis or the breakdown of your stored fat that is needed for your body to use the fat as a energy source. White tea can also prevent adipogenesis, or the formation of fat cells. Thus, drinking white tea may help you lose and prevent stomach fat.
Oolong Tea
Oolong tea, which is also packed with catechins, helps promote weight loss by boosting your metabolism. Daily consumption of oolong tea for six weeks helped reduced body weight up to six pounds, according to a study published in the Chinese Journal of Integrative Medicine in 2009. The study found that consuming 8 g of oolong tea every day decreased body fat and waist size in obese subjects by improving the body's lipid metabolism. When consumed regularly, oolong tea may help reduce stomach fat and prevent obesity.
Considerations
When your body needs to use stored fat for energy, you will burn fat all around your body, including your stomach. Although the fat in your stomach may seem to be the last to burn, you eventually will lose it. Combine regular green, white or oolong tea consumption with a low-calorie diet and regular physical activity to optimize your weight loss efforts and reduce your waist size.
References
- University of Maryland Medical Center: Green Tea
- "Physiology and Behavior"; Green Tea Catechins, Caffeine and Body-Weight Regulation; M.S. Westerterp-Plantenga; 2010
- Bodybuilding.com: Health Benefits of Drinking Tea
- "Nutrition and Metabolism"; White Tea Extract Induces Lipolytic Activity and Inhibits Adipogenesis in Human Subcutaneous (Pre)-Adipocytes; J Söhle, et al.; 2009
- "Chinese Journal of Integrative Medicine"; Beneficial Effects of Oolong Tea Consumption on Diet-Induced Overweight and Obese Subjects; R.R He, et al.; 2011
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