When it comes to losing weight, there are two fundamental ways in which we can do so -
1) Expend more energy than we take in from the food we eat. This can be done by eating less calories than we burn or by exercising more or being more physically active to burn extra calories
2) Increase our metabolism to burn more energy each day. There are actually foods we can eat (or drink) that have been scientifically proven to increase out metabolic rate. This means that the body burns more energy just to perform its normal functions like breathing and pumping blood around the body.
Green Tea Weight Loss
What studies have shown us so far is that green tea is one of the most effective food sources for increasing the metabolism, especially when taken as a concentrated supplement called
green tea extract . In one study that was published in the
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition the results showed us that green tea extract had a significant impact on increasing energy expenditure (raising the metabolism/metabolic basal rate). Researchers originally thought that this effect upon energy expenditure was a result of green tea's caffeine content, but they soon released something else must be at play because green tea extract raised energy expenditure much higher than could be explained just by it's caffeine content. With a little more study the scientists pinpointed the additional weight loss substance in great tea - catechins (pronounced cat - eh - kins).
Catechins
Not only in the study mentioned above, but also in several others studies conducted in Japan and China, the significant green tea weight loss effects of the concentrated amounts of catechins in green tea extract have been documented. Generally speaking a high dose green tea extract supplement consisting of at least 500g of catechins per tablet/capsule can increase metabolism by 4%! That is a profound figure for weight loss and can result in an extra 50 - 100 calories being burned each day. You can read more about these studies at
green tea weight loss.
