10 Amazing Health Benefits of Green Tea – Preparation, Facts & Effects
Want to lose those extra pounds gained in recent times? Then check out how you can lay back in your couch and burn that extra fat by sipping a green tea. Green tea is originated from Camellia Sinensis, which is the same plant as traditional black tea. The best green tea comes from the Asian countries like China and Japan, as it has been included in these Asian diets over 3000 years. Drinking green tea is a perfect solution for those who find it difficult to burn fat by doing some daily exercise routines. Green tea is an excellent source which can reap out maximum health benefits to your body. You can either drink it as a tea or can add its extracts in your regular diet.
How to Make a Perfect Green Tea:
Many people are not aware of the correct procedure to make a green tea. We need to know some of the basic steps to make a good tea, else we might end up making a tea which might be bitter, or strong in taste. Here are some simple steps that might help beginners on how to prepare a green tea. We will also suggest what all the mistakes to be avoided in making a fresh one to taste excellent.
Ingredients:
- Hot water, preferably spring water
- Organic Green tea leaves/ bags
Procedure:
- One cup of water usually requires one tea spoon of green leaves. So, the quantity of green leaves determine how many cups of water one chooses.
- Place these green tea leaves in a strainer and heat the desired amount of water in a kettle to about 180°F or 80°C.
- Now place the strainer with green tea leaves into mug and pour the heated water over the leaves.
- Steep the tea leaves until perfect (for about 2-3 minutes) and remove the strainer.
- It is now time to enjoy your perfect cup of tea.
- You can also add honey/ sugar as per your taste, but make sure the sweet contents are limited to get maximum benefits.
Do You Know?
- Never steep the tea leaves for any longer as it makes your tea taste bitter.
- Also never steep the tea leaves in extreme hot water.
- Tea connoisseurs do not recommend the usage of microwave to heat the water.
- Never touch your green tea leaves with your fingers and always you a clean spoon while preparing as they are very sensitive and can easily lack freshness and nutrition.
- Drink your green tea only when it is warm or little hot and freshly made.
- Do not drink cold tea as there are chances that it will hurt your organs.
- Also do not drink the liquid tea after 5pm as you cannot have a good sleep and this may lead to insomnia.
- Never compromise on cost when buying the green tea leaves as it might affect the quality of the tea and also its rarity.
Health Benefits of Green Tea
Green Tea is the power house of significant health benefits, and is considered as a moderate intensity exercise in the long run. Scientists discovered that its sensitivity to insulin can lower the risk of diabetes in our body. Green tea declines the triglycerides, total abdominal fat and subcutaneous abdominal fat. Also they discovered that drinking plentiful amounts of green tea beverage over years may have a profound experience in reducing breast cancer. Here are some of the most common health benefits of green tea.
Boosts Up Your Energy Levels:
This thermogenic agent has the ability to burn more calories than normal. The antioxidants present in green tea helps in producing energy and keep the cells clean from time to time. Because of this reason people started taking green tea diet pills in recent times. Green tea stables energy levels by balancing blood sugar levels in your body. EGCG, a most potent antioxidant catechin found in green tea improves insulin to prevent spikes in sugar levels, and crashes that can result in fatigue, and irritability.
Green Tea Boosts Metabolism:
The antioxidant, EGCG plays an important role in stimulating our body’s metabolism and can speed up burning calories. It stimulates the central nervous system and releases fat into the blood stream. Our body uses the released fat as a fuel to burn the calories, sheds excess water and produces energy. This process of burning fat/ fuel without making chemical energy is called thermogenesis. Green tea is also rich in caffeine content which can naturally cause the thermogenesis process, but the results are more effective when it combines with EGCG and other substances present in green tea.
Perfect for Weight Loss:
Drinking green tea is the best exercise and medicine for those looking to lose weight in a comfortable way. Even people who are obese and cannot afford to exercise their body can dream to shape their figure the right way. However, drinking green tea may not fetch instant results but you will be giving yourself an edge. Catechin, caffeine and theanine (an amino acid), the great trio, found in green tea collectively helps in reducing weight loss reduces bloating.
Reduces Cholesterol:
Though weight loss and reducing cholesterol are strongly intertwined, the fact is that lowering cholesterol helps in reducing the weight, whereas losing weight can help you in cutting down the cholesterol levels. Green tea can improve the ration of good cholesterol (HDL) to bad cholesterol (LDL). The EGCG and catechin polyphenols in green tea has been known to inhibit the cancer cells, abnormal function of blood clots and effectively lower LDL cholesterol levels. Green tea leaves are withered and steamed which makes catechins and EGCGs more concentrated. Green tea is usually prescribed for driving away bad cholesterol levels.
Super Fat Burner:
Green tea is a superb fat fighter, as it contains an active ingredient called EGCG, which can speed up the rate of burning fat in your body. Besides burning your total body fat, green tea targets your belly fat. All the active ingredients present in green tea activate fat burning genes in abdomen to burn calories by 77 percent. Green tea speeds up the rate at which fat is broken down in our body.
Anti Aging Benefits:
Growth of free radicals in the body can damage your skin and aging of your body cells. This is usually referred as skin aging. Free radicals do occur naturally, but their concentration doubles when your skin is exposed to UV radiation, pollution and chemicals present in atmosphere. EGCG is 200 times more powerful than Vitamin E at destroying free radicals. Superoxide Dismutase (SOD) one of the chemicals produced by human body has the power to whisk away free radicals, which prevent the damage of bodies cells and helps to reduce wrinkling. Catechins present in green tea improve the activity of SOD, and boosts the body’s ability to fight free radical affects.
Prevents Cancer:
Green tea prevents the onset of different types of cancer including breast, lung and prostrate cancers. Chemicals present in green tea especially EGCG are able to target the cancel cells leaving the healthy cells alone and untouched. Consumption of green tea is more beneficial to women than men in the case of cancer prevention. EGCG appears to inhibit colorectal cancers and may help in halting colorectal cancer in our body.
Reduces Bacterial and Fungal Infections:
Antioxidants present in green tea inhibit the growth of bacteria, thus reducing the effect of getting bacterial and fungal infections. It also helps to alleviate the existing bacterial infections. A cup of green tea usually contains 200mg of catechins that gives rich antioxidant benefits. Catechins in green tea inhibit the production of key enzyme needed by bacteria called gyrase. Gyrase is the target of many antibiotics that are chemically developed. Catechins extracted from green tea helped in treating the patients who had been infected by drug resistant called Staphlylococcus.
Great Benefits for Skin:
Green tea and its extracts are commonly used to prevent and treat number of skin diseases including skin cancer. Polyphenols, antioxidants present in green tea are responsible for removing free radicals from the skin before they have the chance to attack the DNA in your skin cells. Else it can lead to skin cancer. Topical application of green tea extracts can help protect your skin against UV radiation and thus helps you maintain healthy glowing skin.
Good for Oral Health:
Green tea is a great natural source of fluoride, and a compound that is added to drinking water in order to prevent tooth decay. Green tea in combination with its anti-bacterial effects provides a great natural way to help strengthen your teeth, which reduces bad breath. Because green tea controls bacteria, it lowers the acidity of saliva and dental plaque to prevent cavities. Its anti-inflammatory powers seem to help control periodontal (gum) disease., and also help killing the microbes which make our mouths stinky.
Is Green Tea Good for Everyone/ Harmful?
- Green tea is rich in caffeine content and we all know that caffeine is not good for heart patients as it may increase the heart risks or insomnia in some.
- Breast Feeding women and pregnant women need to avoid green tea as caffeine content in green tea exceeds placenta and is found in breast milk.
- Tannin present in green tea limit iron absorption from fruits and vegetable. To avoid this you can add lemon to your tea.
- People suffering from kidney disease, nervous disorder, blood clotting and bleeding disorder, plant related allergies are recommended to take it only after consulting their doctor.
- Green tea should not be combined with numerous drugs and you are advised to consult a doctor for more information on this.
Where to buy Organic Green Tea?
You can buy organic green tea by any normal super market, or can by order from Amazon directly. Check out the top 5 selling organic green tea companies which sell from amazon.
- Bigelow Organic Green Tea
- Newman’s OwnOrganics Royal Tea
- Starwest Botanicals Organic Gunpowder Green Tea
- Stash Tea Company Organic Premium Green Tea
- Organic Green Tea Leaves
Despite all these odds, green tea is one of the healthy ancient beverage which can be added to your diet without any second thoughts. I hope this article helped you in understanding the best possible health benefits of green tea. Please feel free to share your views via the comments section below.
Devi Gajendran is a Post Graduate in Nutrition (University of Madras, Tamil Nadu) and has tons of experience in Fitness and Nutrition. She is the chief advisor and full time contributor at the Fit Indian and has the final say on all the segments under the Fit Indian paradigm, such as beauty, fitness, home remedies, diseases, diet tips, weight loss, weight gain and so on. A foodie herself, she believes in the Hippocrates quote,” Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.” A fitness enthusiast, she believes that the combination of diet and exercise can work wonders. When she is not sharing her valuable knowledge about food and fitness, she likes to spend quality time with her family members, do some healthy baking and listen to soft soulful music.
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35 Comments
chetna
i have green teabag for alokozi it good for weight loss and please tell me what should i add
Bipasha Mukherjee
Yes green tea is very good for weight loss, you can squeeze in 1 lemon if you want. You must have 3-4 cups of green tea each day.
Sue
Hi, I have read the benefits of green tea and the risks of it. my question is, from what i have been knowing or learning is that green tea has less caffeine content than black tea.
I am a bit confused because you are saying that it is high in caffeine then we are not to drink it at all. you know what caffeine does to your body. pls explain.
Bipasha Mukherjee
Green tea is always a better option compared to black tea as it is rich in antioxidants that neutralize the cell damage caused by free radicals and oxidative stress.
Pushplata Chauhan
I am 23 year old n I have irregular periods problem… Can I have green tea??
Bipasha Mukherjee
Yes, you can have green tea.
Sanjeev
you may take ashokarisht from patanjli store
my wife has same problem and it gone with just 1 bottle syrup.
Thanks
Rakhi
can I hv caffeine free green tea during breast feeding
Bipasha Mukherjee
I would suggest you to consult your doctor.
Anjana
You should not have green tea when breast feeding. You have to have excess fat during the feeding times. Therefore in general it’s not good to have as it has a direct affect on fat levels.
pinky
hi I wanted to know that I gave a birth before 2 month. I cant able to start exercises bcoz of doctors are saying but I can drink green tea and 2nd think is that is it effect the lower part or not bcoz in my lower part I have more fats .
Bipasha Mukherjee
Green tea is really beneficial for health and it can promote weight loss when combined with a balanced diet. But it cannot promote weight loss from specific parts of the body.
k.ganesan
iam 36 years old now iam use in organic tulasi green tea iam drunk in algagal any side effect
Bipasha Mukherjee
You can have tulsi green tea.
James Whister
As mentioned that it’s not recommended to drink green tea after 5pm, can we drink green tea in morning on empty stomach?? Should I skip drinking milk in favour of green tea.? Is it advisable to drink green tea twice a day for faster weight loss?
Bipasha Mukherjee
You can drink green tea twice a day once in the morning and once in the evening.
James Whister
Thanks for the reply… I just had one more query, I have bought aloe Vera juice also.. and now getting confused on what to consume first (on early morning empty stomach) aloe Vera juice or green tea..? And the duration between these two..??
awet
Is it good to use Five rose green tea bag ???or which type of green tea bag is nice???
avi
I have small lipoma in my arms, right and left stomach and in back . green tea helps to reduce it? If it do which one of brand or some other flavour? Please tell me as soon as
A N S
Hi a am suffering with piles problem, can I drink Green Tea.
Harrit Michael
Please can a woman who has not yet given birth before but will in d future take green tea? And when you said one can take green tea morning and evening does it mean 4pm? Thanks
Lana
I usually use green tea instead of coffee in the morning. It’s effective as coffee and more healthier than coffee.
imteyaz
Best company of green tea pls tell me
Deblina Biswas
Any organic green tea will do.
Tally erp 9
I truly Love Green Tea.I use it for my healthy living. I drink it every morning before I go to school
Deblina Biswas
Great, keep drinking it for best results.
Lydia
Am in Ghana, where can I get the green tea to buy?
Pavani R
You can try online, green tea is sold pretty much everywhere now.
Lydia
please am suffering from breast cancer and a friend gave me some to try, what should I add to the green tea before taking and how many times a day?
Pavani R
Have three cups a day at least, you can also have turmeric and ginger everyday along with coconut oil and black pepper for bioavailability.
ปั้มไลค์
Like!! I blog quite often and I genuinely thank you for your information. The article has truly peaked my interest.
Devi Gajendran
Thank you for the feedback.
ปั๊มไลค์
Like!! I blog frequently and I really thank you for your content. The article has truly peaked my interest.
Devi Gajendran
Thank you for the feedback.