Dualcow

Green tea is recommended for the diet aid mainly because of its multifaceted effects on health. The major active component that attributes the properties to the green tea are the polyphenols such as catechin, epicatechin, epicatechin gallate, gallaogatechin, epigallocatechin, and apigallocatechin gallate (known as EGCG).

You may have heard about the now famous episode of the Oprah Winfrey Show, where Dr. Nicholas Perricone informed an amazed audience that viewers could lose 10 pounds in 6 weeks by drinking green tea instead of coffee.

The Green Tea Diet (while perhaps not in the form of an actual, planned diet) is a regular part of everyday life in China, Japan, the Middle East, Pakistan, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Morocco just to name a few. In many places it’s a daily ritual.

Tea as a weight loss aide

Tea has been used as an aid for weight loss. Drinking a cup of tea with each meal is a protocol for using tea successfully as a metabolic stimulant. Tea by itself carries only 4 calories per serving, and it’s most healthy when consumed with nothing added. The caffeine in tea increases body function to help burn more calories and the polyphenols seem to aid in the digestion of fat, truly making it a Chinese diet tea.. Pu-erh and Oolong teas have received the most attention regarding weight loss, but all types of tea offer a low calorie alternative to commercial beverages.

How much green tea is right for you?

That depends upon who you listen to. Some Chinese homeopathic health practitioners call for 10 cups a day, while some health researchers say that 2 to 3 cups will do the trick. When you look at all of the varying research, and take the average, 4 to 5 eight ounce cups of green tea per day should be good enough for most people.

If you don’t like drinking green tea, or find the process of brewing green tea to be more that you are willing to go through 4 to 5 times per day, there are companies who produce “Green Tea Capsules” which contain doses of EGCG.