TeaChat

I've been told by many people to drink green tea to lose weight. Thats fine and dandy for me cause I do need to lose several pounds. But I also know its more than that. It also helps that you eat healthy and excersise at least an hour a day (I've heard many other things but this is just basic). This is not the issue though. I love green tea just beacuse I love green tea. Its a good change up when I've been drinking nothing but water all day. You know add some flavor. My question is does it matter what kind if I am trying to lose weight? I prefer the Crystal Light packets, especially the Green Tea with Mango and Peach. They are just easier; I can pour one into my water bottle, shake it up, and I'm good to go. I'm not a fan of hot bevearges and thats why I dont drink hot tea. But should I? Or does it even matter?

Unfortunately, Crystal Lite is not real tea per se. It is highly processed extracts and flavorings and sweetener.

It is admirable that you are looking for healthy alternatives that include green tea. For the most part, they are just that, alternatives that are much healthier than just about anything else ... not to mention lower in calories. Tea itself is not likely to cause weight loss, but it may be a part of the process.

I would suggest giving real loose-leaf teas a try. For many, it is a apart of a healthy lifestyle ... turned passion.

And welcome to TeaChat!

Thank you! Now heres my next question? Where can I find tea leaves? I live in a college town and the only place I've found food/ingridents that comes close to having things like that is at the local Kroger. And Kroger does not have tea leaves, well, at least the one where I live doesnt.

Most of us have tried the local markets and failed ... the alternatives are online such as adagio ... good place to start looking.

Live in a college town? Any good sushi places near by? Go in and get a nice healthy dish of fish and order the tea to drink with it. It might not be the very best green tea, but at least see if you can stand it first.

For the first question, I wonder how much of what is in those crystal light packets can be called tea in even a loose sense of the term, ( i.e some product made from C. Sinensis plant. While most of us go online for most if not all of our leaf purchases, as you do not like hot tea, I see no need for you to buy the more expensive loose leaf. Perhaps pick up some tea bags and stick them in cold water, then put that in the fridge overnight. Then you have cold tea ready when you need it.

ArmyNavyMarine wrote:I've been told by many people to drink green tea to lose weight.

As far as I could find, there is no study saying "green tea helps you to loose weight." What I could find was "green tea helps to prevent excessive blood sugar, eventually there is a possibility to prevent excessive production of fat." Importantly, these studies are just talking about the possibility and there is no guarantee.

From japanese teas i would suggest konacha, it's usually really cheap, easy to prepare and well suited for using in cold brew. Add several tea spoons of konacha to bottle, add water, shake and leave for a bit. And don't worry about drinking those tea particles, it's actually good

Teacup1980 wrote:

ArmyNavyMarine wrote:I've been told by many people to drink green tea to lose weight.

As far as I could find, there is no study saying "green tea helps you to loose weight." What I could find was "green tea helps to prevent excessive blood sugar, eventually there is a possibility to prevent excessive production of fat." Importantly, these studies are just talking about the possibility and there is no guarantee.

From wiki:

A study published in the January, 2005 edition of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition concluded "Daily consumption of tea containing 690 mg catechins for 12 wk reduced body fat, which suggests that the ingestion of catechins might be useful in the prevention and improvement of lifestyle-related diseases, mainly obesity."

I read about other studies too, that were telling, green tea was improving metabolic rates, which can also help. But sure, tea alone won't make you perfectly healthy. It's just a nice tasty beverage that happens to be healthy too.

ArmyNavyMarine wrote:Thank you! Now heres my next question? Where can I find tea leaves? I live in a college town and the only place I've found food/ingridents that comes close to having things like that is at the local Kroger. And Kroger does not have tea leaves, well, at least the one where I live doesnt.

Dude, there's a world about to go open for you.

There's lots and lots and lots of places that sell excellent green tea online, in the US some of them with very low or no shipping costs.


You could try adagio, or teaspring, or Hou De...

Also on the forum there is a whole tea vendors section with people's opinions about what are good tea vendors, check it out in the forums menu.

Forgive me if its been said before but,

It takes a regime of green tea consumption to see any results.

Its like going the gym and doing one rep and excepting to be a body builder.
Can't happen that way.

Forgive me if its been said before but,

It takes a regime of green tea consumption to see any results.

Its like going the gym and doing one rep and excepting to be a body builder.
Can't happen that way. Oh and have you checked your local china town?

SlientSipper wrote:Forgive me if its been said before

Yeah you said it before!

Anyway, as to the losing weight thing, I´m skeptical. It may help a little bit, as a part of a balanced diet and exercise regime.

As with the health debate, don´t expect miracles. Just enjoy the tea.

verus wrote: As with the health debate, don´t expect miracles. Just enjoy the tea.

Or enjoy the tea so much to the point where you expect it to perform miracles. Seriously, good tea is pretty 'magical' sometimes

Maybe...but if you expect miracles, you might find them underwhelming. Instead let the miracles surprise you.