The 17 Day Diet promotes trendy dieting concepts, including drinking a cup of green tea with each meal. Can drinking green tea really affect weight loss?
Green tea has long been recognized for its health benefits and over time it is gaining acceptance as a mainstream weight loss tool as well. Green tea differs from other tea in that it is made from unfermented leaves, which experts claim create a high concentration of antioxidants. But it’s the properties in green tea that seem to suppress a rise in blood sugar that made it an integral part of the hot, new 17 Day Diet by Dr. Mike Moreno!
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Green Tea’s Health Benefits
Green tea is known for its cancer fighting properties and its effect on raising antioxidants levels in the blood which can reduce the risk for heart disease.
Additionally, a study conducted by The Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston revealed that that tea contains alkylamine antigens, which are found in some bacteria, tumor cells, parasites and fungi. Their research revealed that, due to this, a tea drinker’s body developed a defense system against infection.
But Does Green Tea Rev Up Metabolism?
Being healthy is great, but it’s the theory that green tea contains compounds which also burn fat that adds extra incentive for sipping the brew. Green tea has become a growing business, with retailers filling their shelves with diet-aids containing green tea extract that promise fat burning magic.
Various studies have led experts to conclude that after a meal, a cup of green tea can help slow the rise in blood sugar levels. Indications are that sipping on a cup of tea along with a meal will prevent a rapid spike in insulin, therefore, reducing fat storage. That little cup of tea might actually inhibit glucose from working its way into fat cells!
WebMD sites a study by Abdul Dullo at the University of Fribourg in Switzerland that conducted research to determine the effect of green tea extract containing caffeine on animal fat cells. The study revealed that green tea with caffeine increased thermogenesis, and Dulloo concluded that it has the potential to play a part in the fight on obesity.
However, cautious nutritionists warn against depending on green tea alone to drop pounds reasoning that thermogenesis does not play a huge role in burning calories in adults.
The 17 Day Diet Green Tea Connection
Dr. Mike Moreno, the doctor who developed the 17 Day Diet plan, is from the camp that believes green tea will assist dieters with fat loss, and he includes a cup of green tea with every meal.
In his book, The 17 Day Diet, Moreno writes this about green tea, “Certain natural chemicals called catechins in green tea increase fat-burning and stimulate thermogenesis, the calorie-burning process that occurs as a result of digesting and metabolizing food.”
However, Moreno doesn’t rely on this green-tea-burns-calories theory alone, and he includes foods that contain Omega-3 fatty acids and exercise in his diet program to help boost metabolism as well.
While not all experts agree as to whether or not green tea is a dieter’s magic bullet, it certainly doesn’t hurt to include a cup in any diet. For those who have jumped on the 17 Day Diet train, just knowing that caffeinated green tea might help their fat melt faster should be enough of a reason to follow Dr. Moreno’s advice. Worst case, they might end up healthier!
Resources:
“Green Tea and Immune System”, Amazing-green-tea.com
Dr. Mike Moreno, The 17 Day Diet, copyright 2010 by 17 Day Diet, Inc.
