Green Tea

Hanley

I know this has probably been done to death, but what's the story with green tea in regards energy and weight loss?

Namely;
1) Does it work, and if so how?
2) Any negatives?
3) Best brand?

brianthebard

gunpowder tea is nice, its loose leaves that are rolled up, and they unfurl in the mug/pot when you put them in boiling water.

You are already familiar with hydroxycut (that was the one wasn't it?) so if you are looking for a weight loss supplement you know what works already! Perhaps that is too strong though? A strong cup of green tea is nice but I don't think, or haven't read anything to suggest that its anything better or worse than a dose of coffee?

boomtown84

Hanley wrote: »

I know this has probably been done to death, but what's the story with green tea in regards energy and weight loss?

Namely;
1) Does it work, and if so how?
2) Any negatives?
3) Best brand?

It has been claimed that consuming green tea results in weight loss because it can increase your metabolism. I'm guessing you have a fair amount of LBM and your metabolism is fast already?

No negatives-unless you drink a skip full and keel over from a caffeine induced heart attack.Apparently has a lot of positives though.

No idea of best brand-i've only bought it a few times and mixed it up each time.

I don't reckon it'll help you lose weight at all but might be a healthier option for long term use if you're a tea drinker.

ps...i'm sure you know how to lose weight-get up off your arse!!:D

Here's an interesting abstract from pubmed http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed which says habitual caffeine intake and ethnicity can influence it's effectiveness.

Ironman76

Redbush (Rooibos) Tea, the tea that Green Tea wishes it was.

Red Cortina

Hanley wrote: »

I know this has probably been done to death, but what's the story with green tea in regards energy and weight loss?

In my own personnel experience I have found it good at suppressing appetite...

Sunnyisland

I drink at least 10 cups of herbal tea a day, mostly peppermint,I used it as swap from drinking coffee & barry's tea :-) no sugar or milk with it so it has to be less calories for you, There are huge varieties in most good retail shops now,dont think you cant go wrong with it,

edwinkane

realies wrote: »

I drink at least 10 cups of herbal tea a day, mostly peppermint,I used it as swap from drinking coffee & barry's tea :-) no sugar or milk with it so it has to be less calories for you, There are huge varieties in most good retail shops now,dont think you cant go wrong with it,

If you drink your tea in conventional paper tea bags, a word of warning. Paper tea bags are usually made of bleached white paper, and are held together with glue and, occasionally, even plastics. (The quality of tea in them is also usually "dust" and the bag is made of paper to disguise this poor quality tea).

If you are drinking so many cups of tea a day, be aware that part of the glue usually melts and dissolves when you plunge your teabag into boiling water. We have no idea what effect the bleached paper has, or the plastics.

I've tried this:

http://www.drstuarts.com/functionalteas_slimplus.htm

Dr Stuart's is good for putting the benefit of the tea on the box rather than just the ingredients. Personally though, I found it only helped me in that it kept me conscious of my weight every time I opened the cupboard. Green tea's main benefit is it's antioxidants, which is good for counteracting the radicals caused by caffeine and others which can contribute towards cancer and other nasties (including aging). If you want any recommendations about teas in general, I'd advise trying ginger and lemon infusions or something else which aids digestion.

+1 on peppermint too, always makes me feel so fresh that I don't feel like eating.

Also, I think Clipper uses unbleached tea bags. Their green tea is definitely in unbleached bags. As for the glue I doubt it would be that harmful without leaving it in the water for a long time.

edwinkane

true-or-false wrote: »

As for the glue I doubt it would be that harmful without leaving it in the water for a long time.

How long do you think it might take for glue to melt when plunged into boiling water?

Oh no idea, sorry if it came across like I was stating facts, I just can't see it being that big a problem in terms of health. I know vegan concerns come into it but health wise I doubt (by which I just mean in my opinion) that it's of concern. The tea bag is held together by only a small amount of glue, lets say that in boiling water some glue does dissolve, but clearly since the tea bag doesn't fall apart it can only be a very minute proportion of the glue that is potentially lost. Of the glue there may be some unknown harmful chemical, but that again would be an even smaller percentage of the small portion of glue dissolved in the tea. It would have to be an extremely harmful chemical, or one which builds up in the body over time, to affect a human in such small amount, in which case it would be known about and probably banned by quality checkers. If it does matter, sure you can get stapled tea bags, but again I don't know of any research done into whether or not staples can minutely dissolve in water. You are right though, I don't know of any definitive research done on tea bag glue. Everyone in my primary school class used to lick pritt sticks though, and we turned out fine!

edwinkane

true-or-false wrote: »

Oh no idea, sorry if it came across like I was stating facts, I just can't see it being that big a problem in terms of health. I know vegan concerns come into it but health wise I doubt (by which I just mean in my opinion) that it's of concern. The tea bag is held together by only a small amount of glue, lets say that in boiling water some glue does dissolve, but clearly since the tea bag doesn't fall apart it can only be a very minute proportion of the glue that is potentially lost. Of the glue there may be some unknown harmful chemical, but that again would be an even smaller percentage of the small portion of glue dissolved in the tea. It would have to be an extremely harmful chemical, or one which builds up in the body over time, to affect a human in such small amount, in which case it would be known about and probably banned by quality checkers. If it does matter, sure you can get stapled tea bags, but again I don't know of any research done into whether or not staples can minutely dissolve in water. You are right though, I don't know of any definitive research done on tea bag glue. Everyone in my primary school class used to lick pritt sticks though, and we turned out fine!

I wasn't really concerned at any potential harm the glue or bleach in the paper might cause. My interest in tea is to drink good quality tea, and I know from my experience that "dust" quality tea, in bleached (or even non bleached) paper bags, held together by glues and often plastics, results in a very poor quality beverage.

Staples in tea bags actually are much more a problem to human health, as if they are ingested...well,you can imagine.

We've seen a revolution in the way we drink coffee in recent years, with the quality of coffee improving enormously to the point where your local petrol station probably has a machine which produces really good freshly ground coffee. But we still drink the lowest of the low quality tea (dust) in bleached paper bags held together with glue. No wonder tea sales are declining every year.

abouttobebanned

I love green tea but if I have it on an empty stomach I feel quite sick.

dammitjanet

I drink 4-6 cups of green tea a day, i don't drink coffee anymore. I love it, I drink the Lidl brand one- you can get it with lemon or vanilla and it's lovely. I definetly agree with the health benefits of it and it only has 20% of the caffine that coffee has.

dammitjanet

abouttobebanned wrote: »

I love green tea but if I have it on an empty stomach I feel quite sick.

I find that as well, i tend to only drink green tea after a meal. It's also great if you have that awful too full or bloated feel

edwinkane

dammitjanet wrote: »

I drink 4-6 cups of green tea a day, i don't drink coffee anymore. I love it, I drink the Lidl brand one- you can get it with lemon or vanilla and it's lovely. I definetly agree with the health benefits of it and it only has 20% of the caffine that coffee has.

dammitjanet wrote: »

I find that as well, i tend to only drink green tea after a meal. It's also great if you have that awful too full or bloated feel

That implies you have between 4-6 means per day. If so, no wonder you sometimes feel full or bloated!

lubie76

edwinkane wrote: »

That implies you have between 4-6 means per day. If so, no wonder you sometimes feel full or bloated!

Actually, there are huge benefits to eating 5-6 small protein rich meals a day in comparison to 3 big meals. It revs up your metabolism and stops you overeating at meal times.

Sunnyisland

[QUOTE=edwin kane;We've seen a revolution in the way we drink coffee in recent years, with the quality of coffee improving enormously to the point where your local petrol station probably has a machine which produces really good freshly ground coffee. But we still drink the lowest of the low quality tea (dust) in bleached paper bags held together with glue. No wonder tea sales are declining every year.[/QUOTE]


Thanks for the info,In your opinion what is the best herbal/green tea to buy, with the best health & taste benefits,

squod

Nettle tea FTW. It makes me fart less and sleep better.

edwinkane

realies wrote: »

Thanks for the info,In your opinion what is the best herbal/green tea to buy, with the best health & taste benefits,

I'd definitely go for the better quality whole leaf tea. (There are 4 categories of tea; 1 Whole leaf 2 Broken Leaf 3 Fannings 4 Dust). In coffee quality terms, dust would be roughly equivalent to powdered Maxwell House type instant coffee.

The reason manufacturers put their dust quality tea into non see through tea bags is to hide the quality of the tea contained therein. Next time you are in the supermarket, compare the pretty pictures on the boxes with what you actually get inside the box, to get an idea of how dishonest it is. Open up a tea bag at home and let the tea inside fall onto a plate, and compare that to the pretty pictures on the box the teabag came in.

A friend bought me a tea bomb a while ago, and I use it every morning, with real "gunpowder" green tea in a tea pot. And sometimes in the afternoon where I mix lapsang with darjeeling to make the most amazing tea. Its so easy.

The other thing about tea in paper tea bags is that, compared to real tea, it's not very refreshing, and the flavour is murky and gloopy. Try some real, good quality leaf tea (there are lots of chinese or asian shops which sell quite a good variety of leaf teas). Its not expensive and once you get some good tea, you'll never again drink the gloopy murky tea that comes in bleached white paper tea bags.

TommyKnocker

Try Le Palais de Thés on Wicklow St. for all your leaf tea needs

Disclaimer: I have no connection what so ever to Le Palais de Thés other than as a customer!

poconnor16

dammitjanet wrote: »

I drink 4-6 cups of green tea a day, i don't drink coffee anymore. I love it, I drink the Lidl brand one- you can get it with lemon or vanilla and it's lovely. I definetly agree with the health benefits of it and it only has 20% of the caffine that coffee has.

Thats handy to know actually - I struggle to drink green tea, not a huge fan of the taste. Love all other herbals though. I now have one coffee a day (in the am) where as I used to have about 4.

I find drinking any herbal tea is a good way to increase your water intake. Somedays I just dont want to drink water, especially if it is cold outside,so herbal tea does the trick.

edwinkane

TommyKnocker wrote: »

Try Le Palais de Thés on Wicklow St. for all your leaf tea needs

Disclaimer: I have no connection what so ever to Le Palais de Thés other than as a customer!

Le palais des thes is a sort of poncy tea shop, and the sort of place which gives good tea a "bad" name insofar as it's expensive and a little up its own ass. Tehri tea is usually good, but comparitively extremely expensive.

When I was in Dublin, I preferred to buy whole leaf tea in a chinese supermarket just up the road from le palais des thes, where the price can be 10% or 20% of the price charged by Le palais des thes, for a tea of similar quality.

Husk

I drink about 6 cups of green tea every day, with 1 or 2 cups of coffee as a treat and it definitely works for me as in: it cuts my sugar/carbs cravings and makes me less hungry in general, I have a lot more energy for workouts and feel more alert during the day. I like plain or jasmine green tea, an acquired taste tbh but worth it

faw1tytowers

I can only stand it with a bit of mint. Its a good detox tea but can stain teeth just like other tea's I found.

Transform

TommyKnocker wrote: »

Try Le Palais de Thés on Wicklow St. for all your leaf tea needs

Disclaimer: I have no connection what so ever to Le Palais de Thés other than as a customer!

i second that - the Japanese tea being my fave by miles

Transform

edwinkane wrote: »

Le palais des thes is a sort of poncy tea shop, and the sort of place which gives good tea a "bad" name insofar as it's expensive and a little up its own ass. Tehri tea is usually good, but comparitively extremely expensive.

When I was in Dublin, I preferred to buy whole leaf tea in a chinese supermarket just up the road from le palais des thes, where the price can be 10% or 20% of the price charged by Le palais des thes, for a tea of similar quality.

that is soooo far off the mark - there is a massive difference between a tea bought in Palais and a chinese market particualrly if you want better quality.

In the same as the coffee example someone gave - the cheap green teas are going to taste quite strong and bitter but, for example, the Japanese teas are farrr lighter and much nicer IMO.

I find the cheap green teas have a burnt taste again much like cheap coffee

Kewreeuss

I have tried to drink green tea but it smells like cigarette butts and I can't get used to the taste. I've also tried nettle and dandelion and the fruity ones make me sick. I prefer black tea with its stronger flavour. Two cups a day and one coffee is what I have. I won't drink any more because I can't have a cuppa without something nice to go with it!:)

Compak

For green tea, a lot of the studies of benefit had participants consume 8- 10 cups a day


Useful tip for green tea drinkers, the addition of lemon juice helps liberate catechins and thus increases the amount of antioxidants you absorb. Also imo it improves the taste

edwinkane

Transform wrote: »

that is soooo far off the mark - there is a massive difference between a tea bought in Palais and a chinese market particualrly if you want better quality.

In the same as the coffee example someone gave - the cheap green teas are going to taste quite strong and bitter but, for example, the Japanese teas are farrr lighter and much nicer IMO.

I find the cheap green teas have a burnt taste again much like cheap coffee

THere are four quality of teas, as explained above. There is no difference buying a whole leaf tea in a supermarket or a tea shop, if they are both whole leaf teas.

If you want to believe it is "better" by paying 5 or 6 times the price in a fancy tea shop, then believe it is "better". As someone who has been involved in tea for many years, I know the difference between whole leaf tea in a supermarket and whole leaf tea in a tea shop is a difference of perception, as the quality of whole leaf tea is the same. Whole leaf is whole leaf no matter where it is bought, and the tea shop is no ab le to make it any "better".

Dark Phoenix

I drink a lot of green tea and pu erh tea I use the robt roberts brand one.

Green tea I find is good if you have a sweet tooth as its bitter and eating something sweet after drinking it is not appealing. I have grown to like the taste of it and unlike 'normal' tea it doesn't make me sleepy

Pu Erh tea tastes lovely. I can't say if it helps weight loss but I find its good for bloating and also it helps me to resist sugar

Emmanu

HI,
let me tell you guys that Stassen Pure Jasmine Green Tea is the best brand of green tea used in USA....
I hope you guys would also like this brand after using it....
Thanks