Tea is One Piece in the Weight Control Puzzle...
Are you looking for an easy solution to the weight control puzzle? You guessed it...there isn't one...but you can get there...and Tea May Be Able To Help...
You have the ability to do this...all on your own.
If you want to...really want to, you can begin to take control of your weight destiny. It's an individual journey, and the first step of the journey is making the decision to take it. Think of it as you would like, but keep in mind the concept of a personal intervention...with yourself. A reality check that comes to grips with your will to improve.
Turning the (Weight) Tables...With Tea...
Believe it or not, a good deal of the problem comes down to...your guessed it, money. We do back-flips over things that tantalize our senses, and food can be one of those things.
Many food companies and most restaurants don't have our wellbeing and longevity in mind when creating the products they offer us. The primary objective is selling the product to the extent of making it as irresistible as possible, with healthy ingredients being an after-thought or something too expensive to make part of the offering.
Yea for those restaurants posting caloric content on menus...but can you imaging if it was the law that each item on a menu had to include all the nutrition facts? Complete transparency on what you were putting in your body?
Tea does not change the ingredients in the things we consume. What tea does with it's ability to increase our metabolism and help our body break-down consumed fats, is provides an incentive for us to take it further and adopt the other measures we need to turn the tables on weight.
Finding a path to our target weight, getting there and staying there.
It is a quest, and the good news is that the answers are there, but we need to embrace them...completely.
The path...the journey is a methodical, comprehensive approach to identifying current circumstances, knowing the adjustments that can be made, making them and maintaining the course... Think of it a root-cause determination...taking apart a problem to understand it in order to determine a solution.
The path is a marathon not a sprint...a marathon that is life-long. One on which we focus on continuous improvement...
The surprise in this case is that as the issues causing the problem are reduced and eliminated, the problem becomes less, maybe even goes away, but in this instance the benefits that come along with the solution are beyond what you ever imagined.
See how your age group measures up for Recommended Daily Food Intake:
19-30, 31-59, Over 60
Who said it was easy?...but it is very much worth it.
While easy is not part of this journey...at the least, it gets easier with each passing day, for one simple reason; satisfaction. As first miniscule gains are made...small signs of progress, a sense of reinforcement begins to build inside us.
We realize that we just might be on-to something and begin to hear a little voice from from within say it's working...you believe even more.
A positive sense of elation begins to emerge, creating the enthusiasm to go further and do more.
Puzzle Pieces...The Formula for Success...
Stop/reduce the accumulation of factors contributing to weight gain. Question everything.
Let's consider tea a first step, the first puzzle piece, we call it The Healthy Tea Lifestyle...
We are making decisions and coming to grips with a new and revised individual reality....and tea can be the catalyst.
Tea can play a role...it can be one piece of the puzzle...
Tea alone is not enough. If you are thinking that just by drinking a magic tea you are going to be able to counter the accumulation of putting things in your body that are counter to your goals will take care of things for you...it won't.
Tea will without a doubt, play a valuable role, but you need all the puzzle pieces...
So, what are the other puzzle pieces? Let's call these puzzle pieces Lifestyle Choices...
Let's get the hardest ones out of the way first...Determination, Discipline, Commitment. If you know all the right things to do, you have to do them...it really is a personal intervention.
More puzzle pieces...the obvious one Conscious Eating...everything we eat should be good for us...it's actually really simple. conscious eating is paying attention. Become a label reader and get in control of consumption.
Make a hard decision. How much of your life are you going to live to eat? And how much are you going to eat to live? Here is the tough commitment: commit to at least 80% eat to live.
Understand the recommended daily allowances for individuals, read labels and pay attention to nutrition facts...guesstimate what you are intaking on a daily basis...
See more on DGA intake guidelines here...
Determine how to fit into your life a combination of strength, balance, and aerobic exercise....don't start anything you can't maintain, and don't overdo it to the point you despise it.
Get a minimum of 7 hours of sleep each night...in order to make all of this work, you have to be positioned to act on the plan and it can't happen without adequate sleep.
The Value of Sleep...and Teas That Can Help...
And here is what can be the most gratifying puzzle piece...your own personal weight target zone...not a number, but a range...and start measuring, every day. As frightening or impossible as it may initially seem, this goal-setting and monitoring will be motivation and support your determination and resolve.
Just what role can tea play in helping me reach my target weight?
Incentive...how? Why? The benefits of embracing high value content teas in your daily life will have far-reaching advantages to wellbeing and longevity.
According to the Tea Council of the USA report, Tea and Health:
Consuming three cups of Camellia sinensis, the tea plant, on a daily basis will increase your metabolism to the point where you will likely burn an additional 80-100 calories a day, just by drinking the right teas...I find throughout the day that my cup is disappointingly quite often empty so end up consuming 5-6 mugs of tea a day...without even trying....and love every sip.
This metabolism increasing phenonium is referred to as Energy Expenditure (EE). When Energy Expenditure and Food Intake are in balance, we maintain weight...the place we want to be.
Tea, Camellia sinensis, has zero calories...so zero guilt.
Additionally catechins in Camellia sinensis may help improve the effectiveness of exercise in controlling or reducing weight over exercise alone.
Tea can help boost fat metabolism and "turn-off" fat storage...
Also, in China some teas in the dark and oolong tea type categories have the reputation for particularly being beneficial for digestive properties and the ability to help pass consumed fats through our system inclining your body's energy to come from stored internal fats. This explains why dark oolong teas are served to consume before, during and after meals in many Chinese restaurants.
It is guesstimated that the consumption of dark oolongs before, during, and after meals can reduce fat absorption up to 50% and reduce apatite by 36% while improving digestion.
Combine increased EE with fat pass-through and another tea benefit, lipolysis, the ability to break-down stored fats we find advantages of in some oolongs, dark, and black teas.
It's about way more than weight...
As you probably intuitively know, when it comes to consuming the right teas to influence weight the impact on our overall wellbeing is improved exponentially...
In addition to positioning yourself for weight management by putting together the puzzle pieces, our body has Synergistic Systems that are also benefitting concurrently:
- Immune System
- Improved Sleep
- Cognitive function, memory consolidation & retention
- Improved Blood Pressure
- Bone health
- Oral Health
- Cardiovascular
What teas should I be considering?
Just replacing higher calorie beverages with zero-calorie Camellia sinensis can be a significant step towards weight management & control.
These suggestions can help take it to another level while offering tea drinking pleasure and a host of related wellbeing benefits:
Some Green teas high in Catechins, especially EGCG...:
Cloud Mist, Gyokuro, Matcha, Kabusecha, Tencha, Imperial Jade, Himalayan Evergreen, All High EGCG Teas...
Dark Oolongs with Energy Expenditure and Fat-suppressing properties:
Fairies' Tears, Small Red Robe, Golden Water Turtle, Eyebrow Oolong, All Dark Oolongs
Pu-erh & Dark Teas, thought to have digestive and fat metabolizing properties:
Aged Yunnan, Royal Pu-erh, Pu-erh G-1, Golden Flower, Ralph's Blend, All Pu-erh & Dark Teas...
Black Teas that can help break-down stored fats and that have EE:
Darjeeling, Himalayan High Golden Tips, Black Snail, Assam Gold Rush, All Black Teas...
Herbals/blends with water-reducing, digestive, or EE properties:
Slimming Blend, Crimson C, Vital Life, Tick-Tock, Green Mate, Roasted Mate
Bottom Line?
Commit to discipline, set your target weight zone, start gradually, build momentum, question everything, don't put anything in your mouth you don't want to...eat to live 80%...drink great tea.
As you start to make some progress it will become infectious, and you will want to do more...
Put your money where your tea is...invest in quality teas that offer the best opportunity to help support your target weight zone.
Further information on tea's contribution to weight management click below.
Tea, Metabolism, Body Composition, & Weight Loss…What To Know…
For Tips on Steeping Perfection Click Here
See what Prevention says about Weight Loss and Tea
Shop All Teas Here...
These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
Philip Parda...Student of Tea