6 Green Tea Diet Plans

Eating and dieting these days do not usually involve your favorite beverages like green tea and coffee. But this is not always necessarily the case. With some bit of planning and a lot of discipline, your diet plan and weight regime can include your morning cups of coffee or green tea.

South Beach Diet Plan

An idea formulated by Dr. Agatston, the South Beach Diet plan is not low-carb, nor low-fat. According to its originator, the South Beach Diet plan “teaches you to rely on the right carbs and the right fats.”

This diet plan is comprised of three phases – Banishing your Cravings, Reintroducing Carbs, and A Diet for Life. Using artificial sweetener and low-fat milk in your coffee or green tea during all three phases is one way to go on losing weight without having to give up your brewed cup. Going decaf with your coffee might also be a good idea since the objective of this diet is maintaining even insulin levels. If you’re a green tea drinker, then there is less worries for you. Green tea contains only very few amounts of caffeine.

The Zone Diet Plan

The Zone Diet plan was developed by Barry Sears, a former biotechnology researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. This diet plan is based on the maintenance and consistency of insulin levels. Because this diet plan also concerns itself with insulin control, the issues that arise are handled similarly as that with the South Beach Diet plan. Taking decaffeinated coffee and green tea is all right as long as these beverages don’t spike up your insulin. The eating program of the Zone Diet plan requires you to use artificial sweetener and low-fat milk in your coffee or green tea.

Atkins Diet Plan

Another low-carb diet plan variety, the Atkins Diet plan works best with caffeine-free coffee and green tea. For best results, artificial sweeteners in your green tea and coffee are advised to keep your carbs down.

Blood Type Diet Plan

The Blood Type Diet plan is a weight loss regimen where the foods you eat are based on your blood type. The eating program of the Blood Type Diet plan is more restricted compared to the South Beach Diet plan, the Zone Diet plan, and the Atkins Diet plan. For instance, for people with blood types A and AB, coffee is highly advised. But for those with blood types O, adding coffee to the Blood Type Diet plan should be avoided. Green teas on the other hand are acceptable for any blood types. However, adding natural sweeteners like sugar, honey, stevia, or maple syrup in green tea should be avoided in this diet plan.

Sugar Busters Diet Plan

The name of the diet plan says it all. Subscribers to this diet plan are highly cautioned against sugars. Coffee and green teas are perfectly fine but only use artificial sweeteners.

Paleolithic Diet Plan

Also called the Stone Age Diet plan, this diet plan is based on the consumption of simple, unprocessed foods that our Neanderthal ancestors would have eaten. This diet plan is perfect for green tea drinkers. Green tea is simple and 100% natural steamed dried leaves from the Camellia sinensis plant. If you’re a coffee drinker, you might be in for a tougher choice since you might have to give up coffee all together with this diet plan. Sugars in green teas are still a big no-no, especially the refined kind.

The History of Green Tea

For most people, the Chinese green tea is a stuff of legends. Chinese green tea has been known to be very beneficial to human health. For thousands of years, Chinese green tea has been talked about and written about because of its countless positive effects.

According to legend, the first person to ever taste Chinese green tea was the Emperor Shen Nong in 2737 B.C.

It was said that while boiling some water for drinking, some leaves fell into his pot from a tree nearby. Chinese green tea leaves when boiled smelled and tasted so wonderful that Shen Nong even urged his people to drink it. The fame of the Chinese green tea did not stay at one place for long. It is believed that in A.D. 800, Chinese green tea was brought to Japan by monks who studied Buddhism in China.

What makes Chinese green tea different from all other teas?

Chinese green tea is produced from Camellia sinensis, the same plant where the oolong and black tea are derived. Yet, even though they all come from the same herb, the Chinese green tea truly stands out as an exceptional health drink. So what makes Chinese green tea different?

The difference lies in the method by which Chinese green tea is produced. Oolong and black tea leaves are traditionally oxidized and then dried while the Chinese green tea leaves are steamed and then dried. This method of producing Chinese green tea actually preserves most of the beneficial antioxidants present in it.

Chinese Green Tea for Health

While it is already common knowledge that Chinese green tea has several health benefits, modern scientists were able to provide several concrete proofs of the positive effects of Chinese green tea. Chinese green tea antioxidants are said to be the ones responsible for making the Chinese green tea very beneficial. 

Recent findings show that the antioxidants in Chinese green tea can reduce cholesterol levels in a person; can improve how blood vessels function; and can reduce blood lipids. It was also discovered that Chinese green tea can have an anti-inflammatory effects and may provide protection against cardiovascular diseases.

Today, Chinese green tea is widely available as a beverage and as an ingredient for weight loss products.

Weight Loss Benefit of Green Tea

For 4,000 years, Asians have regarded green tea as something more than just a beverage. Green tea was used as herbal medicine and treatment for everything from headaches to depressions and even to weight loss. 

Researches have been conducted over the last few years to identify what compound present in green tea makes it a potent health drink. The scientists have found that green tea contains several antioxidants which are responsible for many of green tea’s health benefits, including weight loss benefit.

A research study by American and Swiss scientists on the weight loss benefit of green tea was concluded and the results of which were published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition and Urology (the paper can be found here). During the course of their study, they have found that green tea contains certain compounds that contribute to its weight loss benefit.

Lead researcher, Dr. Abdul Dulloo, said in a press release that there are only two ways to achieve weight loss – either reduce energy intake or increase energy expenditure. Green tea, it seems, has compounds that can increase the body’s normal metabolism rate, thus giving it its weight loss benefit.

At the University of Geneva, where the study was conducted, Dr. Dulloo and his colleagues experimented on ten healthy young men. They theorized that the main contributor to green tea’s weight loss benefit is its caffeine content. To test this hypothesis on green tea’s weight loss benefit, they placed the study’s participants on a typical “Western” diet which is about forty percent fat, thirteen percent protein, and forty-seven percent carbohydrates.

Thrice everyday, the researchers measured their subjects’ energy expenditure (the measurement used in determining the number of calories burned in 24 hours) and monitored their respiration quotient to find out how well they utilized their carbohydrates, proteins, and fats.

When they interpreted the data they collected, they found out that the men receiving regular dosages of green tea extract showed a significant increase in their 24-hour energy expenditure and a reduction in their respiration quotient (which means that more fat is burned, thereby achieving maximum weight loss). On the other hand, those men who were only given caffeine or placebo with every meal showed only minimal increases in their metabolism rates.

The scientists construed that the substance catechin polyphenol present in green tea adds to its weight loss benefit. These substances in green tea may alter how the body uses the hormone norepinephrine which is responsible for increasing the metabolism rate, thus leading to weight loss.

In their conclusion, the scientists inferred that green tea owes its weight loss benefit to the presence of antioxidants and the substance catechin polyphenol. These substances help increase fat and calorie burning and optimize weight loss.