If you are currently on a journey to shed some kilos, it is almost certain that you have changed diets, incorporated exercises in your daily routine, and eliminated sugary drinks.

You are definitely on the right path, but this is not all you can do to reach your target weight and stay healthy. It’s also important to take a closer look at what you’re drinking. While sipping the wrong beverages would balloon your waistline, learning what you should be drinking could be a powerful tool in your journey.

Thankfully, upgrading your beverage habit is a lot easier than changing your entire diet – or that is what we like to think. But incorporating this particular beverage in your weight-loss to-do list is bound to help you greatly, especially as it slashes your calorie intake and supercharges your weight loss efforts.

And no, it is not some fancy magic drink in a colourful bottle with a long list of active ingredients you can almost not get through. Chances are that you might have it already  sitting pretty in your pantry but may simply not know how beneficial it is to you at this point in time.

Let’s cut to the chase: it’s tea. Green tea to be precise.

This steeped drink has been shown to have exceptional weight-loss powers. An International Journal of Obesity meta-analysis that looked at the results of 11 studies found a significant link between drinking green tea and weight loss. Another study published in the European Journal of Nutrition found that Americans who consumed the hottest tea were less likely to be obese than those who didn’t drink tea. Not only did tea-drinkers have lower BMIs and smaller waistlines, but they also appeared to have a lower risk of cardiovascular disease and inflammation.

Researchers believe that the weight regulating benefits of green tea can be attributed to its high levels of catechins, a specific class of bioactive compounds. The most prevalent catechin, EGCG (Epigallocatechin-3-gallate), has been shown to be responsible for much of the health-promoting effects of green tea. Although more research is needed to determine just how these compounds can help you lose weight, they believe that green tea catechins can increase fat oxidation, boost metabolism, decrease appetite, and may even block your cells from storing sugar as fat.

You won’t just be reaping weight loss benefits from green tea’s catechins, you’ll also get another fat-melting boost from caffeine. Ample evidence supports that caffeine stimulates the breakdown of fat as well as a boost in your calorie-burning metabolism. Researchers believe that it’s this synergistic combination of catechins and caffeine that makes green tea one of the best drinks for weight loss.

So how much tea do you need to drink per day to see the benefits?

The number varies based on the study. Some have shown health benefits in people who drink just one cup per day, while others say five or more cups is optimal. The European Journal of Nutrition study mentioned earlier found the greatest weight regulating benefits for those who drank multiple cups each day.

With multiple being more than one; however, those who consumed just one cup daily also reaped benefits.

However many cups you will eventually be downing a day, remember to pair it with all the other habits of exercise and a healthy diet you are already following. Like many other things in life, there is no one magic formula to shed extra weight.

Source: Eat This, Not That!