Green tea is a popular drink for fat loss and general health. It is often consumed because it is marketed as an alternative to low-calorie or calorie-free soft drinks that contain antioxidants and other important nutrients. However, there are many different types of green tea, and not all varieties are the same.
Bottled green tea
Green tea is available in bottled form at any large supermarket, marketed under various brands. Green tea in this form is generally sweetened with sugar or high-fructose corn syrup or an artificial sweetener such as sucralose or aspartame. A 17.5-ounce bottle of Snapple Green Te, sweetened with sugar, contains 60 calories in an 8-ounce serving, which is 130.75 calories for the entire bottle.
Green tea powder
It can also be found instantly and in powder. This is often marketed as a frappe-style blend. A green frappé tea is generally made from the matcha or tea leaves themselves. The Island Tea’s brand of powdered teas can be sweetened with cane sugar, which produces 30 calories. There is also a xylitol sweetener option that contains 22 calories. Unlike bottle green tea, these are mixed with milk to create a complete drink.
Green tea in sachets
Green tea is available in the familiar form of teabags. These are collections of tea leaves that measure 2 g that the user immerses in hot water to prepare. According to the liptont.com website, a 1.8g bag of tea contains 0 calories. The teabags contain only tea leaves. Powdered and bottled green tea contains other ingredients that contribute to its calorie content, such as sweeteners or even milk.
Loose green tea
Loose green tea leaves are typically heated in a glass of water before drinking. Like tea bags, they contain 0 calories. Some sources claim that tea made from loose leaves has even greater health benefits than tea bags. In any case, both forms of tea preparation with more traditional methods are low in caloric content, while powdered and bottled tea are largely the same as other modern drinks and soft drinks mixes in caloric content and other ingredients.
Green tea with sugar
Sugar is the most popular tea supplement, while it is also the most harmful and one of the most high-calorie ingredients. So, in 1 teaspoon of sugar contains as many as 16 kilocalories. Therefore, with an increase in the number of spoons, the overall energy value increases.
For example, take the standard version of drinking tea: 2 tsp. sugar per ordinary cup, the volume of which is 200 ml. If we add up all the above values, we can conclude that the calorie content of such a cup will be approximately 34-35 kilocalories. Accordingly, when drinking tea 3 times a day, you will receive only 105 kilocalories from it, although it seems that tea is just tinted water that does not have nutritional value.
Thus, if you want to lose weight and carefully calculate your daily calorie intake, then you should refuse to add sugar.
Green tea with ginger
Ginger is not only an aromatic spice with an acutely sweet taste but also an effective means for losing weight, which accelerates the breakdown of body fat. As a rule, green tea is simply brewed in the usual way, and the ginger root is ground and added to the teapot at the rate of 20 g of ginger per 400 ml of water.
With such proportions, the calorie content of ginger infusion will be 18 kilocalories per 200 ml. If you add it to the value of the tea itself, it turns out that in one cup of green tea with ginger contains 20 kilocalories. Not so little, but also much less than with sugar.
Black and green tea
The calorie content of black tea is slightly higher than that of the green variety. The difference is explained by the fact that black tea undergoes deeper fermentation during the production process, during which complex compounds with increased energy value are synthesized in it. It is also worth noting that dry brewing of different types of tea has different calories (based on 100 g):
- black long tea, puer – 151.8 calories;
- white, yellow, green tea, oolong tea – 140.9 calories.
If you count the nutritional value of the finished infusion, it turns out that 100 ml of black tea contains only 3-5 kilocalories. For ease of calculation, an average value (4 kcal) is usually taken.
Thus, the calorie content of black tea is 4 times higher than the calorie content of green tea (8 and 2 kcal per cup of the first and second drink, respectively). In fact, such a low value will not affect the daily diet, so you can safely drink any tea to your liking.
Is it possible to lose weight with green tea
It was already mentioned above that green tea is considered an effective means of weight loss. The fact is that it contains a large number of different vitamins, minerals, and valuable substances, some of which are able to accelerate energy processes in the body.
So, thanks to polyphenols, the metabolism is accelerated. Scientists estimate that drinking from 4 to 6 cups of green tea per day can speed up metabolism by 20-35%. In addition, tea promotes the accelerated absorption of complex fats and the breakdown of accumulated body fat. The combination of these properties suggests that green tea actually burns fat to a certain extent.
In addition, tea has a diuretic effect and is also able to reduce appetite due to the normalization of blood sugar. All this additionally helps to lose weight.
Despite all of the above, you need to understand that green tea is not a magical tool that will immediately save you from unwanted kilograms. The beneficial properties of the drink can only stimulate weight loss, subject to the proper diet and exercise.
The calorie content of green tea is very small, but keep in mind that the addition of sugar or other similar ingredients dramatically increases the energy value of the drink. In order to lose weight, it is better to add ginger to tea, which will help break down fat deposits. Nevertheless, it is important to understand that even the most useful and low-calorie tea cannot lead to instant weight loss.
Other benefits of green tea
In addition to its status as a 0 calorie drink, green tea has other benefits for drinkers looking to lose weight. According to a study cited in Medical News Today, green tea contains an active ingredient known as catechins. Introducing these catechins into a diet for 90 days resulted in significantly improved body composition. The study indicated that “these effects were more pronounced in the group that consumes the largest amount of catechins and the results also indicate that the effects are particularly strong in the fat located in the abdominal region.”
