The Truth About Weight Loss Teas

 

*Photo Credit - Katie Smith

 

A quick google of weight loss teas will yield you a staggering number of results for teas that are claimed to be able to make you lose weight.

Clever titles such as “10 Pounds In 10 Days!” and “Melt The Fat Away” will litter your screen. Some of them will even feature celebrity endorsements.

Many of the weight loss and cleansing teas that you find actually contain large amounts of laxatives. Some of that weight you’re losing definitely is not fat. And most of the time, any weight that is lost is gone for a short period of time before being re-gained.

To make matters worse, when you do the math on the servings that are included, some of these teas cost as much as $50 per ounce!

All that aside, there is no such thing as a quick and easy method to weight loss that lasts. That includes the fact that no tea is going to magically burn away fat on it’s own.

Weight loss is the natural result of living a healthy and clean lifestyle, most of the time. As in, you don’t have to be perfect 100% of the time to lose weight.

That said, there are teas that can help your body burn off fat, with one major caveat. They only work if the rest of your diet and lifestyle are in order.

There is so much information out there that losing weight can start to seem like a very complicated and difficult thing to do. But it doesn’t have to be.

Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma and several other great works, said it best: “Eat food. Mostly plants. Not too much.”

If you care for a bit more detail, here are some tips.

 

Eliminate Processed Sugars And Minimize Complex Carbohydrates

Sugar gets quickly stored by your body in your liver and as fat. It’s in nearly everything so it's easy to consume way too much of it.

Because it’s so easy to load up on sugars, your body will continue to use it as energy, neglecting to burn fat.

Of course quitting sugar is easier said than done if you have a deeply ingrained sweet tooth. Trust me, I know from personal experience. But it’s not a lost cause.

Gymnema is a great way to help yourself quit sugar. The short story is that it blocks your ability to taste sugar for about an hour.

If taken regularly, it can actually kill sugar cravings completely. You won’t even miss it.

If you want more information on how to use it, reply to the e-mail and I will walk you through it personally.

The rest of these tips will contribute to kicking your sugar habit along with losing weight.

 

Eat More Lean Protein

Chicken, turkey, grass fed beef, eggs and some fish are all great ways to increase fat loss. If you don’t eat meat, beans, quinoa and hemp protein are all great sources of protein.

A lot of modern conventional wisdom suggests that we need a lot more protein than we actually do. So you don’t need to go drive yourself crazy by over analyzing what you’re eating.

Your body also works harder to digest protein which increases your caloric output. The effect is called TEF - Thermic Effect Of Feeding. It refers to the increased energy used by your body to breakdown protein.

 

Increase Your Fiber Intake

I’m sure this sounds completely obvious but there are a few reasons why fiber is so important.

First it helps keep your digestion clear by moving things along.

Second it slows down the breakdown of food while contributing to TEF and helping you feel full for longer.

Third, beneficial gut bacteria feeds off of fiber. This is essential to healthy digestion.

 

Be Sure To Eat Healthy Fats

Healthy fats in the absence of sugar and excess carbs helps your body actually burn more body fat. Foods like avocados, nuts, and nut butters are great sources of healthy fats.

Coconut milk and almond milk are also great sources.

 

Get Lots Of Exercise

Move it and use it or lose it. That’s the cardinal rule when it comes to our bodies.

You don’t need to become the ultimate gym warrior or complete a triathlon.

The key is just to move and challenge your body. Biking, yard work, weight training, swimming, hiking, rowing, are all great for you. In fact, one of the best ways to keep yourself feeling great is to mix it up and do a combination of activities you enjoy.

Anything is better than sitting for extended periods of time.

 

Drink LOTS Of Water

Staying hydrated is one of the most over looked and important things you can do for your body. It seems obvious until you look back over the course of a day and realize you haven’t had a glass of water for a few hours.

One of the easiest ways to make sure you are consuming enough water is to find a couple teas you enjoy and drink them regularly. Happy Place and Joyful Garden are a couple examples of teas that taste shockingly good despite the lack of added sugar and abundance of health benefits.

Good quality tea like what you will find at Loose Leaf Tea Market can be re-steeped anywhere from twice to as many 10 times or more, depending on the tea you are drinking.

Ginseng Green Dragon is a good example of a tea you could brew two or three times. I often will steep Bulletproof Breakfast more than 7 times in a day.

It’s also worth noting that there are studies that show that green tea helps to slightly increase fat burning. And oolong has been shown to burn as much as 16% more fat than green tea.

Again, this is significant only if you are eating well and exercising.

That being said, Sleek & Slender is a great tea for stimulating your digestion and improving the assimilation of your food. There are also a couple of herbs in the formula, Garcinia and Chickweed, that help your body use fat for energy. Again, the effect is all but nullified if your diet isn’t in order.

Sorry to sound like a broken record, but I just can’t stress enough how important diet and exercise are. It’s not necessarily what people want to hear, but that’s how it is.

Weight loss teas do not exist. But teas that support and enhance your positive healthy efforts do. When you set your goal to get healthy, weight loss naturally occurs as your body balances and rights itself.