Food week continues: the green tea factor

Funny how I never got around to blogging this, but did you know that I give props to green tea for not only helping me lose weight after my miscarriage in 2006, but for conceiving Lucas as well?

I started drinking a Grande green tea from Starbucks every afternoon because I was looking for something besides coffee to warm me up in the afternoons. I’d heard green tea was rich in antioxidants, and I found it pretty refreshing to sip from a 16 oz cup throughout the day. Plus, as I joked with Cait from my office at the time, I just liked to think of myself as the kind of person who enjoyed green tea.

I drank it pretty much every weekday afternoon for about three months, which happened to coincide with the three months it took me to lose 10 lbs. And at the end of May of 2007 I had to quit drinking it because I found out I was pregnant. You shouldn’t drink green tea if you’re pregnant because it interferes with the absorption of folic acid, apparently.

During the summer I was pregnant, I was looking up green tea on the internet to see if it was safe to drink at all during pregnancy (I decided it was best to just stay away) and found out that there is a positive correlation between fertility and green tea. Nice to know after the fact, anyway!

And then just last month, I heard something about green tea and weight loss, so I looked that up, too. Apparently green tea also improves your metabolism to the equivalent of burning up to 100 calories per day. Over a year, that’s a full 10 lbs of weight loss, just from green tea alone. You can get green tea extract in pill form, but I don’t know about that. I do know, though, that I’m now drinking 16 oz or so of green tea every day again, and the weight is melting off again. It counts toward my eight cups of water per day, is completely calorie free, is rich in all kinds of anti-oxident goodness, and it gives me a little caffeine boost. Even the boys have noticed that my Tim Horton’s drive-thru order has migrated from “extra large, three milks” to “extra large green tea with ice cubes, please.”

Green tea. Who knew so much goodness could live in such a simple little thing. It’s also been shown to be preventative against cancer, high cholesterol and heart disease. Speaking of which, I’m off to brew myself a cup right now!

Author: DaniGirl

Canadian. storyteller, photographer, mom to 3. Professional dilettante.

8 thoughts on “Food week continues: the green tea factor”

  1. Hey, thanks! I definitely could substitute green tea for my afternoon coffee. I’m enjoying your food posts. I’m 6 months post-partum, still have a ton to lose, in large part due to summer snacking rather so I can’t blame it all on the baby, but now that the older kids are in school I can actually get some good walking in…

  2. Hey, I’m going to try it this afternoon. I had no idea!

    And – my biggest help so far is having Activia yogurt every day since the Little Guy was born. I have no scientific data, but I swear that it has made a difference.

  3. I’ve been doing the green tea thing too! I boil up a pot and drink it from a little chinese tea cup while I work. It took me awhile to figure out the best green tea brewing technique, but here is what works for me.

    1) Use cold water, one cup per teabag. (I brew two cups worth.)
    2) After it’s reached a boil, pour into warmed teapot. Let it sit for minute.
    3) Add teabag(s).
    4) Remove after one minute.

    Any longer than that (for me) tastes too bitter. This way I can drink it sugar-free. If I have any tea leftover (i.e. it’s too cold or I don’t feel like drinking anymore) I use the rest in a smoothie.

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