Health aNd Fitness Guide

This is the fifth post in a series of Workout and Nutrition Tips by Jason Gremley.

One of the first things that Jason has recommended to his training clients looking to lose body-fat is to drink green tea on a regular basis. It definitely appears to assist in the fat-burning process and is reputed to have various health benefits.

Green tea contains compounds called phenols (also found in red wine and chocolate) that are potent antioxidants. Antioxidants combat damaging free radicals and thus may help prevent cancer and heart disease. Note that strenuous exercise generates free radical molecules and thus people who work out need antioxidants more than couch potatoes.

Green tea contains caffeine which has been shown to promote the release from body-fat of fatty acids for use as energy. But that fat-burning property of caffeine probably only works if you exercise after consuming the caffeine. If you lie around watching TV all day, caffeine by itself won’t make much of a difference in terms of weight loss. However, green tea appears to assist in body-fat loss even apart from the impact of its caffeine contents.

Because of its caffeine, green tea is a diuretic that causes a net loss of water in the body. Therefore, increase your water intake if you take up the green tea habit. However, drinking green tea for a couple days without increasing water consumption will help a fitness model get ripped for a photo shoot or a bodybuilder reduce his subcutaneous water right before a competition.

Try green tea. It’s good for your health and may be a useful weapon in your assault on body-fat.