I think we can all agree that it would be nice to have a miracle drink for weight loss, one where we could just take a few sips and instantly shed the pounds.

But sadly, this doesn’t exist. And even though there isn’t a miracle weight loss beverage for us to enjoy, there are types of drinks that can help support our goals as we pursue a healthy lifestyle.

Tea is one of the most talked-about of these “weight loss drinks,” so we decided to learn as much as we can about why it’s so highly talked about among those wanting to lose weight.

To do this, we spoke to Lauren Manaker, MS, RDN, author of The First Time Mom’s Pregnancy Cookbook and Fueling Male Fertility and member of the Eat This, Not That! Medical Expert Board, and her response? That she supports using tea for weight loss as long as it’s coupled with a healthy diet.

Read on to learn more about what Manaker has to say on how tea can help you lose weight, and for more healthy eating tips, make sure to sign up for our newsletter to get daily recipes and food news in your inbox!

What makes drinking green tea so effective for weight loss

The natural ingredients found in certain teas can make them great for supporting weight loss and weight management. For example, according to Manaker, “green tea contains catechins, which are antioxidants that have been linked to fat loss and an increased metabolism.”

There are different types of catechins found in green tea, and one of the most predominant is known as EGCG. Many researchers attribute most of green tea’s health benefits to its high quantity of catechins like EGCG.

Catechins in green tea have been known to support weight loss in a multitude of ways, including shrinking fat cells, blocking the formation of new fat cells, and regulating blood sugar.

RELATED: 11 Healthiest Drinks for Weight Loss

Green tea isn’t the only tea for weight loss

According to Manaker, “other teas, like black and oolong, have been shown to support weight loss too.” There hasn’t been as much research done on these types of tea as there has been for green tea, but current data shows they can still be helpful for your goals.

A study from the Chinese Journal of Integrative Medicine discovered that obese and overweight participants who consumed a daily serving of oolong tea for six weeks saw a decrease in body fat. Part of oolong’s health benefits could be attributed to its catechin content as well, but green tea still contains the highest amount.

A recent study published in the European Journal of Nutrition found surprising results related to black tea and its potential weight loss benefits as well.

Researchers in this study learned that black tea might actually be able to alter the bacteria in your gut, which can attribute to weight loss. However, this study was performed on mice, so more research still needs to be done.

RELATED: 5 Best Metabolism-Boosting Teas for Weight Loss

How you drink your tea matters

Teas like green, oolong, and black can be great for supporting your weight loss goals, but Manaker reminds us that how you drink your tea makes a huge difference.

“If the tea is replacing caloric drinks like regular sodas, any variety would likely be a good choice when supporting weight loss,” says Manaker, “and as long as the tea isn’t being enjoyed with a large amount of sugar, honey, cream, or other caloric additions, it can be a fantastic choice for weight loss support as well as overall health support.”

So when reaching for a cup of tea to help you with your weight loss goals, just remember that although it can help you, it’s your daily food, movement, and sleep choices that make all the difference.

For more healthy eating news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!

Read these next:

Source link

The post The Final Verdict on Drinking Tea for Weight Loss — Eat This Not That appeared first on Heal your health yourself.

For many people, the pursuit of weight loss feels like a never-ending goal. Seeing the number on the scale go up or struggling to button your jeans can have you eagerly seeking out the latest crash diet to help get you back into fighting form in a hurry.

However, if you want to lose those extra pounds and keep them off in the long run, unsustainable fad diets aren’t the way to go. With the help of registered dietitians, we’ve rounded up the very best foods for weight loss—no crash diets needed. And for more great ways to shed the pounds, check out these 15 Underrated Weight Loss Tips That Actually Work.

They say an apple a day keeps the doctor away—and it can help keep the extra pounds away, too.

“Apples are a good source of fiber (a medium apple has about 5 grams), helping slow down digestion, enhancing satiety, controlling appetite, and reducing overall energy intake,” says Cheryl Mussatto, MS, RD, LD, clinical dietitian at the Cotton O’Neil Endocrinology and Diabetes Clinic and author of The Nourished Brain.

“Apples also have the added benefit of a natural plant compound called ursolic acid that increases fat-burning. Other compounds found in apples are also good for those trillions of bacteria living in our guts, improving our gut microflora. That means we have better digestion and better excretion of fats,” add Mussatto.

RELATED: The One Diet That Will Slim Down Your Waistline, Says Dietitian

If you want to lose a few pounds without going hungry, try incorporating some citrus fruit into your daily meal plan.

“Oranges and grapefruit not only are low calorie and a good source of fiber (60 calories and 3 grams of fiber in oranges and 100 calories and 4 grams of fiber in grapefruit), but studies have also shown they contain flavonoids that favor weight loss and may reduce risk of chronic disease like type 2 diabetes by preventing metabolic syndrome,” says Mussatto, citing 2009 research conducted by researchers at the University of Western Ontario.

Inexpensive, versatile, and delicious, oatmeal is a great choice if you want to lose weight and keep it off.

“Oats are a great source of soluble fiber, which slows digestion and promotes the feeling of fullness both during and after a meal,” says Sylvia Melendez-Klinger, MS, RD, founder of Hispanic Communications and a member of the Grain Foods Foundation’s Scientific Advisory Board.

“In fact, oatmeal has been scientifically-proven to help you feel full between meals, and one study found that oatmeal for breakfast may lead you to consume a lower-calorie lunch by promoting satiety. In addition, whole grain and cereal fiber intake have been found to be associated with lower total percent body fat and lower abdomen fat mass.”

Whether you’re using them as a protein-rich replacement for meat in your favorite dish or adding them to a salad, beans are a great way to stay full for longer while slimming down.

“As long as they have little to no added sugar, canned beans or cooked beans are a great choice to support weight loss,” says Melendez-Klinger.

“Research on beans has proven that you not only get filling high-quality protein, iron, fiber, and many important vitamins and minerals, but they’ve also been linked to living longer. The Blue Zones study demonstrated that centenarians ate about a half-cup of beans regularly, which played a significant role in their longevity and overall health, which included a weight within range,” she adds.

RELATED: How to Lose Weight Starting Right Now, According to Dietitians

If you’re looking for an easy way to stay full without loading up on calories, Melendez-Klinger recommends adding some soy to your meals.

“These legumes may aid in weight management because they are a low-fat plant-based protein that can be used at any meal and as a snack—for example, using textured vegetable protein in place of high-calorie, high-fat ground beef in meatloaf, soy flour in baked goods, or tofu in place of cheese in a dish such as lasagna. In fact, research shows that when combined with a healthy lifestyle soy can help with losing weight as well as weight maintenance,” says Melendez-Klinger, citing a review of research published in the International Journal of Medical Sciences.

Whether you’re ricing it, baking it, or pureeing it into a soup, cauliflower is a great choice for anyone trying to lose weight.

“Cauliflower is a good food for weight loss. The fiber content helps to maintain a feeling of fullness and satisfaction. Fiber slows stomach emptying. It passes through the digestive tract undigested and provides very little in the way of calories to the body,” explains Jinan Banna, PhD, RD, a registered dietitian and associate professor of nutrition at the University of Hawaii.

An easy and delicious addition to salads, sandwiches, or even pasta dishes, tuna is a great addition to any weight loss diet.

“Tuna is a great source of lean protein. It is very low in fat but very high in protein, keeping you full and satisfied. Tuna also contains many minerals, including zinc and choline,” says Kristen Carli, MS, RD, owner of Camelback Nutrition & Wellness and writer for Fit Healthy Momma.

For the latest weight loss tips delivered to your inbox, sign up for our newsletter!

Read this next:

Source link

The post The Final Verdict On The Best Foods for Weight Loss, Say Dietitians — Eat This Not That appeared first on Heal your health yourself.

When you start on a new diet, you’ll take any simple tip to make it effective, right? Well, one purported weight loss trick stirred interest on social media this week when a TikTok user suggested adding lemon juice to coffee can help torch fat faster. A British nutritionist flat-out debunked the claim… but, a veteran registered dietitian tells us, depending on how you look at this, it’s possible some people could actually see some change on the scale from this coffee-lemon juice combo.

Karen Graham, RD, CDE is a registered dietitian and certified diabetes educator for over 30 years, as well as a winner of Canada’s National Health Information Award. This week, we asked Graham to weigh in on a TikTok post by Hilda Braso, as reported by Newsweek.

Keep reading to see what this dietitian had to say, and check out Adele Finally Reveals Her 4 Weight Loss Secrets for Shedding 100 Pounds.

@life.of.hildaFinally answers for y’all ##coffeeandlemonweightlosschallenge ##coffeeandlemondiet ##coffeeandlemongforweightloss ##viral ##fyp ##foryoupage♬ The Magic Bomb (Questions I Get Asked) [Extended Mix] – Hoàng Read

In her recent TikTok post, Braso seemed to indicate she’d been putting lemon juice in coffee as part of a growing online #coffeeandlemondiet challenge for users to lose weight.

After a week of trying this, she posted to report that she’d quashed the method because it hadn’t worked. According to Newsweek, Marcela Fiuza, a dietitian and member of the British Dietetic Association (BDA), said that’s no wonder: “There is no physiological explanation that would justify mixing coffee and lemon to lose weight,” she said.

Graham’s initial take? “My immediate thought is that doesn’t sound very tasty,” the dietitian told Eat This, Not That!. “I wouldn’t want lemon juice in my coffee.”

Subscribe to the Eat This, Not That! newsletter for fresh news delivered daily.

Graham, who specializes in diabetes education, says, “We do know that [lemon juice] decreases the glycemic index, the rate at which blood sugar is absorbed into the blood.”

So, she adds, “If you include lemon juice with a meal—salad, coffee, sprinkled on fish—it slows down how quickly you absorb the carbohydrates from all the foods in that meal. That’s well known.” Graham says this means “your sugars won’t raise as quickly, so that’s good.”

One note on this, Graham advises: You typically have to use around at least half a teaspoon for the lemon juice to have this effect on your body’s sugar uptake.

RELATED: Ways Drinking Lemon Water Helps You Lose Weight, Says Science

However, lemon juice’s effect on blood sugar “doesn’t mean it’s going to help you with weight loss,” Graham says, adding that the lemon juice-coffee blend in and of itself is “questionable” as a dieting hack.

RELATED: One Major Effect of Drinking Seltzer Water, Science Says

Graham noted a few possible reasons this lemon juice in coffee weight loss challenge could show a difference on the scale. “Maybe that cuts [an individual’s] appetite and they don’t eat as much,” she said. “Maybe that’s because the blood sugars don’t go up as high, you’re a little more satisfied. It’s indirect. It doesn’t make sense unless it’s a secondary benefit on the appetite.”

“Usually when you add lemon into something, you have to add either salt or sugar to balance that flavor in terms of recipe development,” Graham notes. In the case of dieting, she says: “Make sure there isn’t added sugar added in there.”

RELATED: The Surprising Effect Reducing Sodium May Have on Your Blood Sugar, New Study Says

“Eating is so much our mind—it’s our whole perception of what is satisfying to us,” this dietitian reflects. “So if someone feels that having lemon juice in their coffee and they notice they’re losing a little bit of weight, maybe it’s because they’ve altered something else in their behavior. If you enjoy it, do it.”

And if you enjoy more food news, get it here:

Source link

The post The Final Verdict on Adding Lemon Juice to Your Coffee for Weight Loss, Says Dietitian appeared first on Heal your health yourself.