Fitness Romance SagaWill Green Tea Make My Fatty Parts Melt?
January 30th, 2011 • 28 Comments | Leave a Comment »
About a month ago I took the child-spawns to the pediatrician for their normal check-up routine. So Dr. Pediatrician (not his real name?) walks into the room and my eyeballs get a shocker. He’s lost a ton of weight!
Huh?
Dr. Pediatrician has always been chunky. I’m talking about your standard “man-gut hanging over the pants” routine. What hell is going on here! Where did his man-gut go? Has he been sick? Did his wife stop cooking? Did he take some fat burning pills that really-actually work?
So I said to him… “You’ve lost so much weight. Have you been working out?” And he says, “No. I’ve just been drinking Green Tea”.
I almost couldn’t believe it. There’s so much mumbo-jumbo out there about green tea, it’s hard to filter through all the tea bags and decide what’s myth and fact. It was great to actually know someone (and a doctor, at that) who could personally testify to the benefits of drinking green tea.
Dr. Pediatrician explained that he’s been sipping on no less than 5 cups per day of regular store brands to experience the fat melting effects. He’s also done NO exercise at all (hmmm, I don’t really like that part), but his green tea weight loss is proven by his missing man-gut. But will this work for you? Eh, I don’t know. Judging from Dr. Pediatrician’s results, it just might, but I’m not here to make you any fat-melting promises, so how about you also consider what four expert-friends of mine shared with the Yum Yucky.
What the Expert-Friends Are Saying
- Marsha Hudnall, RD: Two to four cups daily of green tea may boost metabolism due to content of EGCG. Lots of other variables at play, though, so not a magic bullet.
- Judy Weitzman (weight loss consultant): According to By Miranda Hitti of WebMD Health News, preliminary lab tests in mice show less weight and fat gain in mice with the obesity gene. However, these tests have yet to be done in humans. And when they do, a person would have to drink 7-8 glasses of green tea per day to see any results or use the green tea extract. These studies are basically saying green tea extract increases calorie and fat metabolism and decreases appetite. It isn’t dangerous, but there is not enough documented information to rate the use of green tea.
- Laurie Beebe, RD: I’m afraid I know nothing about the claims for green tea and weight loss. But I’ll tell you what I tell anyone who asks, “Does this supplement/diet plan/herbal concoction work for weight loss?” And that is, I use Oprah as my gold standard: If something works, if there is something you can take and lose weight, Oprah will discover it! She has teams of people searching for her, she wants to be thin–if there is such a thing, she will find it, she will tell us all, she will give it away on her favorite things day, and most of all she will be thin! Have you seen Oprah lately? It looks like such a product has not been discovered yet.
- Katie Heddleston, RD: You may have seen green tea extract pills in your local drug or vitamin store touting weight loss benefits, but what are these pills and are they safe? While there are many brand names, the pills claims are based around the same idea: increases calorie and fat metabolism and decreases appetite. As of right now there is insufficient evidence to rate the claims effectiveness, however, the FDA says they are possibly safe. As for green tea that you may traditionally think of, health benefits are currently being investigated. Green tea contains flavonoids and other polyphenols which act as antioxidants in the body. These antioxidants help to protect the body against free radical damage, which may protect you against cancer and heart disease.”
So what do you think about all this green tea talk? If you want to do more reading on the benefits of green tea, you can start here. And by all means, start slurping! You might just end up like Dr. Pediatrician. Unless, of course, you’re using the tea to wash down cookies, cakes and cheeseburgers. That’s just as stupid as this and that.
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28 Comments
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Tiffany @ Simply Shaka January 30th, 2011 at 22:16
I think I’m the only white girl out there who doesn’t follow what Oprah says so I LOVE that comment from the RD. I am starting to drink green tea more to replace coffee but not really for the weight loss aspects of it….purely b.c I don’t believe it. I like that it has caffeine and is an alternative to coffee so yeah, thats why I drink it. I absolutely love the picture too. Maybe I should lay on my tummy and place some bags on my booty? Green Tea Bags On The Booty, it kinda sounds like a song!!
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Josie Reply:
January 30th, 2011 at 10:22 pm
Ummm..sounds like you’ve been watching too many rap videos again.
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Coco January 30th, 2011 at 22:18
I think green tea is nasty, so if I could force myself to dirnk 5 cups a day I would lose weight because my stomach would be too unhappy to eat anything else. It just tastes like dirt.
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Josie Reply:
January 30th, 2011 at 10:21 pm
One time I ordered some green tea all the way from China. It was terrible – tasted exactly like grass (and yes, I do know what grass tastes like). I threw it out the tea, but in hindsight, I should have kept it. That stuff was expensive! I love regular store green tea now…but with peppermint.
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Charlie/Incredible Shrinking Woman January 30th, 2011 at 22:51
Yeah, I’m digging the Oprah comment. I mean, she gave away Enell Bras, and those are the best brassieres on the PLANET. So lets leave the weight loss secrets to her cause she and her crack team can afford to foot the research bill.
Until then, I’m just gonna keep lifting weights and running on my dreadmill like a good little diet drone should.
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Patrick January 30th, 2011 at 22:56
Why does it have to be green? How come there is not blue tea? Or hot pink?? I like green tea, but do not get much in my body as I seem to have a hard time boiling water and making it at home. As me to BBQ and I can win championships, but boil water and toss ina tea bag and I am as agile as a three legged centipede. Guess I need more practice. Have a great week!
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Reinaldo January 30th, 2011 at 23:04
Oh forget it. Peope ask me how do I loose the weight. I could say the thruth..:
“Well, first I attend at bodycombat 3 times a week. Then I hit the weights, and the I started to eat PALEO. Then Intermittent fasting. So yeah, I don’t eat before 5 PM, 1 liter of milk and 6 egss for breakfast at 5 PM).
The responses are almost always violent. They don’t like it. Their response feels like they spit at my face. I feel a lot of hate while answeing this question.Oh well- eat less, move more.
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444 January 30th, 2011 at 23:20
I’m a long-time green tea drinker but I sometimes don’t keep up with it (like now.) Also, do not: 1. Drink a huge mug of green tea (2 tea bags), 2. Eat oreos, and 3. Go outside and exercise, all in that order.
I steep it till it’s drinking temperature and then squeeze every drop out of that tea bag with my hands. I loathe the taste of green tea but I slug it anyway, no sugar or lemon or any sissified treatments like that, considering it “medicine.” On an empty stomach, it can make you nauseous.
It does cause acid reflux for me, maybe one of the reasons I discontinue it now and then. I should get back to it, and I’ll let you know if I lose any weight. I am more than happy to chase brownies or any sort of junk food with it. (Hmm.. maybe that’s why I don’t lose weight?)
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Jeremiah January 30th, 2011 at 23:23
I have to wonder in the case of your doc if it’s not so much the green tea, but what it was replacing in his diet. I mean, if he was drinking five sodas a day, for example, and he switched to green tea then it might just be as simple as a lower caloric intake. Whatever the case, at least it sounds like he’s on the right track.
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charlotte January 31st, 2011 at 0:06
Hahaha – I love “the Oprah standard”! I’m totally using that from now on! As for green tea, I don’t drink it (it’s against my religion – no alcohol, coffee or tea) but I’m interested to hear how it goes if you try it! PS. My dad lost 30 pounds in 40 days on that horrible HCG diet that’s going around like a case of scabies. He ate 500 cals a day and yeah he looks great but it was not the healthiest thing (IMO) and we’ll see how he keeps it off now that he’s back to RL. My point is that sometimes people do lose weight doing crazy stuff – will be interesting to see if it works long term for Dr. Ped.
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Miz January 31st, 2011 at 5:38
Ive tried to find my love of the green tea—-so far unsuccessfully.
I shall cheer you on as Ive given it a huge YUCK
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Allywan January 31st, 2011 at 7:42
I don’t know your doctor but I kind of hate him. I actually love green tea. I drink probably a liter daily and my stomach hasn’t magically floated away. AND I workout. I’m jealous, and I hope he trips up some stairs.
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Sagan January 31st, 2011 at 8:45
If green tea REALLY caused us to lose weight that fast, I’d have lost 20 lbs a year ago.
I drink green, white, and herbal tea – about a pot of it – every day. Maybe it’s because I’ve been drinking so much of it for so long that it doesn’t seem to have an affect on me? At any rate, it’s a neat concept!
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Karen January 31st, 2011 at 9:16
Wow! I have wondered about it, long hearing good things for many reasons. My husband drinks it daily but it smells bad so I have not tried it. I am into flavored tea, like coconut chocolate:) Wouldn’t it be great if I could just switch what I drink and lose weight!!!??
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Theresa @ActiveEggplant January 31st, 2011 at 9:53
I’ve heard that green tea boosts your metabolism…but I haven’t really noticed a difference since I started drinking it! (I’m replacing coffee with green tea because too much coffee gives me the shakes)!) I probably have 2-3 twelve oz glasses of green tea a day…and my weight loss is going no faster than before. So I’m with Jeremiah – maybe Dr. P is losing weight because he’s drinking the green tea instead of some other high-calorie beverage, or maybe he’s replaced donuts and bonbons with green tea?
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Tweets that mention Will Green Tea Make My Fatty Parts Melt? | Yum Yucky -- Topsy.com January 31st, 2011 at 11:12
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Josie YumYucky, Real Bodybuilders. Real Bodybuilders said: Bodybuilding – Will Green Tea Make My Fatty Parts Melt? http://bit.ly/eBkxnz by FitConnect.com [...]
dragonmamma/naomi January 31st, 2011 at 11:43
I’d like to believe it, but I suspect he’s drinking it instead of his usual five bottles of beer a day.
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BellefonteRoss January 31st, 2011 at 12:05
I have a friend who did the green tea diet, and lost a ton of weight – though, I suspect it was not because of the green tea.
He came over to my house once and said “Hey, this green tea diet really works! I just stopped drinking soda, and started drinking tea instead, and I’ve lost ton of weight”
Now.. this person used to drink several *gallons* of soda a day. I’m not a nutritionist or anything, but I’d wager that cutting out the soda was more responsible for his weight loss than the green tea was.
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Tamara January 31st, 2011 at 12:08
Ditto the commenters with the alternative explanations: he’s probably losing weight because he’s drinking tea instead of soda. Or he was dehydrated before and was mistaking thirst for hunger. You also sleep better when you’re properly hydrated, and he also has to stretch his legs to make those five cups instead of sitting at his desk for long stretches, etc. etc.
I’ve never trusted doctors about nutrition, ever since that one told my mother to put me on Atkins, which completely destroyed my health for a few weeks because I wasn’t allowed to eat vegetables. When I was put on a super-strict regimen of less than 1200 calories a day as a growing teenager and complained of being constantly hungry, a doctor told me it was because I was eating too many bananas and bananas were bad because they had a lot of sugar.
Nutrition isn’t a course they can jam into the med school curriculum, so most doctors just spout their personal opinions or what they see in the media. If they were really concerned about overall health, they would tell their patients to focus on getting exercise and eating right, not about the latest fads.
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Katie @ Healthy Heddleston Reply:
February 1st, 2011 at 4:07 pm
@Tamara, I learned in school (while becoming an RD) that doctors receive about 10 hours of nutrition class / information in med school — why? because they are not tested on it during the boards. Doctors practice medicine, not nutrition — Registered Dietitians practice nutrition because we’re trained in nutrition
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Jody - Fit at 53 January 31st, 2011 at 14:07
I think that tea has shown health benefits from many studies out there but the fact that drinking it will magically have you lose all the wight you want, I don’t buy, especially if you are very overweight or obese. You have to make lifestyle changes INCLUDING your food. No magic out there except hard work. Even with weight loss surgery, ya still have to work at it afterward.
We have one of the green tea kiosks at a local mall… people always stopping.
Heck if you like tea, drink it & enjoy it but don’t expect miracles.
Josie, did you ask your doc if he made food changes & exercised as well.. just curious.
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KCLAnderson (Karen) January 31st, 2011 at 18:06
I’m with everyone who said that green tea tastes yucky! It’s like hot bitter water. I’d have to add too many things to it in order to make it palatable and that would defeat the purpose!!
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Wifey January 31st, 2011 at 21:53
The Oprah gold standard – Classic!
Winks & Smiles,
Wifey
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Tom February 1st, 2011 at 1:17
I had really bad shaky hands from drinking coffee (I still love the occasional cup) but I always loved tea. I tried cutting out coffee and experimenting with great teas and feel much better than I did before. Yay for green tea!
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Sarah February 1st, 2011 at 10:19
I like the idea about informing people of green tea by using expert’s advice. It is important that people understand that a story from a doctor may not be the whole story. He lost weight, and said he didn’t work out but what has he been eating? Has he stopped eating pizza and only ate fruit? There is more to this story than just adding green tea to the diet. However, green tea is very good for the body and it is important to let people know that they should drink glasses of during the day. It is crucial to have expert advice in order to get the story right.
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HCGWillpower February 1st, 2011 at 10:24
I bet he never drank enough water liquid in the first place so when he started to give his body the fluid it needed to metabolize his fat cells they started to move out a bit. But I just do not buy that it was all the green tea.That stuff is just dang nasty and takes lots of sugar or cream to make palatable. There had to be portion controlling and calorie cutting some where in that gut reduction. I bet he just didn’t want to let on that he was doing a test and can’t revel the test yet because of medical malpractice reasons. He was afraid you would maybe come back at him with a sword if it didn’t work your’s fat cells off.:0)
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JIN @ SOUL + FOOD February 1st, 2011 at 13:51
This is what I discussed in my vlog today – with changes to his diet and consuming tea throughout the day (not too sure of the specifics of how much he drinks) my dad has lost around 20 lbs. My dad doesn’t eat past 7pm anymore and has been consuming more vege dishes – it helps but it’s not the whole answer to everything. I HATE HATE HATE tea, but I’m gonna suck it up and start chuggin’!
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merri February 1st, 2011 at 19:15
I love black tea and even white tea, but ive never gotten into green tea. I can only drink it if I’m at a sushi place or a chinese place. Whenever I try it at home or work it tastes blah. I think that black tea is still healthy but not as healthy, and tastes a LOT yummier, so I stick to that.
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