Reducing Cholesterol And Body Fat With Tea

Reducing Cholesterol And Body Fat With TeaCopyright (c) 2007 Jon M. StoutGolden Moon Teahttp://www.GoldenMoonTea.comHigh cholesterol, heart disease and obesity are serious healthissues, and seem to go hand in hand. A diet heavy in highcholesterol foods like meat, cheese and eggs can cause weightgain and high cholesterol levels. High cholesterol levels andbeing overweight, in turn, lead to heart disease. So, gettingcholesterol levels and weight under control are significantfactors in reducing the risk of heart disease.To reduce cholesterol levels and take off extra pounds, reducethe amount of red meats in your diet, replacing them with poultryand fish. Eat low fat dairy products, and limit your intake ofegg yolks. Eat high fiber, whole grain products like oatmeal, asthese can help reduce cholesterol levels. Be certain that you'reeating lots of fruits and vegetables - fresh is best, and avoidprocessed foods. These dietary changes should help you loseexcess weight and lower your cholesterol levels.In addition to dietary changes, exercise is very important inweight maintenance and lowering cholesterol. Aim for 30 minutesof cardiovascular activity 3-5 times a week (walking is fine). Inaddition, 20 minutes of strength training 3 times a week is alsobeneficial. Strength training helps you tone and build muscle.Since muscle burns more calories than fat even at rest, addingsome extra muscle speeds up your metabolism, which helps youmaintain, or reduce, your weight. In addition, since we all beginto lose some muscle mass each year beginning as early as age 30,building muscle helps compensate for this loss, keeping youstrong as you age.Tea May Help, TooIn addition to making changes to your diet and exercise habits,drinking tea may be helpful, too. In the last few years, therehas been a great deal of research on the benefits of tea. Tea isrich in anti-oxidants, which are known to slow down the agingprocess and prevent disease. Studies have shown tea, particularlygreen tea, to be effective at preventing heart disease and someforms of cancer. Green tea is found to be more effective thanother types of tea because of the way it's processed. Green teais not fermented, which helps to keep the anti-oxidants in theirmost natural, healthy state.In addition to helping prevent disease, tea has also been shownto be an effective way to help lose weight. Tea containscaffeine, which has been shown in many studies to speed themetabolism. However, tea has been shown to be a more effectiveweight loss supplement than other beverages that containcaffeine. So, researchers have concluded that it is more thanjust the caffeine that makes tea so effective. It is believedthat it is the combination of tea's caffeine and itsanti-oxidants, known as catechins, that work together to helpwith weight loss.In addition to speeding up metabolism, it is also believed thattea can promote the oxidation of fat, making weight loss comemore easily. Tea also seems to regulate insulin levels in theblood, which may be of benefit to those whose weight has madethem insulin resistant, a precursor to diabetes. People withinsulin resistance are often overweight and have trouble losingthe weight because the body doesn't process insulin properly.One research study on this subject is particularly interesting.The study looked at Japanese men and measured their body fat andLDL cholesterol levels. First, the participants were put on amonitored diet for a two week period of time. Then theparticipants were divided into groups with similar BMIs and waistcircumference. The study period was 12 weeks, during which timethe participants ate a controlled diet and received one of twobeverages as a supplement. The beverages were either oolong teacontaining 690 milligrams of tea catechins or oolong teacontaining 22 milligrams of tea catechins.At the end of the study period, the subjects were evaluated onfat loss, body weight, BMI and LDL cholesterol levels.Participants who received the tea supplement containing 690milligrams of tea catechins had significantly lower body weight,BMI, body fat and cholesterol levels over the participants whoreceived the tea containing 22 milligrams of tea catechins. Thestudy concluded that with similar diet and exercise routines,drinking tea produced better weight loss results and loweredcholesterol more than diets that did not contain such high levelsof tea catechins.It's important to note that this study did not measure theeffects of tea's caffeine on participants. In fact, the oolongtea consumed by each group contained the same amount of caffeine.So, this study leads us to believe that it is the tea catechinsrather than the caffeine that produces weight loss results.Many people take supplements for weight loss, and many of themprove to have negative side effects or to be unhealthy overall.This is another reason that using tea as a weight loss supplementis preferable to relying on other types of supplements. Tea isgenerally healthy and has no side effects. In fact, most peoplewho are normally sensitive to caffeine can tolerate tea'scaffeine without experiencing side effects. So, if you'reworking to control your weight and cholesterol levels, there maybe no better ally than drinking some tea. http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/reprint/81/1/122-------------------------------------------------------Jon M. Stout is Chairman of the Golden MoonTea Company. For more information about tea,(http://www.goldenmoontea.com/greentea) green tea (http://www.goldenmoontea.com/blacktea) and black tea go to http://www.goldenmoontea.com