Drinking This In The Morning Will Help You Burn Calories All Day
Did you know the drink that helps you burn calories all day isn't coffee? It's black tea. English breakfast tea might be even better since it's a blend of different kinds of black tea. The good news is that you can still get a nice caffeine boost with your black tea in the morning like you would with coffee. Even decaf still has some caffeine, but decaffeinated black tea is more processed than regular black tea and may not have the nutrients you're looking for.
According to a 2017 study on mice, drinking black tea could boost your metabolism and produce healthy gut bacteria. Researchers didn't factor in adding milk, cream, or sweeteners to black tea and how that would affect how you burn calories. Plus, studies on humans are always better because we're not mice — we don't have the same bodies or brains.
A 2014 study had 111 people drink three cups of black tea a day for three months. The results were that the participants had significantly increased their weight loss and waist circumference when compared to a control group who drank a caffeinated drink. However, researchers did not see any sustained effects after those three months.
How drinking black tea helps burn calories
Is that amount of caffeine safe? According to the Mayo Clinic, a brewed cup of black tea (8 ounces) has 47 milligrams of caffeine, so three cups will provide you with 141 milligrams of caffeine. The Mayo Clinic states that up to 400 milligrams of caffeine daily is safe, but everyone is different in how caffeine sensitive they are, so pay attention to how you feel. If you get anxious, restless, or experience headaches, you may need to reduce your caffeine intake.
The health benefits of black tea come from the polyphenols, creating short-chain fatty acids in the gut. Black tea helps gut health by growing a pattern of bacteria similar to those found in people with lean body mass. However, the level of polyphenols found in black tea varies depending on how the tea leaves are made, the type of leaf, and how long it's fermented. Any extra processing, like that of decaffeinated tea, can lower the levels of polyphenols (via Prevention).
A 2017 study published in Nutrients found that a long-term diet rich in polyphenols helped with weight loss. Researchers studied 573 elderly participants and followed up with them after five years. Researchers of this study would like to see more studies on the weight loss effects of polyphenols with the general population.
Look for a black tea that has been the least processed so you can get higher levels of polyphenols, and then extract the most benefits from your tea from brewing it this way.