The Right Way to Take Oolong Tea for Weight Loss

Even though history isn’t very specific on the origins of tea, there is a legend that tea began in China, in 2737 BC, when an emperor was drinking boiled water under a tree. A leaf fell into the water of the emperor who was also a herbalist. The tree was Camellia Sinensis, which is a tree that produces tea leaves. Containers of tea have been found in tombs and they date back in the Han dynasty, which was 206 BC to 220 AD. It spread to other countries including Europe, Britain and the United States from there.

Health Benefits

Antioxidants

The antioxidants in Oolong tea can help you strengthen the bone structure. They also protect your teeth against decay. There have been a number of studies that have concluded that long-time tea drinkers don’t lose bone mineral density over time like others as they age.

Regulates Blood Sugar

Oolong tea can be used with drugs in order to treat diabetes. It’s never recommended that you replace your prescribed medications, but Oolong tea can really help you further balance your sugar levels in the blood, which reduced and often prevented sudden fluctuations in the levels.

Weight Loss

Oolong tea contains caffeine and that’s a proven method to increase metabolism. Along with the increase in metabolism for weight loss, it inhibits the absorption of fats and carbohydrates. The antioxidants in Oolong tea can block fat-building enzymes in the body, too.

Does it Work?

The American Society for Nutritional Sciences did a study in 2001 to the increased metabolic rate and fat oxidation of Oolong tea. They found that men who drank Oolong tea five times a day for only three days significantly increased the fat oxidation and metabolic rate in their bodies!

Preparing Oolong Tea

During the period of preparation, it’s very important to use lower temperatures to brew the tea. Along with lower temperatures, a shorter steep time will preserve the beneficial properties of the tea. Boiling water and a longer steep time can remove healthy catechins from the tea.

Catechins are polyphenols that keeps your metabolism high during weight loss efforts. In some teas, these catechins are fermented to turn them into other chemicals called theaflavins. Oolong tea is partially fermented so that it has both catechins and theaflavins.

It’s recommended that you have a kettle to heat your water, a thermometer to keep it from boiling and a filter or strainer for the tea leaves. You should use six ounces of water with a tablespoon of tea. Put the tea leaves directly into the bottom of the cup or in and infuser and pour the water over the leaves.

Place a saucer over the cup and steep for one to five minutes depending on whether you’re using leaf-style tea or rolled tea. Tea that is loose leaves will steep quickly compared to rolled leaves.

To stop the steeping process, remove the infuser or strain the loose leaves from the cup.

Recipes:

You can brew your own Oolong tea and then chill it for other recipes from smoothies and iced teas to a base for your barbecue chicken! It’s best to drink warm tea so that you can get many of the weight loss benefits. You can still get some great tasting and healthy foods that will help you lose weight.

Oolong Tea Smoothie

Ingredients:

• 1 red grapefruit
• ½ a cup of brewed, chilled Oolong tea
• 4 ice cubes
• Sweetener

Add your ingredients to a blender and enjoy a morning smoothie. Along with the grapefruit, you can add other citrus ingredients like orange slices to give you a boost of vitamin C as well.

Oolong Tea Smoked Chicken

Ingredients:

• 3 tablespoons of sea salt
• 1 teaspoon of grated orange zest
• 1 teaspoon of fine ginger
• Chicken wings or legs as desired
• 2 tablespoons of peppercorns
• ½ a cup of dark brown sugar
• ½ a cup of Oolong tea leaves
• 3 cinnamon sticks
• 2 cloves
• 2-star anise

Ground the peppercorns with the salt, zest and ginger and rubbed over the chicken. This should be set aside for a few hours to infuse the chicken.

Line a large pot with foil and place a rack inside the pot to suspend the chicken. On the foil, place the mixture of smoking ingredients, which includes the tea leaves, cinnamon sticks, cloves, brown sugar and star anise.

Place the pot over high heat for 15 minutes to smoke the chicken. A lid will have to add to secure the smoke inside the pot. After 15 minutes, the chicken should be removed from the smoking pot. It can be removed from the pot and finished in the oven until done.