A couple years ago, my house mate and I were on our first grocery run before our final year of college. We were making scrambled eggs and fruit smoothies each morning, and as we were headed towards the cereal aisle, something caught Brian's eye-
"Hey, we should get some green tea. What do you think?"
"Brian," I replied, my voice dripping with disdain for the beverage, "when was the last time you licked a leaf and thought to yourself, 'Hmm, if only this taste could be harnessed in a beverage...' "
Soon the gauntlet of calorie-bombs that we call the 'Holiday Season' was upon me, however, and I was looking for something to replace / punish those dessert cravings. As an experiment, I'd implemented a diet strategy that I called, 'Operation: Dessert Storm,' where I would eat nothing 'unnecessary,' meaning, I would abstain from anything like desserts or soda and eat reasonable portions of healthy food. The project was a success, and substituting a cup of green tea for, say, a tempting Mtn Dew up for grabs in the fridge, was a great way to keep my intake healthy and keep off those unwanted holiday pounds.
The widely-held but often unproven health benefits of green tea were seen by me as something of a potential bonus. Given the knowledge that I've acquired within physiology, I knew that green tea consumption was not likely going to 'spike my fat burning metabolism,' or, 'specifically reduce stomach fat.' Recent research even indicates that substantial intake of antioxidants doesn't benefit the endurance athlete as the by-products of exercise -including free radicals - are necessary to induce the physiological repair that leads to greater fitness. Given the articles on popular 'health' websites, though, one would think that green tea can not only fight free radicals and burn fat, but can also cure cancer, clean up the oil spill tragedy in the Gulf, and divert asteroids headed towards Earth. There are some well-supported health benefits of green tea that you can read about here, and that's right, it's a Wikipedia article.
A Green Tea Crème Frappuccino. Not the kind of green tea you should regularly incorporate into your diet
Not convinced and in need of a basic example of the benefit of incorporating green tea into your diet? Let's target soda. If you have one sugary soda about every three days, you'll have had 20 in two months and have added about 1 pound in bodyweight (~3,400 calories) and an incredible amount of sugar to your diet. 'But I drink diet soda,' you contend, which is zero calories and no sugar, it says right on the can. It's also filled with chemicals that have no place in a triathlete's body, including artificial sweeteners that may alter one's neurochemistry and increase the desire for sugar-laden foods, compelling you to dominate that nearby cupcake (here's an entry examining diet soda). If you look at soda and don't solely feel pure disdain, and have desires to be competitive in triathlon, I would challenge you to incorporate green tea into your daily regimen.
The previous statement doesn't apply to root beer, which is delicious.
If you find yourself too frequently indulging in calorie dense treats, drinking sugary beverages, or even eating surplus amounts of healthy food, I would challenge you to incorporate green tea as a healthy, or at the very least, health-neutral, replacement.
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Final aside: The Green Tea Frappuccino - or, to be proper, the Tazo Green Tea Crème Frappuccino - at Starbucks is ironically chock full of calories, with a Grande, made with non-fat milk and without whip cream, registering at 290 calories. Apparently the Green Tea Crème is a little bit too heavy on the latter, and probably with good reason. With the six bitter cups I drank today as evidence, it takes that much cream to make green tea taste good. I may drink it as a purportedly healthy addition to my diet, but that doesn't mean I have to like it.
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