Since fullness has ceased to be a sign of prosperity, and “Rubens’ women” have gone out of fashion, people have been looking for a magic elixir that would allow them to lose weight without making any effort. Another trendy remedy for weight loss is green coffee, which supposedly has a miraculous ability to burn fat. But before you drink green coffee for weight loss, you should understand the composition and mechanism of its action on the body.
Benefits of green coffee
Green coffee is unroasted beans. They contain many useful substances, including:
- caffeine;
- organic acids: oxalic, tartaric, citric, malic, chlorogenic;
- vitamins PP, E, C;
- amino acids (up to 20 items).
Caffeine is an alkaloid that gives vigor and strength, accelerating metabolism. Sometimes you have to read that raw coffee has less caffeine than roasted coffee, and from this it is concluded that caffeine is formed when heated. This is not true: caffeine in beans cannot be synthesized at high temperatures. The fact is that when coffee is roasted, it loses moisture, due to which the weight decreases by 10-12%. If you take 100 g of raw beans, then after roasting they will weigh about 90 g, but the amount of caffeine will not change. Only the percentage of caffeine to the mass of grains will increase.
Vitamin PP dilates blood vessels, prevents the development of hypertension. Vitamin E is an antioxidant that slows down the aging process and accelerates regeneration. Vitamin C is also an antioxidant. It strengthens the immune system, participates in the processes of hematopoiesis.
But the most powerful antioxidant in green coffee is chlorogenic acid. It is she who is credited in advertising with the ability to burn fat. If, in terms of the content of all other useful substances, roasted coffee is almost as good as green coffee, then when heated, chlorogenic acid decomposes. Its decomposition products give the drink from roasted grains a characteristic bitterness. Green coffee contains up to 10.9% chlorogenic acid. When roasted, it becomes half as much, and only 20% remains in dark roasted beans.
How to choose green coffee for weight loss
There are several varieties of green coffee on the market:
- whole grains;
- ground coffee;
- mixtures of ground roasted (or instant) coffee with green;
- mixtures of green coffee with ginger, cardamom and other additives;
- Dietary supplement with green coffee.
Green coffee beans
When buying green bean coffee, you need to consider that it is much harder than roasted coffee, and so much so that it is highly likely to break the coffee grinder. Raw grains at home are ground in a meat grinder. Grinding them finely will not work, but the finer the grinding, the better the extraction. It is easier to buy ground green coffee.
The problem is that coffee producers do not see the need to follow any special hygiene rules. It is enough to watch any video about working on plantations, and make sure that the beans are dried on surfaces that are not too clean, coffee is stirred with garden tools, picked up, even walked on it. There is nothing wrong with this: the grains are fried at such a high temperature that all pathogenic fungi and bacteria die. But keep in mind that pathogens may well remain on raw coffee. Therefore, grains must be washed before use.
Ground green coffee
If you do not want to suffer yourself with grinding hard beans, it is better to buy ground green coffee. It is poured with hot water and insisted. The resulting drink has a very specific taste: those who have tried it describe it in the range from “spicy herbal” to “rotten straw”. Nausea is sometimes mentioned among the side effects of green coffee. It is difficult to get pleasure from the infusion, it is drunk only as a remedy.
Green coffee blends
Green coffee with additives is usually packaged in tea bags for brewing. They are convenient to use, besides, green coffee is ground very finely, which ensures good extraction.
Additives: ginger, cardamom – not only mask the taste of raw grains, but bring additional benefits. For example, green coffee with ginger for weight loss is quite effective due to the fact that ginger improves digestion, speeds up metabolism, and helps to eliminate toxins. But those who are prone to diarrhea should be wary of this combination: both ingredients are very weak.
A mixture of roasted and raw coffee has the same properties and benefits to the same extent as regular roasted coffee. For the sake of interest, you can try the drink, but if the mixture is too expensive, it makes no sense to buy it all the time.
Supplement with green coffee
Raw coffee contains many different substances, and only the manufacturer knows which ones are included in a particular product. When purchasing dietary supplements, you should carefully study the instructions. The main thing is that the amount of caffeine in the daily dose of the drug does not exceed 500 mg. Therefore, those who take dietary supplements with extracts from green coffee are advised to exclude the usual coffee drink from the diet.
Features of the green coffee diet
To make an infusion, 1-2 teaspoons of green coffee are poured into a thermos or French press and poured into a glass of water with a temperature not exceeding +90 ° C. After 15 minutes, the infusion is ready. Coffee bags are filled with hot water in a cup. To improve the taste when brewing, you can add a teaspoon of raw grated ginger root.
During the green coffee diet, it is recommended:
- drink infusion 2 times a day, half an hour before meals: in the morning and in the afternoon. If you drink the remedy at night – caffeine will not allow you to fall asleep;
- exclude or limit the use of sweet, fatty, starchy foods;
- eat more fruits and vegetables;
- after eating, you can’t sit, you need to take a walk or do physical exercises for 15-20 minutes;
- drink at least 2 liters of water a day.
Each manufacturer has its own recommendations for the duration of the diet, but usually they drink green coffee for a month, then take a break for 3-4 weeks.
Different sources give different data regarding weight loss. However, American scientists who conducted experiments claim that with the help of this diet, you can lose weight by 1 kg.
Green coffee contraindications
Chlorogenic acid slows down the flow of insulin into the blood. If moderate doses of acid enter the stomach with food, a healthy body regulates the balance of insulin and sugar. But when a person deliberately begins to take large amounts of chlorogenic acid, insulin resistance can occur – a dangerous disease in which blood sugar levels do not decrease despite the fact that more insulin is produced.
Contraindications to the green coffee diet:
- gastritis, ulcers, and other diseases of the gastrointestinal tract;
- metabolic disorders;
- diabetes;
- diseases of the pancreas and gallbladder, removed gallbladder;
- thyroid disease;
- hypertension, tachycardia;
- varicose veins;
- pregnancy and lactation.
Justification for the cost of buying green coffee
Factors affecting weight loss with a green coffee diet:
- Caffeine stimulates the synthesis of adrenaline. This hormone promotes the breakdown of fats contained in fat cells. But if there is no physical activity, there will be no effect from the use of caffeine. In addition, caffeine reduces appetite and improves digestion.
- The liquid that enters the stomach before eating creates a feeling of satiety. Accordingly, a person eats less.
- Due to the exclusion from the diet of fatty, floury and sweet foods, new fat is not formed, the body consumes existing reserves.
- The inclusion of fruits and vegetables in the diet allows you to saturate the body with vitamins, thereby reducing appetite.
- Chlorogenic acid also promotes the breakdown of fats. But it is not known how much of it is actually contained in the drink: when insisting, it does not dissolve completely. In addition to green coffee, it is found in apples, potatoes, eggplants.
conclusions
As you can see, weight loss is no longer associated with the use of green coffee, but with a change in lifestyle: proper nutrition, increased physical activity. If you drink plain water before meals, limit the intake of high-calorie foods and start moving more, then the weight will gradually begin to decrease, it is possible that even faster than 0.5 kg per week. Caffeine can be ingested from regular coffee, chlorogenic acid from vegetables.
Therefore, there is no need to rush to buy green coffee for weight loss, and those who have already bought one should not expect miracles: it will not be possible to easily get rid of extra pounds.
