Hello, my lovelies! ♥

So, for a while now, I have been trying to find a store that sells Oolong or Wu Long tea, and had no luck until I just went to a health store and found a pack in there. It was cheaper than buying online but I hope it'll have the same benefits listed here on Jing Tea. On there the tea is specifically a diet tea, while in the health store or on the package it didn't say much about using it for dieting.

The reason I wanted to try it? Well, I heard and read about it a few times on the internet and it seems to have wonderful slimming and detoxing benefits, as described on the website:

"Wu-Long Tea is an incredibly flavourful tea from the stems of 

the tea plants among the mineral rich mountains of Wu Yi in 

China. So it is also called Wu Yi Tea.

As seen in Oprah's magazine 'O', and other fine publications, 

Wu-Long tea is a powerful natural slimming solution available 

to the public today. It's unique combination of ingredients 

working synergistically for efficient weight reduction.

Experts agree regular consumption of Wu-Long tea may help 

contribute to a healthy body figure maintenance; Oprah Winfrey 

and Rachael Ray enjoy 3 times a day or more. This Chinese 

secret has been traditionally used for centuries as a way to 

skyrocket energy and combat obesity, but now this secret has 

been unearthed and brought to you. If you are finally ready to

start losing weight safely, healthily and effortlessly, then 

Wu-Long tea might be the answer to your prayers."

Sounds good to me. I drink a lot of green tea already, so why not?

Oolong Tea Benefits

• Weight Management: 

"The polyphenol compound found in oolong tea is very effective in controlling the metabolism of fat in the body. It activates certain enzymes, thereby enhancing the functions of fat cells in the body." - Organic Facts

• Removes harmful Free Radicals from the body

"The polyphenolic compound in oolong tea is also responsible for the removal of free radicals in our body, because it functions as an antioxidant and stimulates the behavior of other free radical compounds in the body. Therefore, consuming daily doses of oolong tea can help people from the potential harm that these free-moving cells often pose to the human body, including cancer, atherosclerosis, stroke, rheumatoid arthritis, neurodegeneration, and diabetes." - Organic Facts

It also:

• Controls Diabetes
• Contains anti-cancer properties
• Manages stress
• Increases mental performance and health
• Encourages healthy bones

All tea has some sort of benefit to drinking it, which is why I swapped drinking soft drink and most juices with tea/water. 

My Experience

I started drinking one bag a day on the 28th of December.  The box I bought had 25 tea bags so, I drank one cup a day. I also put the bag that I used to brew my cup of tea in another cup with more water just in case I could get more out of it, haha.

The tea was a bit bitter, it reminded me of when I just started drinking green tea and it was something completely new that the taste was something I had to get used to. I'm not sure if it's because of the brand or whatnot, since when my green tea was hard to endure, I realise dafter some time that it was because the brand was a little cheap, haha.

I got used to it pretty quickly and drank a cup every morning and ate healthily (except a few days where I was with friends =.=) I tried to be active but didn't exercise well, which I regret.

The result was, over the 20 or something days of drinking the tea, I only lost a little less than a kilogram. I was a little disappointed the results weren't more obvious but it might be from me not drinking the tea often enough or from not exercising. 

In the future, I would like to try drinking more than one cup a day and being more active, or try the specific diet tea in the website I mentioned earlier to see if there is a difference. Right now, I think I would have had the same experience still drinking green tea.

It also maybe have been because I've reached the point in my healthier lifestyle where weight loss is really slow unless I exercise more. It may have been more effective when I first started dieting.

❤

Has anyone else tried Oolong Tea or some other detox drink for weight loss? What was your experience?

Enjoy life!

Nina

Hello, my fruit loops! 

Sorry for the corny title but I hope I can post as many things as I can to help people worry less. This week is some tips for dieting that has worked for me! Now, I'm obviously not professional but since these are simple things, I want to encourage everyone to try them out or incorporate them into their lifestyle if you are looking to change your lifestyle bit by bit.

I was a bit unsure on how to approach this blog post but I hope that this will be an encouragement to others in some way since some small changes can make a difference, I don't think a lot of people realize that. Now, when I say diet I mean changes to a diet to make it healthier for your body inside and out! In today's society the concept of diet can have so many different meanings for many different reasons. 

The thing is, making changes to become healthier is just as much of a mental change as well as a physical one, it takes time! If you change things bit by bit you will find yourself getting used to a healthier lifestyle bit by bit. Remember to eat healthier, not less! 
Good luck!

❤ 

I found out about this app through Wengie, another blogger, and  also strongly recommend using an app that has been my best friend with making better choices and weight loss! You input your own weight/height/goals etc and it calculates how much you should be eating each day in order to healthily lose weight.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/

It has also recently added improvements to the app that tell you nutritional value of the food you are eating and reminds you of your goals: a really good encouragement!

1. Drink More Water (and drink tea when you can!)

This tip pops up almost EVERYWHERE! Drinking lots of water used to make me sick so I would drink so much cordial and other drinks instead which is just extra sugar in my system that I don't really need. I am also obsessed with tea and always had black tea with milk and sugar.

I decided that bit by bit I would drink more water until I could completely swap out cordial and other drinks for water. I also started drinking more and more green tea as it has SO many health benefits as well as speeds up the metabolism for weight loss :)

Drinking water helps your skin and your body to function properly, after all our bodies are mostly water. Also, sometimes when you think you are hungry, you are actually thirsty. So drinking water before meals or when you are hungry allows you to know how hungry you are and to control how much you eat.

2. Watch what you eat: eat foods that fill you for longer and eat less bad foods.

Another big I have tried to do is swap out a lot of what I eat with fruits and vegetables, and eating whole meal bread and rice if I am having something like that with my meals. Swapping out a bag of chips or a chocolate bar for a fruit salad or a handful of nuts can really make a difference.

Try to eat less junk food and fast food, plan out your meals and make them beforehand can help control what you eat. Trust me, I know, it's hard to avoid eating chocolate and all that all the time. But every once in a while doesn't hurt, otherwise you will go insane and eat a lot of junk to make up for it. That's not good. So it can be done in moderation.

After all, you have maybe 4 meals a day, times that by 7 and that's 28 meals a week. Having one or two a week that aren't as good is not so bad if it is unavoidable.

3. Watch portion sizes

Eating smaller meals throughout the day is something that is always recommended and it does help :) 

I used to come home from school and eat leftover food in the fridge (which is like one extra big meal) and then have dinner not long after. I stopped doing this because it was unnecessary ad just had a cup of tea with some snacks instead.

I also started using a smaller plate and putting salad on first so that it would take up most of my plate.  

4. Eat till you are 80% full

This is something else that has popped up everywhere but it has a good point. 

Chew your meals slower (about 8 times), since it takes your brain 20 minutes to realize your stomach is full.

By being completely full or overly full you put strain on your stomach and stretch it out, you need to leave room for digestion fluids, water and gas, if not then your stomach needs to expand. If you constantly do this, each time your stomach will expand, leaving more room to be filled the next time you eat. The result will be gaining unnecessary weight.

Even if you have a fast metabolism and don't gain any weight, your stomach will expand and create a stretched out belly (I now realize I had this problem).  You also won't absorb the nutrients as well.

If you start off with a little amount of food and water and are still hungry, you can have a little more if needed rather than having a big portion straight away and feeling like you have to finish it all.

❤ 

Some other tips that might help:

Make sure to finish eating a few hours before you sleep so that your good is settled before. I read somewhere some KPOP idols didn't eat after 7pm or so, and I try to do that. I'm not sure if it works.

Always eat something in the morning, even if it is something small. 

EXERCISE. Even if it is a little bit like walking or taking the stairs or stretching! I will be doing a separate post next time for exercise ideas and easy ways to be active.

❤

If you are looking to lose weight, do it for yourself and to be healthier! On the way to a healthier lifestyle, love your body and yourself always! Don't be discouraged if you don't see change immediately: your organs lose the excess fat before your body does. Don't eat less in order to see results quicker. 

Enjoy life, and good luck! If anyone has more tips, leave them in the comments below!

Nina