Could Tea Help You Lose Weight? Top Herbs for Weight Loss

Tea is the most popular beverage in the world, after water of course. I'm not just saying that as a tea company owner or tea fanatic but it's statistically true. 

Losing weight can be one of the many benefits of drinking tea in your daily diet. When paired with a healthy diet and lifestyle, tea has been shown to boost metabolism and break down fat faster.

We get asked all of the time what the best teas and best herbs for weight loss are. If you are wanting to improve your body mass index, then pour yourself a cup of tea, and let's get to it!

Let's dive into how drinking tea helps with weight loss, which teas are most effective at taking off the pounds, and why.

Drinking Tea for a Healthy Life

Teas are high in polyphenols, making them a great addition to a healthy lifestyle. Drinking tea doesn't only promote weight loss. Teas help your body balance your hormones, fill you up with antioxidants, and provide a boost to your immune system, among many other benefits.

But drinking herbal teas for weight loss alone, without other lifestyle changes, may not have the desired effect. Include tea as part of a healthy lifestyle, which includes:

• A traditional whole foods diet including whole grains, pastured meats, organic fruits and vegetables
• Increased fiber consumption, especially insoluble fiber like beans
• Limiting stressors, both physical and mental
• Getting adequate sleep and working with the circadian rhythm 
• Staying active with weekly stretching and/or exercising
• Getting outside and staying away from blue light on screens

Before we start:

This herbal information is just that, information. This blog post and I DO NOT INTEND to treat, cure, prevent any disease, or diagnose any disease or illness. This is for informational, educational, and entertainment purposes only. Please consult a physician before using herbs medicinally. These statements have not been evaluated by the food and drug administration. St. Fiacre’s Farm and Grow Create Sip assumes no liability for inaccuracies. 

This post also contains affiliate links. Translation: We get a little kickback for sharing certain products at no additional cost to you should you choose to purchase said items. And - thank you for supporting our farm and family! Read the full disclaimer here.

Teas for Losing Weight

Drinking tea is not a magic pill or weight loss formula. As with all herbs they provide your body with the nutrients it needs for normal healthy functioning. Depending on the type of tea, they help us rebalance our body's hormones, decrease appetite, and boost our metabolism. All of these things lead to weight loss.

Here are some of the weight loss herbs and teas to help you lose some of those unwanted pounds.

Green Tea

It seems like we have just scratched the surface of the amazing benefits of green tea. Among many other benefits, green tea boosts our metabolic rate and increases our body's weight-loss potential.

The catechin and caffeine in green tea both help speed up our metabolism, leading to the breakdown of fat cells. Green tea has an earthy dry flavor to it and pairs well with various fruit flavors. It's a very light tea that can be iced or drank hot. Matcha, a ground green tea powder, is another form of green tea that many are familiar with. 

Rooibos Tea

Rooibos Tea isn't made from the camellia sinensis plant like other black, green and white teas—it's an aromatic herb that predominantly grows in South Africa. It is more of an herbal tea and is naturally decaffeinated. The tea made from the rooibos herb has a nutty, smooth taste, and better yet, aids in weight loss. Rooibos tea contains aspalathin, which helps balance the body's energy, positively affecting our fat stores. Rooibos comes in either a red version which is more common or the unfermented green version.

Ginger Tea

Ginger is a wonderful herb and spice that many of us are familiar with. You may even have it in your spice cupboard for baking things like gingerbread cookies! The diuretic and thermogenic properties of ginger tea boost metabolism and stimulate the body to burn more energy, leading to weight loss. Ginger tea is also great for gastrointestinal symptoms and can decrease bloating and nausea. Some teas you may recognize that have ginger in them are a good marsala chai and even these herbal chai teas here. 

Ashwagandha Tea

Many people swear by ashwagandha for weight loss. The tea improves the functioning of your digestive system, assisting food digestion, boosting metabolism, and aiding in weight loss. The antioxidants present in ashwagandha tea help your body burn fat and improve your overall vitality. In herbalism, Ashwagandha is also known as an adaptogen herb which is the term given to any herbs that aide in stress reduction and overall well-being. Ashwagandha would be an excellent addition to any ginger or masala chai tea!

Milk Thistle Tea

Often used for gallbladder problems and liver disorders, milk thistle tea also provides weight loss benefits. The tea helps limit cravings, improves digestion, reduces bloating, and speeds up the digestion process, leading to weight loss. Much of this is done via the aid that milk thistle provides to the liver by assisting it in clearing out toxins that can store unwanted fat. The liver is the main filter of the whole eliminatory system and is extremely vital to overall health. Milk thistle has a mild and slightly sweet flavor and pairs well with green tea, citrus notes like orange and lemon as well as other herbs like anise, coriander, fenugreek, spearmint, lemongrass, and lemon verbena.

Turmeric Tea

Turmeric tea is good for the digestive system, which is one of the keys to losing weight. It contains anti-inflammatory properties that help with fat cell proliferation and well as calm any inflammatory issues in the digestive tract. Turmeric is also great for liver health, which as we mentioned above is extremely important to detoxification. Toxins love to store in fat cells! 

Turmeric tea is great when mixed with other beneficial herbs and spices, such as mint, chamomile, or cinnamon. One of the most common ways to drink turmeric tea is in a Golden Milk Latte, but turmeric tea is also great as a kombucha flavoring as well!

Oregano Tea

You might think of oregano only for cooking your favorite Italian dish or for pizza sauce. But when considering herbs for weight loss, you should consider oregano! The active component in oregano, carvacrol, is known to help reduce fat cells. Admittingly oregano can be a hard tea to get down because of how powerful it is but drinking oregano tea also helps improve digestion and reduce bloating. While oregano would be helpful it would not be my go-to herb for tea but perhaps more as a tincture or capsule. Unless of course you are drinking pizza tea, then dive right in!

Fenugreek Tea

Another great choice is to use fenugreek to lose weight. The water-soluble component in the fenugreek seed, called galactomannan, helps to suppress the appetite. Fenugreek tea also helps to boost metabolism and aid in digestion. If you struggle a bit with constipation fenugreek is the place I would start and as we mentioned before it can be paired with other herbs like green tea and ginger to get even more benefit.

Ginseng Tea

Many people know ginseng to be a brain and energy herb. Ginseng is a popular tea choice around the world. It is believed to be an appetite suppressant, and can also increase our metabolic rate and energy levels. All of these factors help with weight loss. This herb would be a great addition to any ginger or green tea as it has a very earthy flavor. Citrus notes would be an excellent flavor profile to add for drinking pleasure.

Peppermint Tea

Peppermint, after chamomile, is one of the most widely known herbal teas amongst tea drinkers and a standard on any cafe drink list. Drinking peppermint tea helps suppress cravings and curb appetite. It also aids with digestion and stimulates a healthy metabolic rate. If I may say so it is very good paired with chocolate as I've raved about before. Aside from chocolate though, peppermint also pairs well with green tea and any of the other earthy-flavored herbs we have mentioned above.

Blend Your Own Teas

One of the best ways to get all the benefits of tea is to make your own tea blends. Each of us was made uniquely by God with different dispositions towards different health ailments. None of our metabolisms work the same, some have allergies to some herbs and some don't. Some like strong earthy flavors and some people would rather have fruity flavors. Blending your own personal tea for exactly what you need is always ideal! There are so many different teas that could be created with just the ten herbs listed above.

I'd like to invite you to check out our free tea blending workshop, via 6 videos that come to your email and you can watch as you have time in the comfort of your own home. We will blend 2 different teas complete with an ingredient list and printable recipe as well as talk about drying some of your own herbs. We even cover digestive tea as you have seen is helpful in the area of weight loss. Join the 100's of others who enjoyed this free tea blending workshop. 

Whether you grow your own herbs or prefer to purchase ready-made herbal kits, the benefits of tea are at your fingertips. It's just a matter of finding the right medicinal benefits paired with a flavor that you enjoy. After all, if the herbs taste bad they will never go down enough for you to get their benefits!

Tea for Weight Loss and a Better Life

While teas are beneficial for losing weight they are excellent for supporting our overall health. Plus, they taste great and are a joy to drink! Especially when finding a tea that you can pair with your daily stretching and exercise routine or add to your daily whole foods diet. My favorites from the list of ten above would be ginger, turmeric, and peppermint for sure! I think I hear that Golden Milk Latte calling my name!

I'm curious though! I'd love to know more about your weight loss journey because sometimes tea isn't enough and we need tailored individual tips! Weight issues can also be absorption issues, digestive issues, or hormonal issues which require a bit more attention and time. Let me know below in the comments where your biggest struggle with weight loss is along with which of the 10 herbs sounded the most appealing to you!

Blog Posts that you may Enjoy

• Green Tea Mint Julep Recipe
• Herbal Tea vs Green Tea
• The RIGHT way to steep Green Tea so it doesn't taste bad
• Growing & Using Peppermint for Medicine
• Best Tea for a Cold
• Herbal Tea for Allergies