The Best Time to Drink Chamomile Tea for Weight Loss
While chamomile tea isn’t a solution to your weight loss problems, timing your tea intake strategically can enhance its benefits.
Discovering the best time to drink chamomile tea can help you maximize its potential to support relaxation, improve sleep quality, and ultimately contribute to a healthier lifestyle.
Let’s explore how this gentle herbal brew can become a valuable part of your weight management plan.
What is the Best Time to Drink Chamomile Tea For Weight Loss?
The best time to drink chamomile tea for weight loss is about 30 minutes before your meal. Here’s why:
Chamomile tea itself doesn’t directly cause weight loss. Instead, it can help you eat less.
When you’re really hungry at mealtime, you might eat too much. This is especially true if you’re someone who feels like they need to eat a lot to feel full.
By drinking chamomile tea 30 minutes before eating, you’re giving your body a head start.
The tea fills up your stomach a bit, which can make your body think it’s starting to get full. This can lower your appetite.
So when you sit down to eat your meal, you’ll likely eat less than you would have without the tea.
You might feel satisfied with a smaller portion, which can help you stay within your calorie goals.
This way, chamomile tea can indirectly help with weight loss by making you less likely to overeat at mealtimes.
Optimal Times To Drink Chamomile Tea for Weight Loss
Here are the best times to drink chamomile tea to maximize weight loss:
Instead of High-Calorie Beverages
Replacing high-calorie drinks with chamomile tea can significantly impact your daily calorie intake.
Many popular beverages like sodas, fruit juices, energy drinks, and flavored coffees are loaded with sugar and empty calories.
For example, a single can of soda can contain over 150 calories, while a large flavored latte might have 300 calories or more.
In contrast, a cup of chamomile tea has virtually zero calories. By making this simple switch, you could potentially cut hundreds of calories from your daily intake without feeling deprived.
Over time, this calorie reduction can lead to substantial weight loss.
Moreover, chamomile tea is hydrating and can help satisfy your thirst without adding unnecessary sugars or artificial sweeteners to your diet.
During Times of Stress
Stress can be a major obstacle to weight loss, and chamomile tea can help address this issue.
When we’re stressed, our bodies release cortisol, often called the “stress hormone.”
High cortisol levels can increase appetite, particularly for high-calorie, comfort foods.
It can also lead to increased fat storage, especially around the abdominal area.
Chamomile tea contains apigenin, an antioxidant that binds to certain receptors in your brain, potentially decreasing anxiety and initiating sleep.
By drinking chamomile tea during stressful periods, you may be able to lower your cortisol levels and reduce stress-induced eating.
The act of preparing and sipping tea can also be a calming ritual, providing a healthy alternative to stress-eating behaviors.
This can help you stay on track with your weight loss goals even during challenging times.
Also Read: Can Stress Affect Your Weight Loss Efforts?
30 Minutes Before Meals
Drinking chamomile tea half an hour before you eat can help you feel fuller. When you feel full, you’re less likely to eat too much during your meal.
This can help you eat fewer calories overall, which is important for losing weight.
The warm liquid in your stomach can trick your body into thinking it’s already getting food, so you might not want to eat as much when mealtime comes.
Before Bedtime
Drinking chamomile tea before bed can contribute to weight loss in several ways. First, it can improve your sleep quality and duration.
Poor sleep is strongly linked to weight gain and obesity.
When you’re sleep-deprived, your body produces more ghrelin (the “hunger hormone”) and less leptin (the “fullness hormone”), which can lead to increased appetite and calorie intake.
Chamomile tea contains apigenin, which not only has calming effects but also binds to specific receptors in your brain that may promote sleepiness and reduce insomnia.
By improving your sleep, chamomile tea can help regulate these hunger hormones.
Additionally, having a cup of chamomile tea as part of your bedtime routine can replace less healthy nighttime snacking habits.
The warm, soothing nature of the tea can satisfy the urge to eat something before bed without adding calories.
Also Read: The Best Time To Drink Peppermint Tea For Weight Loss
Potential Benefits of Chamomile Tea for Weight Loss
These are the benefits that you can reap from chamomile tea for weight loss:
It has zero calories
Chamomile tea is a zero-calorie beverage, which makes it an excellent choice for those on a caloric-deficit diet.
A caloric deficit diet is when you consume fewer calories than your body burns, leading to weight loss.
By replacing high-calorie drinks like sodas, juices, or sweetened coffees with chamomile tea, you can significantly reduce your daily calorie intake without feeling deprived.
For example, if you typically drink a 150-calorie soda with lunch and dinner, switching to chamomile tea could save you 300 calories a day or 2,100 calories a week.
This simple change can help you maintain your caloric deficit more easily, potentially leading to steady weight loss over time without requiring much additional effort or willpower.
It can help you reduce your appetite
Drinking chamomile tea about 30 minutes before a meal can help reduce your appetite through a combination of physical and hormonal effects.
When you consume the warm liquid, it fills up your stomach, creating a physical sensation of fullness.
This can trick your brain into thinking you’ve started eating.
In response, your body may begin to release satiety hormones, which are chemicals that signal to your brain that you’re becoming full.
By the time you sit down for your actual meal, these hormones are already circulating in your system.
As a result, you may naturally feel less hungry and be satisfied with smaller portions.
This approach doesn’t rely on sheer willpower to stop eating; instead, it works with your body’s natural hunger and fullness cues, making it easier to avoid overeating without feeling deprived.
May improve blood sugar control
Maintaining stable blood sugar levels is crucial for weight management, and chamomile tea may help in this regard.
When your blood sugar is well-controlled, it helps keep your hunger levels in check, reducing the likelihood of overeating or snacking on high-calorie foods.
Additionally, stable blood sugar means your body doesn’t need to release large amounts of insulin.
High insulin levels can promote fat storage, making weight loss more challenging.
A noteworthy study highlighted chamomile tea’s potential benefits for blood sugar control.
In this clinical trial, participants with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2-DM) consumed 200 ml of chamomile tea before lunch and dinner daily for a month.
The tea was prepared by steeping 10 grams of chamomile in 100 ml of boiling water.
The results were promising: participants showed improved blood sugar levels, better cholesterol profiles, and enhanced kidney function.
Also Read: The Best Time To Drink Cinnamon Tea For Weight Loss
Downsides of Chamomile Tea for Weight Loss
Here is what you need to be aware of before drinking chamomile tea for weight loss purposes:
No Evidence Impact on Weight Loss
Chamomile tea doesn’t actually make you lose weight on its own.
It might help you relax and sleep better, which can be good for managing your weight, but it’s not a magical weight loss drink. The tea doesn’t burn fat or speed up your metabolism.
It mainly helps with weight by replacing other drinks that have a lot of calories and by possibly reducing stress eating.
But just drinking chamomile tea without changing anything else about your diet or lifestyle probably won’t make you lose much weight.
Exaggerated Claims About It May Mislead You
You might see people on TikTok or Instagram saying that chamomile tea helped them lose a lot of weight.
They might make it sound like all you need to do is drink this tea to get skinny. But that’s not true.
To really lose weight, you need to do a few important things:
- Eat fewer calories than your body uses (this is called a calorie deficit)
- Be active and exercise regularly
- Get enough good sleep (7 – 9 hours)
- Manage your stress levels
All of these things together help you lose weight successfully.
When people on social media or random folks on the internet say that chamomile tea is all you need, it can be a problem.
It makes people think they don’t need to worry about eating right or exercising. Some might even try to only drink chamomile tea to lose weight, which isn’t healthy or helpful.
Also Read: The Best Time To Drink Detox Water For Weight Loss
Conclusion
The best times to drink chamomile tea for potential weight loss benefits are 30 minutes before meals to help control appetite.
However, this strategy should be part of a broader approach to weight loss that includes a balanced, calorie-controlled diet and regular physical activity.
Chamomile tea can support your efforts by providing a calorie-free alternative to sugary drinks, potentially reducing stress-related eating, and improving sleep quality.
But it’s the overall lifestyle changes, not the tea alone, that will lead to sustainable weight loss.