{"id":166,"date":"2017-05-25T17:29:44","date_gmt":"2017-05-25T12:29:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/beckykeepshouse.com\/?p=166"},"modified":"2020-11-27T18:18:00","modified_gmt":"2020-11-27T13:18:00","slug":"green-tea-metabolism-booster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beckykeepshouse.com\/green-tea-metabolism-booster\/","title":{"rendered":"Green Tea Metabolism Booster"},"content":{"rendered":"

Are y\u2019all ready for this green tea metabolism booster?<\/p>\n

Technically, I can\u2019t claim credit for this green tea metabolism booster recipe, because it was actually given to me by my nutritionist (although I have tweaked it a bit, as you’ll see later on).\u00a0 <\/span>The great thing about it is that it\u2019s all-natural, so you can serve it to the whole family.\u00a0 <\/span>PLUS you can enjoy its other health benefits, such as it\u2019s antioxidant power and immune system support.\u00a0 <\/span>Score!<\/p>\n

\"Green<\/p>\n

So before I get into how to make and use this green tea metabolism booster, I want to talk about what I was doing in a nutritionists office, and why I even needed to lose weight in the first place.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

My whole life, I’ve never really cared about my weight.\u00a0 <\/span>It wasn\u2019t an issue, I never really gave it much thought.\u00a0 <\/span>I also didn\u2019t give much thought to the food I was putting into my body.\u00a0 <\/span>Carbs, proteins, fats, oils, sugars, blah blah blah, categorizing food was too much of a hassle for me.\u00a0 <\/span>I ate what I liked, but ate in small portions, and my metabolism pretty much had me covered.\u00a0 <\/span>Yes, I was that girl that could eat whatever she wanted without thinking twice.\u00a0 <\/span>Don\u2019t hate me, keep reading.<\/p>\n

Losing weight after my pregnancies was never a big deal either.\u00a0 <\/span>I would just decrease the junk food, try to eat more green, but mostly I\u2019d just exercise, and that would be enough to get me back to normal-ish proportions.\u00a0 <\/span>While I enjoyed exercise, I was so busy running my home that I would only be able to do it intermittently at best.\u00a0 But exercise always worked for me. \u00a0<\/span>So after baby number two, I was employing my tried-and-true methods and slowly, but surely, making my way back to normal.<\/p>\n

And then my mother-in-law was diagnosed with cancer.\u00a0 <\/span>(See this post\u2014 Best Loose Leaf Chai Tea<\/a> for more about that.)<\/p>\n

Life stopped, and then it felt like it started running again but at the wrong speed.\u00a0 <\/span>Anyone who has had a loved one suffer this disease will tell you that it is a disease in which the entire family suffers.\u00a0 <\/span>The ups and downs of treatment, the harrowing side effects of chemo therapy.\u00a0 <\/span>Only with a disease like cancer is a patient given poison with the hopes that they will survive it.\u00a0 <\/span>Before we could even cope with what was happening, she was returned to her Maker.\u00a0 <\/span>And we were tested with another trial, overlapping this one: just the day before she passed away, I took my son to the hospital because of disturbing symptoms and was told that he needed to be admitted immediately.\u00a0 <\/span>The very next day after her death, doctors told us that our son\u2019s condition was extremely complicated.\u00a0 <\/span>Not only would he need surgery, but he had a very serious illness which would need long-term treatment.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not ready to go into details about his illness, but for the next year, we were put through another severe trial.\u00a0 <\/span>One filled with fear and pain.\u00a0 <\/span>Depression wrapped its tentacles around my ankle and dragged me under the water.\u00a0 <\/span>I was so depressed, and the stresses of running my home were drowning me.\u00a0 <\/span>My eating habits were haphazard, at best.\u00a0 <\/span>I would go out to eat even when I wasn\u2019t really hungry, just because it was the only pleasure or comfort that I had.\u00a0 <\/span>Sometimes, I\u2019d be so busy I would skip meals, and for convenience sake, I\u2019d eat whatever packaged food I could easily consume (typically cookies or frozen food that could be quickly fried).\u00a0 <\/span>In one year, I gained back the weight I had worked to lose (and then some).\u00a0 <\/span>On top of that, I\u2019d depleted myself of iron and I had absolutely no energy.\u00a0 <\/span>My \u201cget up and go,\u201d had gotten up and left\u2014me behind, that is.<\/p>\n

I got my wake up call when my beloved aunt had a heart attack and needed to go in for bypass surgery.<\/p>\n

We couldn\u2019t believe it, it seemed to come from nowhere.\u00a0 <\/span>Here was someone who was just fine, no problems, and then suddenly this heart attack revealed that she HAD had problems, but never known it.\u00a0 <\/span>An angiography revealed that she had three major blockages.\u00a0 <\/span>Angioplasty would be too risky in her case; doctors were strongly urging the bypass.\u00a0 <\/span>When we looked up exactly what the procedure would entail, we were horrified.\u00a0 <\/span>But Allah answered our prayers, and Alhumdulillah<\/i>, her surgery was successful and without complications.<\/p>\n

This was when I realized how important it is to take care of your body in your youth so that it can take care of you in your later years.\u00a0 <\/span>Truly, our bodies are an Amannah<\/i>, a trust, from Allah and we are responsible for treating them properly.\u00a0 <\/span>My aunt was not careless in her eating habits, but it turned out that certain genetic factors made her more susceptible to heart disease.\u00a0 <\/span>Genetic factors that could be overcome with careful diet and regular exercise from now on.<\/p>\n

Genetic factors that, I realized with a start, I could potentially have.<\/p>\n

I had seen the devastation that a family goes through when the matriarch of the family is ill or dies.\u00a0 <\/span>I was now the matriarch of my family, and they needed me.<\/p>\n

If I don\u2019t take care of myself, and something happens to me, who will take care of them?<\/p>\n

I finally took my health seriously.\u00a0 <\/span>I got on the scale and realized that my BMI had crossed over to the overweight category.\u00a0 <\/span>I employed the methods I usually do to lose weight.\u00a0 <\/span>I started eating greener and exercising.\u00a0 <\/span>Only there was one problem.<\/p>\n

My.\u00a0 <\/span>Weight.\u00a0 <\/span>Would.\u00a0 <\/span>Not.\u00a0 <\/span>Budge.<\/p>\n

After one month of intense exercising and NO results, I said enough was enough and went to see a nutritionist.\u00a0 <\/span>I told her all of the problems I was having losing weight, and about my lack of energy.\u00a0 <\/span>Medical tests showed\u00a0that I was, thankfully, eating well enough that my heart was fine.\u00a0 <\/span>I told her my routine and admitted to her what my current eating habits were like.\u00a0 <\/span>She then custom tailored a plan that suited my schedule and eating preferences.\u00a0 <\/span>She also clued me in on why my usual techniques weren\u2019t working anymore.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d basically frozen my metabolism by mistreating my body.\u00a0 <\/span>She wrote this green tea metabolism booster into my meal plan to help me get it up and running again.\u00a0 <\/span>My meals were divided into three main meals with two snacks in between to keep my metabolism running.\u00a0 <\/span>The meals were supposed to be enough to satisfy me, but if I was hungry in between meals, she told me to drink a cup of this green tea to curb cravings.\u00a0 <\/span>Exercise was written into strategic times during the day to further boost my weight loss.<\/p>\n

Within the first two weeks, I shed six pounds.\u00a0 <\/span>Ramadan started not long after I started my diet, so she helped me leverage the month of fasting in a healthy way.\u00a0 <\/span>By the end of the tenth week, I had reached goal weight, and lost seventeen pounds, Alhumdulillah.\u00a0 <\/span>(By the way, if you\u2019re curious for more details on how I did that, that post will be coming soon Inshallah<\/del> you can read all about it in my Ramadan Weight Loss Diet Plan<\/a> post.\u00a0 Be sure to SUBSCRIBE to my newsletter <\/a>for a printable PDF version.)<\/p>\n

For anyone who is looking to lose weight or just take control of their health and learn more about eating healthy, I highly recommend going to see a GOOD nutritionist.\u00a0 <\/span>A good nutritionist will work your meal plan around your individual health needs, food preferences and your daily life.\u00a0 <\/span>They will help you come up with a plan that is REALISTIC.\u00a0 <\/span>Moreover, you should come out of the experience having made a LIFESTYLE CHANGE, not simply going on a temporary diet.<\/p>\n

Today, my eating habits are a LOT healthier.\u00a0 <\/span>However, as you can see from some of the recipes I\u2019m posting on this blog (like my Sweet and Spicy Chicken Sticky Fingers<\/a>) that I\u2019m not strict about eating ONLY healthy food.\u00a0 <\/span>My food philosophy is that I eat healthy 75-80% of the time and 20% of the time, I allow myself some fun, but maintaining portion control.\u00a0 <\/span>I also make sure to exercise regularly.\u00a0 <\/span>This method has been working for me, and I\u2019ve managed to maintain my weight and health, Alhumdulillah.<\/p>\n

But you want to know the best part?\u00a0 <\/span>The best gift that Allah could have given me is that this journey towards better health and taking care of myself helped to bring me out of depression.\u00a0 <\/span>It wasn\u2019t just the sense of accomplishment I got when I lost the weight or felt my body get stronger.\u00a0 <\/span>Healthy eating actually helped rid my body of toxins that were messing with my emotions.\u00a0 <\/span>It contributed in my finding my spiritual center, connecting with Allah, and making peace with what was happening.\u00a0 <\/span>No, I\u2019m not perfectly okay now, I have my ups and downs, but Alhumdulillah, I am in a MUCH better place than I was last year.<\/p>\n

Now, I present to you, the green tea metabolism booster!<\/p>\n

Green Tea Metabolism Booster Preparation<\/h2>\n