6 Yummy Detox Tea Recipes for Weight Loss

‘Detox tea’ is a buzzword that you’ve most likely encountered at some point. Even celebrities from Cardi B to Kylie Jenner are promoting it on their social media. They are also a paid promotion favorite of a lot of social media influencers. 

In fact, the word detox has been highly popular over the recent years, with a lot of dieters talking about how it helps cleanse the body. Most of the hype around detox teas comes from its supposed benefits for weight loss.

What are detox teas and is the hype around them justified? Is there a detox tea recipe for weight loss?

What are Detox Teas?

Typically detox teas are teas with special ingredients that are meant to eliminate ‘toxins’ from the body. They are quite commonly used to ‘reset’ the body after a period of binging on unhealthy junk food that is full of sugar and refined fats. 

Oftentimes, the term detoxing or detox teas are met with a bit of skepticism from the medical community. Many argue that our bodies don’t need to be ‘cleansed’ of any toxins, as our livers are perfectly capable of doing that. 

There is also a lot of criticism of many commercial ‘detox teas’ that are marketed as fat burning or weight loss teas. Some of them do contain unhealthy levels of caffeine and laxatives that can lead to more health issues. 

Related: Best Yerba Mate

Making Your Own Detox Teas

However, if you don’t want to buy commercial products, you can make your own detox tea. This way, you can control what goes into the tea. How would detox tea made at home be beneficial for your health?

A lot of the detox tea recipes mentioned below contain very potent and healthy ingredients that are packed with powerful antioxidants. How do antioxidants help?

Benefits of Detox Teas

Well, to understand this, we have to understand what free radicals are. Free radicals are dangerous chemical species that are highly unstable. 

They are produced as a result of many things we encounter in daily life, most notably:

• UV radiation and heat
• Environmental pollution
• Refined foods with trans fats and heated oil
• Foods that are high in sugar

These free radicals are essentially molecules that are missing electrons, which is what makes them unstable. They will attempt to steal electrons from your vital chemicals in your body, damaging DNA, proteins and tissues within the body. 

Free radicals are the biggest culprit behind inflammation, an issue that causes arthritis, acne, and wreak havoc on your digestion—causing you to put on weight and store fat. They have been linked to some of the deadliest degenerative diseases such as hypertension, cancer and heart disease. 

The silver lining? A healthy diet provides us with loads of antioxidants to mop up these free radicals and prevent them from causing damage. Antioxidants work by binding to the free radicals and giving them their electrons, so that they don’t try to get them from other places in your body.

Herbs, teas and spices have some of the largest concentrations of antioxidants. So, making your detox tea from them will greatly help you with inflammation, digestive problems and fat loss. 

Here are some detox tea recipes for weight loss that you can try:

1. Detox Lemon Ginger Green Tea

Yes, the hype around green tea is very well deserved. It has powerful antioxidants like catechins. Combine it with other antioxidant-rich, anti-inflammatory herbs and spices, such as ginger for amazing health benefits. 

Try this lemon-ginger green tea recipe from A Spicy Perspective. 

Ingredients:

• 1 teaspoon fresh grated ginger
• 1 lemon wedge
• 1 cup hot water
• 2-3 teaspoons raw honey (skip for detox)

Instructions

1. Boil water in a kettle.
2. Use a large coarse grater to shave fresh ginger into a mug. Place a wedge of fresh lemon in the mug. You can place both in a tea infuser to strain the tea if you like. Pour boiling water into the cup and let the lemon and ginger steep for 5 minutes before serving.

3. Add honey to taste if drinking for enjoyment. Skip the honey (or use very little) if drinking as a detox tea.

2. Detox Turmeric-Cinnamon Green Tea

Adding turmeric and cinnamon to green tea will not only give it a burst of flavor, but also a chock full of antioxidants. Turmeric contains a powerful antioxidant called curcumin. Dried cinnamon is one of the most antioxidant-rich spices in use today.

Try this turmeric-cinnamon green tea recipe from Jay’s Health Recipe:

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of water          
• 1 bag green tea
•  ¼ teaspoon turmeric
• 1 inch long cinnamon stick       

Instructions:

Put the spices and the teabag in you cup and then add the hot water. Steep the tea bag as directed on the box. Then remove the teabag and stir until the spices are dissolved. You can experiment with different spices like Ginger, Anise or Nutmeg until you find the blend you like.

3. Apple Cider Vinegar Detox Tea

Apple cider vinegar has been all the rage recently in the world of weight loss and dieting. You’ll see countless people touting the benefits of apple cider vinegar on fat loss and appetite control. Some people swear by it and drink it before meals. 

There is some evidence to support this, and ACV is supposed to help with weight loss by reducing blood sugar and insulin levels, improving metabolism, and reducing fat storage. You can combine ACV with other healthy herbs and spices.

In this Apple Cider Vinegar detox tea recipe from Jay’s Health Recipe, this recipe combines apple cider vinegar with cinnamon and cayenne pepper. Both of these have powerful antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, along with boosting metabolism.

Ingredients:

• 1 ½ cup of warm or hot water
• 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• ½ -1 teaspoon ground ginger
• ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 dash cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon local raw honey (optional)

 Instructions:

Warm up your water and then start by adding 2 tablespoons of the apple cider vinegar. Next, stir in your ground ginger, cinnamon and cayenne pepper. For the last ingredients, add the lemon juice and honey, which is optional but gives your drink a little sweetness.

4. Green Tea Detox With Lemon And Mint

Not only is this detox green tea recipe packed with antioxidants, but it is also incredibly refreshing. This is the perfect detox tea recipe for the summer when you want the detoxing benefits for weight loss but you also want something cool and refreshing. 

You can serve it cold, and the lemon and mint will add a burst of refreshing, cool flavor on a hot summer day. Also, the mint is not only incredibly refreshing, but it is also one of the most potent antioxidants in this drink. 

Many people underestimate the health benefits of mint, but it is actually one of the most antioxidant-rich herbs out there. It has an even better antioxidant rating than oregano and rosemary. So, it is definitely something you should add to your weight loss arsenal asap!

Try this cool, refreshing detox green tea recipe from Playful Cooking:

Ingredients:

For the mint cubes

• ½ cup fresh mint leaves
• 1 inch fresh ginger
• 1 cup water

For the lemonade

• 2 Meyer lemons
• 2 green tea bags
• 4 cups water
• 2 tablespoons honey
• fresh mint leaves
• few slices of lemon

Instructions:

1. For the mint cubes, blend mint and ginger with water. Strain it and then pour it in the ice cube tray. Place the tray in the freezer to set.

2. For the lemonade, place 2 cups of water in a pot and bring to a boil. Switch off the heat and drop the tea bags into the pot. Allow it to steep for 3 minutes. Then, discard the tea bags.

3. Pour the cooled green tea into a pitcher and squeeze the fresh lemon juice. Drizzle in honey and pour 2 cups of cold water. Give it a stir and taste. If you prefer it sweeter, drizzle more honey. Add a few lemon slices and fresh mint leaves to the pitcher.

4. Serve with mint ice cubes.

5. Parsley And Mint Detox Tea

This is one of the best detox teas for weight loss because it combines two antioxidant powerhouses—parsley and mint. We already discussed how powerful mint is as an antioxidant. 

But parsley has its fair share of health benefits too. Not only does it also have powerful antioxidants like flavonoids, but it is also very high in Vitamin A and Vitamin C. Try this delicious detox tea recipe from Step To Health:

Ingredients:

• 1 teaspoon of parsley (5 g)
• 1 teaspoon of fresh mint (5 g)
• 2 tablespoons of lemon juice (20 ml)
• 1 cup of water (200 ml)

Instructions:

As we always say on our blog, it’s best to use organic ingredients. So, take your organic parsley and mint and wash them well.

• Next, chop the parsley and the mint. This will allow the oils to be released into the tea.

• Heat a cup of water in a pot or kettle. Once it comes to a boil, add the two herbs very carefully.

• Allow it to steep for 25 to 35 minutes.

• Finally, strain off the liquid and pour it into your favorite mug along with the two tablespoons of lemon juice.

6. Lemon Ginger Turmeric Tea

During the past five years, the interest for turmeric, or turmeric tea in particular has been surging. Turmeric tea searches on google have almost quadrupled in the last five years turmeric became a hot superfood in the health niche. 

Turmeric is certainly not a trendy fad food, and is worth the hype that it gets. First off, turmeric is very rich in antioxidants such as flavonoids. Thanks to its active ingredient curcumin, it has very potent anti-inflammatory properties that can assist your weight loss. 

This homemade detox tea recipe from Nourish Move Love makes a delicious cup of turmeric tea combined with some lemon, cinnamon and ginger—which are of course have potent antioxidant properties. It also contains cayenne pepper for its metabolism boosting properties to help you with fat loss.

Serves: 10-12

Ingredients:

• 6 c water
• 1 chunk fresh ginger, peeled (approximately 5-6″ in length)
• 3 cinnamon sticks (or 1-2 tsp ground cinnamon)
• 1 tsp ground turmeric
• ½ tsp cayenne pepper (optional)
• 6 fresh lemons (and the juice of ½ fresh lemon when ready to serve)

Instructions:

• Peel the fresh ginger root and dice into thin slices.

• Combine the fresh ginger slices and water in a large pot or saucepan over high heat on the stove.

• Bring to a boil. Then turn to low heat and let simmer for approximately 10 minutes.
• After 10 minutes, add the cinnamon sticks (or ground cinnamon), turmeric and cayenne and simmer on low heat for another 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

• Remove from heat, let cool and strain.

This makes about 4-5 cups (some water will steam off while boiling) of a concentrated version of the detox tea which you can store in a glass container in the fridge. You can drink this concentrate warm or cold. When ready to enjoy add the juice of ½ fresh lemon juice to the concentrated mix.

Related: Best Ginseng Supplement

A Final Word From Energetic Lifestyle

Homemade detox recipes have amazing health benefits. They can help with digestion problems and drastically reduce inflammation caused by unhealthy, processed junk food. However, it is best to drink these detox teas on their own, because some of the ingredients have been linked to reduced mineral absorption from meals. 

When picking ingredients for detox tea recipes for weight loss, pick ingredients with powerful antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Inflammation is a huge hurdle to weight loss and can lead to a host of other diseases such as arthritis. You can mix and match ingredients like green tea, mint, lemon, ginger, cinnamon and turmeric and create your own recipes too.