Eating Healthy Tip # 17

Watch your caffeine intake

Sipping a hot Cuppa before starting work has almost become a office ritual for me. This bitter but supremely refreshing stimulant seems to clear my head for the hard day ahead. Is this psychological or does the caffeine present in my coffee really makes me more active. Most of us consume a good load of caffeine through coffee, tea, chocolate, aerated drinks & energy drinks.

Café chains have staked claims to these benefits of caffeine intake:

Improves our mental faculty by opening up the airways for improved breathing.
Helps control weight by increasing metabolism
It also increases muscle strength & helps overcome chronic fatigue.

The above claims have been proved to be true through various studies. But it’s equally true that excess of caffeine consumption can result in drastic side effects.

Let’s look at the bad side of caffeine:

Caffeine is an acidic food & excess consumption of tea/coffee can make the PH of our body acidic. This will reduce our immunity & attract illnesses.
Caffeine is also addictive & has side effects like headache when body is deprived of it.
Caffeine also harms the adrenalin gland every time we consume it.

This post is trying to strike a balance for the appropriate intake of caffeine. It will be ridiculous to suggest abstaining from hot beverage totally, so here are five tips to control negative impact of caffeine.

Try switching over to green tea.
Stop at 2 cups of tea/coffee per day.
Adding milk to your tea/coffee takes away any beneficial effects of caffeine. Never add sugar. If you need sweetening, try substituting with jaggery, honey or stevia.
Eat more alkaline foods like fruits & vegetable & reduce processed food (which is acidic)
Go for Organic Coffee/tea instead chemically treated tea/coffee. Coorg region in Southern India produces extremely good organic coffee.

Looking forward to share your views on this post – over a cup of coffee.