Sweet tea used to be my weakness. If I wasn’t drinking Arizona Arnold Palmer I was buying a venti black iced tea sweetened from Starbucks (that’s sweet tea in ‘bucks language). Not only did I find that spending $3.00 on a cup of tea almost everyday was expensive, it was also costing my health. After a little research, I finally figured out that caffeine was a majority of the blame for my moods, stress, and over-eating that I sometimes couldn’t control. Cutting out tea and coffee was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made, and here’s why:
1. Caffeine is dehydrating. We’ve all heard it before and we’ll hear it again – WATER IS SO IMPORTANT. Water helps you function, clears your skin, helps you control food intake, and helps your body maintain an equilibrium making you physically and mentally healthier. So what happens when you drink caffeine? All of those things take a turn for the worst making you look and feel less than your best.
2. The energy is great, until you crash. Have you ever heard of caffeine headaches? Most people who are avid caffeine consumers, especially the ones who drink coffee in the morning, experience these constantly. A lot of the time it hits right in the afternoon, so that coffee you drank to keep you alert is suddenly doing the opposite job. So ‘why not drink more coffee?’ you ask – because then all you do is get into a caffeine cycle, and you’ll end up depending on caffeine to get through your day. I don’t drink liquid energy and I promise you I’m just fine!
3. It messes with your hormones, especially during your time of the month. This is what really got me when I drank caffeine. I found myself crying more and focusing on the negatives in life – especially when mother nature made her monthly visit. Since I stopped, I am so much happier. Another thing that your hormones contribute to is acne, so that skin you’re trying to clear may get even worse if you continue to drink caffeine.
4. It makes you stressed and increases anxiety and depression. Stress is something we all deal with in everyday life, but did you know that that caffeine you’re drinking to help you get through your day is actually making you even more stressed? Caffeine raises your heart rate which leads to an ‘on edge’ feeling. So your stress level, and people’s symptoms of depression and anxiety, can increase with the more you drink.
5. It makes it harder to keep healthy and lose weight. Weight loss isn’t necessarily something I am focused on, but living a healthy balanced life is really important to me. Caffeine increases food cravings which leads to over-eating and binge eating. Not only does it effect your appetite, but it can cause you to crash during a workout making it impossible to finish.
Switching out your coffee for a glass of water everyday will do amazing things for your health and well being. Try it out and see if it works for you!
xoxo
-Lauren
**I’m not a professional by any means. There are also many health benefits to caffeine, however, these are all things I’ve learned from experience and research! Caffeine can effect everyone differently.
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