Anyways, while I was tweeting on twitter about how i am gonna try find hot beverage alternatives to coffee ..someone replied back asking me what I had in mind. I had quite a list in mind..So, decided , why not just blog about it .
Why do people drink coffee?
First off, coffee has a lot of bio active components but the most important component that we look for is caffeine.Caffeine per say is a stimulant-makes us active, alert and even happy. But , in lieu of its same effect, overconsumption of great amounts can lead us to become jittery and hyper too.
Some other reasons people drink coffee is
a)instead of water when thirsty.
I have myself noticed that sometimes when I am really thirsty, i kinda don't immediately feel like i need to drink water.Instead I have this craving to drink coffee.The sad part though about this situation is that coffee is a diuretic--It actually causes the kidney to excrete out more water from the body making the body even more dehydrated.So yes,if you are thirsty, coffee is not the right drink to drink at all.
b)when i need of something warm or hot to warm the innards when it rains or is cold weather
Drinking cups and cups of steaming hot coffee just coz it is cold outside is not a great idea after all. As such in winters coz it is so cold outside, our body doesn't send you signals asking for water and on top, water does get lost from the skin even when cold. So we do need our water quota each day no matter what the weather outside.Water is our vehicle to excrete toxins produded in our body.On top of all this limited water intake, we end up drinking alcohol and coffee in large amounts and both of them are diuretics and they end up making you lose more water from the body.
c)To cure the blues
Because of its stimulant effects and by virtue of other biologically active compounds, coffee does literally pep you up .
Q.So, is coffee bad for us?How much is okay?
Coffee is not bad at all. It is not bad if you consume just a single 150-200 ml cup of milked coffee each day. Please remember that coffee can be addictive and also can cause you get hyper and insomniac if consumed in large amounts.Yes, compared to other mind altering substances, coffee really may not alter your perception or sensorium and thus is SAFER than other substances like alcohol or drugs..but then, it does alters sleep patterns .
Q.Why am i looking for hot beverage alternatives for coffee?
I strictly limit my coffee intake to that single cup of coffee early in the morning just to kick me awake. I don't drink any more ever, unless I am on a night shift and absolutely nodding off or some such which hardly happens if i have had a good 8 hrs of sleep in the past 24hrs.Ideally, If you are nodding off that means your body is really tired and wants rest. Coffee is not the solution to nodding off .Sleeping is the best solution for nodding off.So, anyways, the past week or so , random sleep timings have led me to drink 3 cups a day and then I noticed that ,THE THREE CUPS OF COFFEE PER DAY were perhaps the real reason behind my silly nightmares and fitful sleep and then the VICIOUS CYCLE of sleepy groggy days that follow the fitful poor quality sleep nights and then i drink coffee to keep awake..
Contrary to popular belief, not drinking coffee 4 hours prior to sleep is not going to prevent insomnia ESPECIALLY if you have consumed more than 500ml of coffee prior in the day.. the coffee still circulates in your system longer and thus might still give you insomnia.
IF YOU ARE A LARGE COFFEE DRINKER AND HAVE INSOMNIA PROBLEMS, AND IF YOU CAN MANAGE TO SOMEHOW CUT COFFEE COMPLETELY JUST DO SO .
Speaking of which that is what I am planning to do in the next three days, just to detox myself of the overdosing i have done in the past week. Also, i have noticed that i sometimes drink coffee just coz it is so cold outside or raining and i want something warm.
HERE IS MY PLAN
Here is my list of non coffee hot beverages I am looking at instead of coffee
1/Tea- Tea has a lesser conc of caffeine and thus will give me (hopefully) lesser nighmares
2/Hotchocolate-Also, even lesser caffeine.More than anything a soymilk hot chocolate is greatly vegan when made with cocoa powder and is damn tasty and is a hot treat on a cold day.
3/Warm salty spiced soymilk-I think they actually do drink warm salted soymilk early in the morning in china instead of coffee. I guess it is nutritious, replenishes the salt in the body(sodium and chloride).The spice kinda accentuates and makes the soymilk special
4/Warm soup- Well, for one, this takes a long time to make when compared to a quick cup of coffee in a microwave and as all of you know, I will not touch a canned soup spiked with preservatives and color and what not..But then, yes , microwaving at tomato makes for a quicker soup . A good choice esp if i have a wee bit of time.
