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A couple of weeks I was thinking about my eating habits, and realized that on any given day I was averaging between eight and nine cups of hot tea. When I was at home my cup was right beside me, and whenever I left the house I took my trusty thermal cup filled to the brim. With the average cup of black tea having about 40 mg of caffeine, that’s 320 -360 mg of caffeine daily just from tea. We won’t even factor in my love of chocolate!
With tea constantly beside me, I was compounding things by drinking no water at all. My poor kidneys!
So I did what I do best. I stopped cold-turkey. No tea at all for two days, just water. The weather cooperated by being VERY hot, so having a big cup of water with ice was nice and refreshing. But it wasn’t satisfying. I didn’t wake up looking forward to my first glass of water of the day, and I definitely didn’t relax with the last cup before bed. I told myself I was making good choices for my (aging) body, but I’m not sure I was convinced.
The first difference I noticed, besides being pretty shaky without caffeine, was that my appetite was completely gone. Double-stuff Oreos and water do not comfort the way Oreos and a cup of tea do. When I was feeling a bit “off” at work in the evening, I realized I had not eaten at all that day, and still really didn’t feel like it. But the next morning I forced myself to have breakfast so I didn’t fall on my face.
Two weeks in I have transitioned to two cups of tea a day — one in the morning and one at night. I still miss the comfort and the caffeine, but I do think I am making a better choice for my body. And I don’t find myself snacking as much as I did before, as I still am struggling with not having an appetite.
Wish me luck.