The Pace of Life

Caffeine maybe your instant pick-me-up of choice,
but it’s wrecking your health and causing fat resistance.
Use with caution.

The constant high pressured pace of life can mean that for the majority the automatic strategies to cope with stress and the understandable energy lows, seems to fall automatically to whats, quickest and most easily available, which most often is the all-purpose pick me up caffeine. The basic pattern I see most fall into is caffeine from morning till the daily pressure stops in the evening, then some sort of relaxant to bring the body down for sleep or usually a complete crash in the evenings!

Does this sound like you?

Caffeine is well known for being highly addictive and mainly used as a stimulant when your energy is low.

Caffeine is a diuretic so will be an added cause to dehydration.
For some, the cycle of stimulation to relaxation from caffeine and alcohol become very much part of their everyday copping mechanism. Unbeknown to them though this is a very effective way of adding stress to an already running down the adrenal system, which is heavily involved which regulating your metabolism.

The stimulating effects of coffee also cause a stress response, this probably feels good at the time but the body then tries to balance that stress by secreting cortisol, which is a hormone that helps you to deal with stress and initiates rest and sleep. The minor documented metabolism stimulating effects are not worth the stress on the adrenal glands and will never compare to the metabolic stimulating effects of a good nights sleep and regulate nutritious meal.

In the long run, stressing your adrenals will reduce your immune systems and your metabolisms ability to respond, which means you will hold on to fat much easier.

Any change needs a plan.
I don’t want you to cut out coffee altogether, I want you to replace it and reduce the need for it in the first place.
At those times when you’re really needing a coffee, I want you to think this: You can have the coffee in 10 minutes, but first try one of the following replacement:

Green Tea, or any herbal teas with licorice and cinnamon.
Warm lemon and honey water.
Water dense fruits like oranges, melons etc.

What I found most often happens, is that you that you will be less likely to want caffeine, because you have satisfied the body with what it most needs. Which is more than likely a hydration issue!

On to my strategy to reduce your caffeine intake.

Daily Plan

Before breakfast:
Your first priority is to hydrate yourself.
I’ve found a great way to do this is with warm filtered water with fresh lemon juice, its cleaning and supportive.

Breakfast:
Drink a cup of Green tea during breakfast preparation or 10min before.
Make sure that you have something for breakfast that’s energy packed and has slow releasing energy, so something with protein, fat, and fiber. Toast is not a substantial breakfast, you will have an energy low 30-60 minutes after eating, which is just the reason why most grab a coffee to get you through the morning.

Mid-morning:
This is normally a time when lots of caffeine is consumed, just check out the queues at Costa! The lack of energy around the mid-morning time is mainly due to not having breakfast.
If you made sure you had a wholesome breakfast your already ahead of the game.

Lunch:
Generally, this should be your second substantial meal of the day, again if you’re having a light lunch, where do you think you energies going to come from in the afternoon?

Afternoon:
Another great time to consume water dense fruits, rather than grabbing a cup of dehydrating coffee or a caffeine-packed energy drink.

Evening, before sleep, after dinner:
Clipper makes an amazingly relaxing evening tea which is very effective “Snore & Peace”, it contains Chamomile, Lemon Barm, and Lavender. Any herbal tea containing these or a combination are great. This is my favorite tea for relaxation in the evenings ready for a great night sleep, add a few drops of Stevia and its like having a sweet treat after dinner.

There’s something for you to be thinking about tomorrow.
Let me know how you got on!