Peppermint tea!

After watching an incredible episode of Glee today I was immediately in a good mood. Glee parodied Britney Spears this week and ended off with a song I really love by Paramore (although they should have ended the episode with more Britney). Today is kind of a particularly gloomy day outside, its raining (what else is new) and its kind of chilly. I started on my yoga course and its a lot of material, lots of information to take in! So, I decided to take a break to blog.

Everyday I start my morning off with hot water with lemon (something that I read about while reading Dr. Joshi's Holistic detox ) and then I move on to peppermint tea. Since getting sick, I've been banned from caffeine because it makes my skin burn and I also wasn't supposed to take it with the medicine. I was also told by the doctors that caffeine works against your immune system, which I am trying to build up. I used to be a huge coffee addict save for one new years resolution back in 2006 where I stopped drinking the stuff for 6 months! But as of late, I was hitting the java up to 4 times a day. For the last month, I have been coffee and caffeine free. I won't lie and say that I haven't missed it or that every time I walk by a cafe or Starbucks I don't get a whiff of the good stuff and wish I could down a tall soy latte, but its felt good to be able to get off it and stay off it. A friend of mine constantly proclaims that coffee is the only legal drug out there. He is right. Coffee and caffeine are stimulants and highly addictive. Caffeine works by initiating the uncontrolled firing of neurons in your brain, which in turn triggers your pituitary gland to secrete a hormone that tells your adrenal glands to produce adrenalin. Adrenalin is your body's natural high, however, when it is triggered unnaturally, the body reacts and balances itself out by also providing you with a lovely crash once the adrenalin has worn off. You in turn become more fatigued, irritable, sometimes you get a raging headache, and a fog clouds your conscious mind. At this point, you probably want another cuppa joe, right? and so the cycle begins again. Think about what kind of state this is putting your body in to. First of all you are in a constantly caffeinated state of being, always needing more and in turn, always on edge. For those highly addicted, this caffeinated state results in increased fatigue, mood swings, depression, insomnia, irritability, and even high stress. Eventually, your body will also go in to adrenal exhaustion, or even depletion. After years of needing more and more coffee to get your adrenaline high, you will see the detrimental effects that consuming so much caffeine has on your system. Caffeine is like any other drug and there will be withdrawal symptoms once you stop pounding back the lattes. Cutting back is hard, believe me, I'm on that path right now, but my savior? Peppermint tea. It is the most soothing and great tasting tea I have found. I even got my guy to love it and he never drank tea before. As well, peppermint contains menthol, which is not only extremely refreshing but also has healing qualities. Peppermint also has vitamin B, calcium, and potassium, all extremely important things to reduce stress, help your heart, and strengthen your bones. Peppermint aids digestion, stomach cramps, any and all GI problems (nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, IBS, gas, indigestion), headaches, colic in babies, gall stones, it also helps your concentration and works to calm your nervous system so that you can focus. Breastfeeding mothers are also urged to drink peppermint tea while breastfeeding so that the health benefits may pass on to the baby through the mother's milk. Also, it helps your breath stay minty and fresh. Another plus? Peppermint is naturally caffeine free. The tea itself tastes great on its own but I like to drink it with some honey; its a great treat to wake up to in the morning. I suggest for those of you who rely on a morning coffee to get you going that you try peppermint tea, or any other kind of caffeine free herbal tea, and see how it goes. I'm off to study some more but I'll be back later today to blog about some nutritious and delicious foods as well as a crazy movie I just saw! xJ