To Tea or not to Tea?
We have all been advised how important that it is to give up our favourite cuppa or to cut down on both tea and coffee as they are both diuretics and can affect the benefits of our official 2 litres of daily water consumption (click here to read what we have written about that subject).
What are Diuretics?
For those of you who are not in the know, diuretics dehydrate us by making us need the toilet more. Drinks like tea and coffee require our bodies to use up some of their water content while we are digesting them. The water used in this way is then waste water and we lose it when we go to the toilet, which in turn dehydrates us.
How do we beat it?
There is a lot of pressure, especially in England, to give tea up completely with the simple plan of no diuretics equals no water wastage. Easy really! Think about it though, if you are used to having say 2 to 3 cups of tea or coffee a day and suddenly stop, then your water intake will also drop because although these drinks are diuretics they also supply the body with water.
What is the answer?
Of course like the many people told that red wine was good for them you could take this bit of information and go beserk and drink all the tea and coffee under the sun, thinking that you are doing you body some good by supplying it with much needed water. No no no my friends this is not the route at all.
Well, what then?
There is an argument that there is no point in giving up tea if you are not going to increase your water intake at the same time. However I believe the answer should be slightly modified. There should be 2 options:
Option 1
Keep drinking your tea and coffee, although in moderation say no more than 2 cups a day and make sure you increase your daily water intake of 2 litres by 2 cups of water around 250ml. This way you should be able to replace any water lost through the digestion of your drink.
Option 2
Give up your tea and coffee (maybe you should sit down for this bit – Beeble) and replace them with a glass of water. Thus replacing the water that you would have had from the tea or coffee and keeping your body hydrated at the same time. This option I feel is the better of the two, however those of you that like your tea and coffee would disagree.
Other Reasons to Avoid Tea and Coffee
Either way you look at it it is best not to drink tea or coffee, not just because of the dehydration factor, but because they are stimulants and put a lot of pressure on the heart. Stimulants by nature “stimulate” the heart making it pump blood faster round the body in turn making us feel more awake. It is a short term experience and it won’t be long before you are reaching for another cup to wake yourself up again. This constant increase of blood pressure puts the heart under strain in a bad way and can lead to a permanent increase in blood pressure which as we all should know by now can lead to heart related illnesses (and not the kind you can get over – Beeble).
I need tea and coffee to keep me awake!
It is true that it can seem like you need the tea or coffee to keep you going through the day, however it is in fact the drink that makes you tired. I know that doesn’t sound right but bear with me and I shall explain.
The drink being a natural stimulant seems to initially wake you up allowing you to perform your daily tasks with ease. This is true as your heart is working faster, it is getting blood to where it is needed faster. However a few minutes later, around 20 minutes, the stimulant wears off and because your heart has been working overtime you have actually used up more energy in that 20 minutes than you should have done. The end result being that you end up more tired and exhausted than before the cup of tea. Of course this response usually has us reaching for another stimulated drink to pick us up again. This ends up as a vicious circle and results in higher blood pressure and a very tired "you"! To learn how to keep a more balanced energy level please click here to read our post on energy levels.
Summary
Trust me on this one, give up tea and coffee for three weeks (arrggghhh noo – Beeble) and replace them with water, making sure you have your total of 2 litres of water a day spread out evenly. You should notice a huge change in your energy levels and after that 3 weeks choose either option 1 or 2 to continue on with.
Alternatives to Water
If you get bored with plain water try a few slices of lemon with hot water. The hot drink will make you miss tea and coffee less. There are plenty of herbal and fruit teas on the market, but make sure they haven’t got a high sugar content.
Let us know how you get on without caffeine, good luck!
