5 Alternatives to the Coffee Habit
Need a hot drink in the morning? Try these 5 alternatives to coffee:
Green Tea: Get the altertness without the buzz + aids in weight loss.
Green tea is a great alternative to coffee. Although it is still caffeinated, it contains the amino acid l-theanine that counteracts the caffiene buzz by calming the nervous system. Green Tea also contains numerous polyphenols, known as ECGC’s that can naturally help a myraid of health conditions including atherosclerosis, high cholesterol, various cancers, diabetes, inflammatory bowel disease, liver disease, and, wait for this one — weight loss! Green Tea can be an aquired taste but if you take some time to look into them, you’ll find there are thousands of different kinds out there. Try a few out – you’re bound to find one you like! (I’ve been taste testing at one of my new favourite haunts, David’s Tea. They have a HUGE selection there.)
Matcha Green Tea: Concentrated benefits of regular Green Tea + metabolism booster.
Matcha is much more potent than your typical green tea. Literally the grindings of green tea leaves, matcha is packed with antioxidants like the powerful EGCG’s. It boosts metabolism, burns calories, detoxifies, calms and relaxes, enhances mood and helps you to focus and concetrate. This version of Green Tea is definitely an acquired taste, but you can drink it straight up with water or have it in a latte form! Here’s our tip: If you head to a coffee or tea shop and order a Matcha Tea Latte, be sure to ask for it unsweetened. The default is sweetened normally. This way you can control what sweetener you use and how much. Many Matcha Tea Lattes are made with Cow’s Milk but there are some coffee shops that will accomodate your request for Almond Milk if you are a non-dairy kind of tea consumer. Head over to our facebook page for a discussion on where to find great Matcha Tea Lattes.
Hot Chocolate: Pull up to a cup of antioxidants – just make sure your going as dark as you can.
Ummm, yum…and this is a good alternative? Yep! Opt for the darkness chocolate you can find – the darker the chocolate, the more antioxidants it provides! Most coffee shops do offer a dark chocolate option so, go ahead and ask. Hey, it’s all in the name of health, right?!
Yerba Mate: Good pre-workout choice for it’s endurance boosting properties.
A lesser known caffeinated tea that has some pretty sweet attributes. It’s an antioxidant rich choice that also helps you to focus, digest well, increase your endurance and help with weight loss. This is one we’d recommend for at pre-workout alternative to coffee.
Rooibos: Anti-aging + metabolism booster.
Although not caffeinated, don’t eliminate Rooibos just yet! Rooibos tea (aka African Red Bush tea) is full of antioxidants and has many anti-aging properties. It can help with prevention of DNA damage, brain aging and increase tissue regeneration. It also improves glucose uptake and insulin secretion after a meal which means your metabolism can function properly, aiding in weight loss! Rooibos would be a great after meal drink alternative to coffee just based on how it affects your metabolism.
We’d like to know:
Have you tried to replace coffee with any of these alternatives?
Do you find that one type of drink is better at a certain time of day or to help with a certain function (focus, metabolism, better mood, etc)?
Image credit via Flickr.