Morning Routine
I call it my morning routine but the truth is, I am usually up for about 3 hours before I do it.
Each day after getting myself ready, getting my daughter ready and dropping her off at day care (which usually involves either an intense game of 'I spy with my little eye' or a singing party to the music from Frozen), and heading into work, I pour up a cup of black tea.
Anti-Inflammation
I'm not anti very much. Maybe poor service, being put on hold, and inflammation.
It messes with my mental well-being and my body aches within hours of washing down a loaf of white bread with an ice cold soda. Well, in actual fact, it takes a lot less than a loaf of white bread for me to feel the effects of inflammation both physically and mentally.
With that in mind, a few months back I wanted to add something easy to my day that would help combat the inflammation in my body.
Enter black tea.
Black Tea for the Win
I've never been a coffee drinker, but I do love a good cup of tea. I had read about green tea and how the flavonoids it holds help to reduce inflammation but was looking for something with a better taste.
Both green tea and black tea are made from the leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant but black tea is oxidized and green tea is not.
Both black tea and green tea protect your heart and have been found to help reduce the bad cholesterol (LDL) and triglycerides.
Given my enjoyment of a nice cup of tea, and the fact I like the taste of black tea more than green tea - green tea was out and black tea was in.
Alert but Relaxed
Although I opt for the decaffeinated kind if I have a cup after supper, I enjoy the boost the caffeine from black tea gives me each morning. Because it has L-theanine in it, unlike coffee, it can trigger something called GABA in the brain. This inhibitory neurotransmitter brings on a relaxed but alert state - something that is key if you want the 'pick me up' of caffeine without any added reason for a dose of anxiety to creep into your day.
Part of a Complete Breakfast
Drinking my cup of black tea each morning (and I usually have another one around the 3:00pm energy drop) is fine but without paring it with some inflammation fighting food I wouldn't get the full benefits.
To find out what food I eat almost daily to round out the morning routine click here.
* a small portion of the sale of items found by clicking on some links within this article are paid to me, Sandy Cooper, and are used to support the cost of running this website.
Certain details from the above article were sourced from the following publication found on the website Healthline. https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/green-tea-vs-black-tea