RTH: Simple Step 3

Simple Step #3:  Drink Tea

As I had mentioned in my post the other day, one of my biggest problems is controlling my stress levels.  One of the latest things I have implemented is drinking tea more frequently.  I have been drinking a cup of decaf tea every night before I go to bed.  This serves two purposes:

It relaxes me after a crazy day and prepares my mind/body/soul for restful sleep

To be honest, there is nothing worse than going to bed thinking about a gazillion things that you should have gotten done or things that have to be done the next day.  As I mentioned before, I have classic Type A personality and I can almost never calm myself down before I go to bed.  Granted, I will usually fall right asleep at night, but then wake up wide awake at 2am thinking about everything that is upcoming in the next day or week.  The last few nights I have been setting aside at least 30 minutes to veg out in my pjs and enjoy a steamy cup of decaf tea.  I add a little 1% milk to my tea to create “moon tea” as my hubby affectionately calls it.  Moon tea basically is a term that his family came up with for tea with milk, since the cup looks like a powdery moon.  Enjoying a warm beverage with no caffeine is the perfect thing to ease my mind and makes me feel all warm and cozy and relaxed.  If you suffer from the same problems as me, I encourage you to try it and see if it helps relax you as much as it does for me!

It keeps my mouth busy and prevents me from mindless snacking

Especially in winter, there is nothing better than a hot cup of ANYTHING, whether it be hot chocolate, coffee, or tea.  There is nothing more soothing or comforting.  Lately, we have been surrounded by lots of snow, insane nor’easters, and blizzard like conditions and I find myself reaching for any kind of dessert or snack at night after coming in from the cold.  Plus, it doesn’t help that I live with a husband who is blessed with excellent genes and cannot gain or lose a pound no matter what he eats and loves to snack at night.  So when I see him snacking, it sparks the urge for me to snack as well.  I’ve been combating this by making both of us a cup of tea.  It’s something we found that we can enjoy together, instead of eating junk, while watching our favorite tv show and relaxing on the couch at night.  Now, I must say if I am legitimately hungry,  I WILL eat something small before bed.  The point of this post is not to substitute eating (if you need nourishment) with drinking tea.  However, if you are faced with pure mindless eating, I think enjoying a cup of tea is the perfect solution…

Note:  I also think that having a cup of tea throughout the day is excellent as well, but the point of this particular “simple step” / “tip” was to emphasize how I have recently been using tea at night-time

Teas I’m drinking now, both at night and during the day consist of various blends from my favorite companies:  Tazo, Yogi, Celestial Seasonings, Bigelow, and Safeway (store brand) decaf black tea….