Tea Before Breakfast. How This Habit Is Changing My Life.

The one thing I regret is not sticking to a well-developed morning routine.  Everyone knows that executing a powerful morning routine can absolutely change your life.  Ideally, my morning routine would look something like this:

-wake up early

-pray, meditate, journal

-exercise

-create a daily action plan

-conquer the world.

But, in reality, my morning consists of waking up, scrolling through Twitter then getting up and walking directly to my computer to start my day.  

Not very inspiring at all.  

Once I realized that I was in a rut, I decided to do something about it.  Instead of doing a full overhaul, I decided to take the easy route and institute a single morning habit that was effortless but would produce a host of benefits. This habit in my newly constructed morning routine would only take a few seconds.  The first step to my new daily habit was to make myself some tea.  This sounds like a simple task but it has brought some huge rewards.

Let's discuss.....

The primary motivation for using tea as the first step in my new morning routine was for vanity reasons.  Quarantine lead me to quickly gain several pounds.  Once I established some poor eating habits, it was hard to turn things around....so I decided to take the easy route.  

Instead of trying of relying on internal motivation to change things around, I decided to take the path of least resistance.  The easiest solution I could think of was to keep my diet exactly the same while drinking a few cups of green tea every day.  

That's all it took.

Within days, things started to shift.  I made the conscious decision to go with green tea because of its myriad of benefits.  Primarily, I hoped that it would help curb my appetite which might ultimately lead to weight loss.  And that's exactly what happened.  Drinking green tea every morning allowed me to push back my first meal of the day which allowed me to stay in my fat-burning state for a longer period of time.  Once I noticed the weight started coming off, it was easier to incorporate healthy habits like walking to further enhance my results. 

Weight management was just the beginning.  What I truly wanted to experience were some of the other benefits associated with tea drinking.  For instance, I wanted to see if being an avid tea drinker could help spare me from issues that my skin deals with during the summer.  Let's not forget that green tea is packed with antioxidants.  If you consume enough of it, you're bound to notice a difference in your skin.  I've talked about how green tea helps to combat acne and excessive oil production.   In this article, I vowed to try drinking green tea in the summer for skin benefits and I'm so glad I did!  As predicted, I'm experiencing fewer breakouts and overall less oil production than normal.  It's like a dream come true. Fewer breakouts means less post-acne hyperpigmentation which means more even-toned skin.  

Ok, let's talk about why I think there may be a benefit to drinking tea prior to your first meal.  But first, let me share a story.  One day, hubby and I decided to go for a long walk in the city.  After walking 4 miles we started to get hungry and decided to pop into one of our favorite restaurants for an early lunch.  As soon as I sat down, I ordered a fruity martini.  When the food arrived,  I released that my martini glass was empty so I ordered another!  By the time we got home, I went straight for an afternoon nap only to wake up with symptoms of a hangover. 

Looking back on the situation, I asked myself why the drinks had such a strong effect on me.  My best guess is that's it was a combination of the dehydration from walking coupled with an empty stomach that amplified the effects of the alcohol. I'll never do that again but I'll use the experience for my benefit.  I figure that if I give my body fluid after a long night of sleep, the cells are ready and waiting to absorb every drop.  That's why it's important to drink water in the morning. Aside from water (and lemon water), I think green tea is a great morning beverage that will flood your body with antioxidant-rich nourishment. 

Lastly, I'm glad I built this habit because it's one of those small actions that you can easily build upon.  For instance, while I'm waiting for the water to boil, I'll pick out my supplements for the day or write out a list of to-dos. 

 Basically, making a simple cup of tea is becoming the foundation for the ultimate morning routine that I'm slowly building.  In phase 2, I'll incorporate a cup of white tea in the evenings as a cornerstone of my nightly routine.