The Blog
Mocha or Matcha?
Thursday 27th April 2017
And it's Day 3 of the 7 Steps to a Better Mood! I hope some of the suggestions so far have inspired you - today I'm going to help to Boost Your Mood by looking at caffeine - and no, I am not going to tell you to just "up the coffee" unfortunately.
When I suggest to clients that their depression could be helped by reducing or removing their caffeine intake, a few do look a little like I've asked them to have their cat put down; a good friend put to rest. Maybe, it's the same expression as the one I see when I suggest clients to reduce their sugar! There are many studies and evidence to show that caffeine can affect mood and produce irritability and mood swings. These are the very issues we are trying to deal with this Feel Good Month. So maybe it's a moment to consider the teas and coffees we drink.
So what is an acceptable level of caffeine? Well, I am going to venture in to the area that would make me very unpopular, and that's the area of "maybe none?" Any consumption of a product that stimulates serotonin is quite able to produce an agitation when the product is withdrawn. Unless you are planning on a day-long "drip feed" supply of coffee (I have thought about this before), you are going to feel a low at some point!
Many people swop from drinking coffee to drinking cups of tea after lunchtime. Not always the case, but there are many of us that were force fed the notion of "afternoon tea" and "high tea", which are not traditionally served with a steaming hot mug of coffee, instead the more refined, delicate fragrance of tea served in a bone china teacup maybe? Have you ever considered that the commonly experienced afternoon "slump" has any connection to the lower caffeine content in the tea being drunk in the afternoon? It has crossed my mind on many occasions as I used to search through the kitchen cupboard for something sweet to give me a quick high to see me through the school run! Maybe my lunch hadn't been adequate but maybe it was because I was experiencing caffeine withdrawal from my morning coffee buckets?
I would like to introduce you to Matcha Green Tea Powder. I had tried on a number of occasions to miss out the ever-increasing coffee consumption first thing in the morning to get me going. Sometimes, if I had been busy enough, exercising or ill (ha!) I would not always feel a total headache melt down but most times I have tried, I have resorted to giving in to the coffee or reaching for a paracetamol. So I embarked on a mission to find a substitute.
I am a morning person, through and through and love getting up as soon as it is light, ready to embrace the day (this annoys my family some what). However, even I need a little assistance in the morning and I love my coffee. I had heard all about the benefits of Matcha Green Tea and set myself the challenge to try it. Recognised for producing a more gentle high and subsequent low, this tea was certainly going to be better for my mood than the coffee bean. I promptly brought a jar and brewed up a cup.
Even when I opened the pot, which was an attractive little glass number, oozing health and natural benefits, I knew I was going to struggle. The strong smell of wet grass and mouldy hay seemed to fill the air and the first cup was really hard work to even swallow two mouthfuls. I will admit to the coffee winning that day. However, undeterred, I tried again. I understand that you need to try something 15-17 times before you begin to like it and I am a very strong willed individual. After the third cup of "trying" I was ready to consider throwing the towel in. I don't have a dislike for hardly anything food related but this challenge was beginning to wear me down.
In an attempt to get my head around the taste of the tea, I decided to use the powder in a smoothie. I love smoothies and have many concoctions under my belt but would the bright green, grassy flavour beat me? Mixed with frozen bananas, orange juice, ice and a spoonful of flaxseed I found a flavour that was mellow, refreshing and invigorating for a breakfast drink (recipe coming). A large glass later, I was happy with the knowledge I could learn to really look forward to that taste in the morning and I went about my day, without my coffee.
I will be honest; from the very first week I hardly noticed any caffeine withdrawal, no headaches or heaviness previously experienced. I have continued with my new morning ritual with the matcha powder and have grown to love the freshness in the smoothie that no berry or banana can achieve on its own. So are there any other good things about the matcha powder that I was using as my caffeine substitute?
Matcha Green Tea Powder is harvested from the youngest, palest, highest premium tea leaves and stone ground. It's the same as the brown tea leaves we all consume on mass, but they have been treated with loving kid gloves, provided with special shading and their stems and veins removed. This shaded growth allows these leaves to produce higher levels of caffeine and theanine, which together account for the "calm energy" you get from it, rather than the harsh jitters you get from coffee.
With the whole tea leaf ground to produce matcha, it produces higher levels of catechins than normal green tea. These catechins are fantastic antioxidants, in particular epigallocatechin (EGCG), that is linked to fighting cancer, viruses and heart disease. I will produce a blog solely to promote more of the history, uses and preparations of matcha green tea as it's such a special little beast it deserves its very own page!
So, back to the caffeine. I would suggest considering the amount of caffeine you are consuming if you want to Boost Your Mood and ask yourself whether there is any connection to "dips" of mood in your day. Do you find headaches appearing if you miss your morning coffee? Do you have the shakes, search for quick fixes of sugar to try and combat a coffee withdrawal? These different considerations can really make big changes to your overall wellbeing and happy mind. I still drink coffee, but it is greatly reduced and only really socially when I am armed with a good friend in a café. I love my Green Matcha Powder now and feel it equips me with the best possible start to the day. I pack my handbag, undertake my usual errands with an energy and positive stride, knowing there will be no coffee crash that will see me running for the biscuit tin...which has issues of its own!