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Tea Time

Goodness, I am glad its Friday! This week Adam was away in Ottawa for his annual work trip.  Although it gets easier to handle each year, it still has its challenges.  Big A gives me extra attitude when he is away, since she is daddy's girl and resents being stuck with me.  She and Little A are also still fighting a lot, which makes me nuts.  I know I lucked out big time in the husband department, but this is never more obvious than when he is away!

When life gets tough, appreciating the little joys is important.  Like a comforting hot drink.

Most of us love tea and/or coffee. I love both.  Adam was an exception.  When I met him, he didn't drink either. Period. I thought that was super weird. Fortunately, during a trip to London, England a while back, he discovered the joys of tea.  He's still not on the coffee train though.

Personally, I oscillate between preferring one to the other.  Any time I have nausea (during pregnancy or from a flu, etc.), I can't even stand the smell of coffee, and then generally don't want it for quite a while.  But tea, at least hot tea, I can only drink in cold weather.  In summer, just not happening.

We often tend to think of tea being healthier than coffee, but this isn't really the case.  Coffee has lots of health benefits.  Its full of antioxidants and has been associated with a decreased risk of diabetes, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's. 

The reason coffee often gets a bad rap is that (1) it is often used, because of its caffeine content, to compensate for lack of energy due to insufficient sleep, exercise, or proper nutrition, and (2) people frequently make it unhealthy by adding copious amounts of sugar and/or cream, or consuming expensive coffee-like beverages from Starbucks, etc., that are super high in sugar, chemicals and calories.

For both tea and coffee, the best way to take them is black/plain, but even I can't handle that.  So if you do need a little something in your hot drinks, try to stick with a sweetener that doesn't affect blood sugar levels (there are lots of healthy ones out there now), and either skim/low-fat milk or just a wee bit of cream.

I have found myself in a state of loving coffee and tea equally, which hasn't happened for a while.  In fact, I haven't really been into tea for a few years, and even was not as much into coffee during the summer.  Actually, I just wasn't drinking hot beverages at all, and was sticking to ice coffee frappes mostly.  But right now I am loving tea to warm me up as the temperatures are starting to dip.  There is nothing better at getting rid of a chill than a hot cup of tea.

My favorite tea is currently this Sweet Harvest Pumpkin tea from Celestial Seasonings.


In fact, I am enjoying a cup as I write this post! But the nice thing about tea is that there are zillions of varieties and flavours, so its hard not to find one you like.

Well, I am off to finish my cup so I can go personal train some clients.  This weekend is, unfortunately, nuts.  I work tomorrow, my parents are visiting, the girls have all their activities, Little A has a birthday party, and we go to our friends' place for dinner Sunday.  Time to stock up on our favorite coffees and teas!

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