Maté

I've been a coffee addict for most of my adult life. I remember sitting in my 10x15-foot dorm room having a panic attack my freshman year in college and finally realizing that a 32 oz ice coffee before my 8am psych class was probably not a good idea (I cut back).

Before I had Anna, I had this weird thing where I could only drink coffee on an empty stomach (it seems to be the opposite for most people). Once I'd eaten, coffee upset my stomach. In yet another miracle of nature, once I had a child who hated to sleep, I gained the ability to drink coffee at any hour of the day. This has had both upsides and downsides.

For the past few months, though, I'd been feeling kind of run down. I'd pour more coffee into my body to try to perk up, but it got to a point where it just wasn't helping. And then, a little voice in the back of my head started nagging at me that the coffee might, in fact, be part of the problem.

Of course I told the voice to shut the hell up because, come on, I love my coffee.

And then in one of those weird moments where the planets align just a certain way, two people talked to me about yerba maté within 24 hours. and they happened to be two of the most energetic, fit people I know (granted, one of them is childless).

I picked up a box of Eco Teas Organic Yerba Maté (local + organic = :-) and decided to try it for a day. It has now been about two weeks. Every morning I make myself a shot of espresso (to which I add water and soy milk). After that, I drink maté. Know what? I feel awesome! Tons of energy. Stupid amounts of energy. And, honestly, I'm not even finishing the coffee most days.

I consider this a wait and see in terms of lasting benefits, although I'm sure getting my coffee consumption down is nothing but good. I'll keep you posted and we'll see if the maté-love lasts. For now, I'm all in.