Just like we can divide the world into cat people and dog people, we can do the same with the divide between coffee people and tea people.
Which one do you prefer? For me, I lean more towards coffee, although there are times when a hot cup of tea hits the spot perfectly. It doesn’t matter if it’s green tea or something less exotic like Twinings black breakfast tea. As long as it’s hot and has some flavor it will satisfy that craving for a beverage other than water.
Since I have a Keurig single-serve brewer in my kitchen, I can brew a cup of coffee or tea quickly and conveniently. There are so many varieties of these single-serve brew pods now that I can keep changing up my repertoire whenever the mood strikes. One night a decaffeinated cup of Krispy Kreme coffee will do, the next night a cup of decaffeinated Twinings Breakfast Tea will be the choice.
And many times, my cup of coffee or tea will satisfy my craving to eat something before going to bed. You may have experienced this too. You’ve had dinner and you feel fairly satisfied a few hours later when it’s around 8 or 9 pm and you are thinking about snacking on something. You’re just an hour away perhaps from going to bed, but there’s that one slight tinge of a craving, one murmur of a voice inside you calling out for just one small snack before bedtime.
This is where the cup of tea or coffee comes to the rescue. The mere act of preparing the beverage, of pulling the brew pod out of the box and inserting it into the Keurig brewer, takes you out of the “I am craving a snack”groove and sets you on a different, healthier path.
Then, once you have the hot beverage in your hand, sipping it slowly and enjoying the moment, you’re then in charge of your appetite. Rather than giving into the craving, you took that one small action that greatly increased your chances of winning that last battle with your cravings before bedtime.
These cravings can be particularly intense if you are watching something on TV, a movie or sporting event, and over years you have been conditioned to crave that snack while sitting there on the sofa. It’s not all your fault, though.
Since we were kids, we’ve been conditioned to associate watching movies with eating popcorn and munching on hot dogs while watching baseball games. If that isn’t tough enough to deal with, TV commercials will remind you constantly of just how delicious a few Taco Bell burritos or a serving of nachos would taste right about now.
Our willpower is under constant attack, not just from years of inner conditioning, but from sophisticated marketing techniques designed to manipulate our behavior, to get us to buy or eat something that is not in our best interest.
This is why you need to have a plan in place before these cravings arrive. Having a brew pod of coffee or tea nearby can certainly help during these moments.
Of course, a glass of water could also do the trick, but sometimes there are times when you may want something a bit different. That’s when a cup of coffee or tea is the perfect choice.
