Arrive at work, turn on computer, get organic Earl Grey teabag from desk drawer, head off to lunchroom, turn on kettle, prepare mug for delicious essence of bergamot, drink tea and feel comfort. This has been my daily routine on work days since I discovered Dilmah Earl Grey tea from Sri Lanka...until now.
A while back a couple of friends and I were having a discussion about random events, during which I was making tea. I stirred the milk into the tea and Sharon claimed that the sound of the spoon clinking against the mug was a very comforting sound. What it meant to her was that someone was taking care of her. I had never thought of it that way until she mentioned it. From that day on, every time I heard that sound I felt comforted, even if I was the one making the tea.
Being pregnant has meant that my caffeine intake must be significantly less than my regular dosage. Why you ask? Caffeine is a known mutagen, which means it's a chemical substance that causes genetic mutation. Genetic mutation! I think I'll skip the caffeine train for a while; I don't want to mutate our baby! My god I'm already afraid it's going to have something horribly wrong with it. Apparently that's a very normal feeling for parents-to-be, but I wish that lingering thought would go away.
When I tried to slow down my tea drinking, which by the way was up to at least 3 cups per day, I got caffeine-withdrawal headaches. For those of you who have experienced this type of headache, you know how horrible it is. Thus, I have decided to drastically cut back on my caffeine. That means no more tea, yes I know there are uncaffeinated teas but it's just not the same. Exceptions to this cut back rule are chocolate and the occassional sip of Coke when we are having pizza.
I was completely addicted to Diet Pepsi as well, so that's been binned too. Aspartame? Definitely no good for me, nor the baby.
I have moved on to drinking an obscene amount of Perrier with lemon. It's the closest thing I have been able to find that will replace my obscene addiction to Diet Pepsi. For a while I was drinking full calorie pop but that's not a good idea either because I don't want to gain any unnecessary weight, nor do I want to get gestational diabetes. Of course the issue with Perrier is that it's costing me about $1.50 per day, but I figure it's better than the other options. I really can't drink just tap water all day everyday, it's boring.
Any suggestions for yummy, thirst quenching, low-calorie, uncaffeinated, aspartame-free drinks?
- Allison
9 comments:
Hey Chica - a lot of waters are coming out with "flavoured" waters to help dieters, weight watchers members, people who hate water, etc. I don't know if they are aspartame free, but you also may want to try things that are made with Splenda, since its made from real sugar. Aquafina is one of the waters I have tried, and it tastes good...I just took a look at their website (and by the way they are made by PepsiWorld) and its made with Splenda Brand sucralose (and a whole bunch of other complicated stuff). They also make Sparkling Aquafina with flavours, and the ingredients are much simpler - sparkling water, natural flavours. http://www.aquafina.com/home.php
Hope this helps!! :0) Gotta take care of you and the bambino, eh!?
I was gonna say, you've pretty much limited yourself to water... I'll think on what else you can have...
I can relate about the caffeine headaches. Hell, I get them from moving timezones and drinking my coffee at different times.
You have my sincere sympathy about them, and might I recommend you drink water with chlorophyl? You can get it at Nutrition House in Pacific Centre, but people will think you're a weirdo for drinking green water.
Oh, and you seem to have accumulated some advertisements in the comments. Strange that.
Oh, and you can also drink caffeine free regular coke (not sure if Pepsi makes any of their products caffeine free)...but then you might not want to over-do the sugar.
Hey Allison...it's your cuz Kristen haha. Anyways I read your little predicament about having nothing to drink. Well out here we have this flavoured water made with splenda. I believe its a Nestle product, but they are quite tasty. They come in a few flavours, lemon,tangerine,rasberry and strawberry. We get it at Wal-mart but Im sure you would be able to find it in a grocery store too.
You're in Canada? My friend and I discovered Dilmah tea in Dubai while we were working on a ship, and we can't find it in the states (he's from florida, I'm from california), what store did you buy it from? Maybe they have a few of the same stores...?
my email is hscharf@gmail.com
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