Basic Pursuits

I'm going to leave aside the discussion about drinking caffeine. Hell, I know I drink too much on some days. Maybe I did today. This is my second post of the day; I'm zoomin'.

If you are a successful caffeine quitter, no offense and more power to you

This is about the best way and the worst way to get your caffeine. You might be surprised.

First the worst: soda and diet soda. Sugared soda is bad enough. Aspartame sweetened soda is arguably even worse.

These artificial factory-made canned chemicals provide you nothing beneficial in the way of nutrients. Indeed, they probably cause a net loss of minerals because of their diuretic properties. Nothing makes me pee more.

Coffee and tea, on the other hand, actually add nutrients. For example coffee gives you 116 mg of potassium, more than in most supplements. Tea supplies 87.7 mg. Check these links to see other nutrients supplied by coffee and tea: Coffee or tea?

Besides the nutrients that we know about, both coffee and tea contain hundreds of natural compounds. Some of these are already being studied for their health benefits. A recent article said that coffee may lower liver cancer risk and no one knows exactly why. And who hasn't read about the anti-oxidant qualities of tea, particularly green tea.

So caffeine intake is a great example of a great principle: when contemplating what to swallow, always choose real food.

And if you are down or caffeine, you can always choose decaffeinated.