Energy Drinks or Yerba Mate? You Decide!

Are you using energy drinks? If so, be careful, because the use of those beverages taxes the system and depletes the adrenals leaving you more exhausted than you were before. Over time, other functions will also lose steam.

If you are needing more energy, of course, the best thing to do is figure out why. In this day and age of cell phones and instant news and refined foods and pesticides.... you get my point, it is easy to be going on an empty tank. Sometimes it might feel like you are being dragged through life by your hair. First, you want to figure out what the external factors are and do your best to mitigate them.

Is it to take more naps, meditate, take a second to breathe before you inhale a meal, say no to that meeting, break up with that toxic boyfriend, take baths or just go to bed an hour earlier?

Then, take a look at what is going on nutritionally. Are the foods you are eating "close to the ground" whole foods? Are you eating enough produce? Are you preparing your own food? Are you eating snacks? Do you even enjoy your food? Do you get hungry a lot? Are you craving sweets? Salty foods? Are you satisfied after a meal?

The natural thing to do when you need more energy is to reach for a stimulant. Sugar is a stimulant, so are potato chips. More commonly, people reach for caffeine like an energy shot or coffee. These products will lift you and give you a boost of energy, but quickly drop you.  You will feel great for a time, but when the fall comes, you will feel worse than when you had the thing in the first place.

These items rob you of future energy. In the end, you are sacrificing health and vitality for a momentary boost. Meanwhile, Yerba mate has been around for a long time. And, while some shy away from drinking it due to the fear of too much caffeine, here is how things shake down for an 8 oz serving:

Coffee 85 mg
Red Bull 80mg
Soda 26.4mg
Green Tea 20-49mg

Yerba Mate has 78mg per 8 oz. Most likely, what you are drinking has more caffeine and none of the nutritional benefits. Yerba Mate is an adaptogenic herb so it will not destroy your adrenals while it is giving you energy. It is also working on gut health! There are other benefits too, such as brain stimulation which is one of the main reasons people reach for caffeine in the first place.

So...the idea is to have Yerba Mate which "gives" you positive effects rather than an energy drink or sports drinks that deplete them. Make sense?