I Drank Green Tea and Water (Only) For a Week. Here's What Happened

I teamed up with Nanami Tea to join their #7daydrinkgreen challenge.

Here's what went down...

The requirements: drink only green tea and water for hydration for 7 days. Note - I do not count smoothies as a "beverage for hydration." For me these are meal replacements so I still consumed them during this week. Other note - I ate food. A lot of people thought I wasn't eating this week. I definitely was! 

My typical beverage consumption routine: I don't drink much other than water, tea (matcha and others), and then an occasional Foursigmatic Mushroom Coffee (made bulletproof), coconut water or kombucha...during the weekdays. On the weekends, my routine is the same for the most part, but I make my matcha or coffee bulletproof (because I have to tools to do so when I'm at home), and then I usually have some wine or beer depending on what my plans are. Let's be honest - I pretty much always have wine on the weekends :) And if I'm being real honest, occasionally during the week too, but I try not to because then it's harder to get up for my 6AM workouts. 

The Challenge: I had 4 different teas all with different benefits to rotate into my day (but didn't have to drink all four each day). For the most part, the challenge was pretty easy considering it was similar to my current routine. The only time that it was hard was on the weekend when I was craving a mushroom coffee in the AM. I was also at a luncheon Saturday where everyone was having a few drinks and then Easter Sunday everyone was boozin.' Knowing that I had these plans with alcohol involved, I thought it would be harder than it was. If I hadn't been doing the cleanse, I definitely would have been sippin' ona sangria on Saturday and a festive beer on Sunday. However I noticed that, not to my surprise, I felt great not drinking. I definitely didn't NEED to be drinking at these types of events (even though I thought I wanted to). Drinking often makes me tired and I noticed without it, I felt so much more alert in conversation and attentive when playing with the kids on Easter. Also when we got home that night, I was running around the apartment getting things done but Bry was exhausted (which I would have been too if I drank). 

I also had a LOT of fun experimenting with the different teas. I've never used loose leaf tea before but it really makes you feel like a serious tea sommelier. I didn't have a tea maker specifically for loose leaf so after Googling a bit (and being too cheap to just order a tea maker off of a AP) I realized I could use my matcha sifter to sift the tea leaves through. While this was a bit messier (I had to pour my big ass pitcher of tea through this tiny lil sifter), it worked. The teas had so much taste to them and were also very fresh. It was cool being involved in the process: seeing the colors of the leaves and the texture of what created my cup. After trying all of the teas alone I started mixing some of them together for a combo of benefits and also adding in my fave mushroom powders from Root & Bones for additional superherb wellness support (I basically add these to everything now - tea and coffee always and food sometimes - for 15% off you can use code "lexsentials" at checkout). 

Here are the teas, their benefits and how I used them: 

Matcha - used this for my morning matcha during the week and Bulletproof matcha on the weekdays. Always how I start my day! Gives me the caffeine kick without the jitters/anxiety that coffee usually does. 

Sencha - LOVE the beautiful green color of this tea. Also loved how it was a "green tea" but didn't taste too bitter/leafy which a lot of them do. I used this in the mornings if I needed a second boost after my matcha (prior to my caffeine curfew at 2P or else I can't fall asleep at night!)

Hojicha - my initial reaction to the look of this tea was it's not as "pretty as the other colorful teas like the sencha." LOOKS ARE DECEIVING. This ended up being one of my faves. The nutty/caramel taste was so good - warming and sweet without being sweet (you'll understand when you try it). I also cheated with my 2P caffeine curfew and had this a little later in the day because of the lower caffeine levels. As for the aiding with digestion, the first time I tried this it had the "ballerina tea" effect on me ifyaknowwhatimean. 

Genmaicha - this also ended up being one of my faves, again for the nutty sweet flavor. I drank it on days that I knew I was going to be eating out at a restaurant or a bigger meal than usual to help suppress my appetite. The roasted rice gets soggy when you're brewin and smells delish. It reminded me of soggy LIFE cereal - a retired fave. 

For 15% off your Nanami Teas, use code "lexsentials" at checkout. 

What I learned:

• I felt great on the days I didn't have alcohol (was much more productive, alert and less tired overall). 
• There are so many awesome loose leaf teas out there with different benefits. Now that I know how fresh and tasty they are compared to the standard tea bags, I want to incorporate them more into my beverage routine.
• Because I basically said above that they were all my faves, here is the true ranking: #1 = matcha because I'm obsessed. #2/3 = tie for genmaicha and hojicha and #4 was sencha only because it's the least sweet of them all. 
• Sharing is caring. Bry wanted to join the fun too. He didn't do the challenge but still got to reap the benefits of my sommelier skills.