Hot HOT chocolate

There are a few mainstays in my life:
(1) whenever we decide to plan something - be it a wedding, a holiday, heck, even a supermarket trip - Galumph will suggest setting up a spreadsheet;
(2) The Guardian - it's the first site I look at in the morning, and the last one I peep at before I hit the sack;
(3) I will fall into a big tired heap around 3 o'clock in the afternoon, and stagger through to bedtime in a weary, grumpy fug.

Now, the spreadsheet quirk I can't do too much about, and as for The Guardian, well, I wouldn't be without it. It makes me laugh, and sometimes makes me cry. It's the best darn reporting on the web. But the tired - oh, the tired I can certainly do without.

My vegetarian proteiney breakfasts have definitely helped keep my energy levels nice and stable until lunchtime, but I still get the mid-afternoon slump. I sat down and had a good think about this the other day, and realised that I always want a coffee and a sugar hit then. Then I began to think about how many coffees I have a day, and realised that I'm up to four. Yikes - that seems like a lot! Yet despite these cups of joe, I still felt that I was running on empty most of the time.

I did some internet research, and discovered that what with the caffeine and two sugars I add to each cup, I was setting up a classic low sugar level cycle. That would explain the constant desire for another pick me up, which only ever did a very temporary job.

So I'm taking a bold step, and going where adult Jorth has not gone before: I'm pretty much cutting caffeine out of my life, and seeing if that improves things. From what I've read, once you get past week 1 your energy levels should be stable all day, only dwindling down of an evening which is when you are naturally meant to toddle off to bed. So far, so good, except for the constant headache, but I'm assured that will go.

But there was still one little problem left: I LIKED having a hot milky beverage first thing in the morning. So I've come up with a compromise (since I don't like herbal teas that much): I'm going to have chilli hot chocolate in the morning instead, then peppermint tea the rest of the time. Now, there is caffeine in hot chocolate - estimates put it at between 10 - 70mg per cup - but I reckon that's a lot better than the 400mg I was consuming before. And I won't be having any sugar with it.

Besides, the chilli is sure to give a quick fire start to my day! I'll see how it goes - really, all I want is to stay up past 8:30 of an evening without nodding off over my knitting. I have a lot of knitting projects planned - I need the extra hours to get them all done!