This week I’ve been rereading Charles Duhigg’s utterly absorbing book, The Power of Habits, and am struck by how increasingly sophisticated the scientific understanding of habits has become — how they’re formed, and how they can be disrupted and changed. For anyone interested in developing excellent ways to change old habits or start new ones, you won’t find a better book.
Like a lot of people reading this, matcha for me has become a daily habit.I have a fairly robust matcha habit that includes a bowl or two of hot, hyperpremium matcha, several 16oz bottles of coldbrew, and, often, some kind of culinary matcha snack or at least a sprinkle of matcha salt over my beloved poached eggs. (I recently saw a recipe for matcha granola by my friend Chika that looked interesting, one by Cheryl Malik that looked great, and yet another tasty-looking one from Vanessa — time to make some matcha granola.)
All this adds up to roughly five or six 1g-servings of matcha a day. For me this was a conscious decision, since I wanted to radically increase my intake of whole green tea (leaves and all), for all the usual reasons:
1) replenishes phytonutrients needed for next-day alcohol recovery — important for wine drinkers like myself!
2) boosts metabolism — I need this for the crazy amount of food I seem to eat.
3) keeps me maximally hydrated — I’ve always had a problem drinking enough water.
4) employs plaque scrubbers — matcha is great for your teeth and gums!
5) antioxidant blast repairs free radical damage caused by oxidation of cells.
6) huge l-theanine intake creates a super-relaxed yet intense focus for work.
7) fights fatigue — caffeine + amino acids = dynamite energy.
8) sweetens your breath — pretty much the opposite of coffee.
9) great for skin — matcha’s high polyphenol content can inhibit UV radiation-induced skin damage. Why did I get so many sunburns as a teenager? Ugh.
10) detoxifies the body — matcha’s massive chlorophyll content helps to naturally remove heavy metals and chemical toxins from the body.
Here’s yet another reason to give matcha a shot — readers of the blog can take an additional 10% of any order by typing BLOG10. Not sure how long that will last but for now it works!
So many habits are unconscious and somewhat destructive. Read Duhigg’s book to understand how you can make healthy habits work for you.
