Why your morning chai and biscuit routine needs a healthy replacement

If morning chai without biscuits is not your cup of tea, this one’s for you, ladies! It’s not exactly the healthiest thing to do, but for many of us, waking up remains incomplete without indulging in the routine of dunking a crisp rusk, a cookie or ‘digestive’ biscuits into the cup, eating it, and then swigging the milk and sugar-laden tea.

You relate to it, don’t you? Often, we think that skipping this chai-biscuit habit can give us a headache which will interfere with the day’s activities, but perhaps it’s all in the mind. If it helps you to know, this combination could end up doing more harm than good to you in the long run.

Mornings often set the tone for the day, and if we consistently make dietary mistakes during that time, it can lead to serious consequences on our health and well-being. Tiny habits including breakfast, exercise, meditation or getting proper sleep can contribute to a healthy morning routine.

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Chai is not always unhealthy, but morning is not the right time for it. Image courtesy: Shutterstock
Perils of the chai-biscuit package
Celebrity nutritionist and dietitian Shweta Shah tells Health Shots that chai lovers must not discount the fact that it is acidic. And after waking up from a good night’s sleep, when it enters your already acidic stomach, it can give you heartburn and chest pain, bloating, constipation and all such gastric problems.

“Having chai is always a bad idea for folks suffering with constipation as it worsens the bowels. Plus tea is diuretic, which causes dehydration of your cells. Chai contains milk which also causes indigestion in some people. When it comes to biscuits, anything out of a packet that is processed is always harmful for your health,” Shah tells Health Shots.

Sometimes, you may get sentimental and say, “Oh, it’s just one cup of tea and 2 biscuits”. But do that math once! When taken everyday for a month, it equals 30 cups of tea and 60 biscuits! That’s some number.

And if this is a practice you have indulged in for weeks, months and years, you can keep doing the count. Don’t let it make you worry about the damage that it may have done already! But take charge of your health now and bring about a healthy change to your morning routine with these useful ways suggested by Shah.

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Later in the day, you can pair your chai with healthy crackers, not biscuits! Image courtesy: Shutterstock
How to start your morning on a healthy note, without chai and biscuits
Water: Start your day with a glass of warm water. It provides hydration to your body after you have slept for long hours and it also activates your cells. It also eases your bowels and helps in constipation. You might think you need tea, but turns out all your body needed was water!

Choose alternatives: Fruits, nuts, whole milk, homemade breakfast like poha, upma, idli, oats, dosa, sprouts, coconut water, fruit and vegetable juices etc. can be the best alternatives to replace your chai and biscuit combo. Anything that is homemade and not out of the packet is the best idea! A healthy breakfast will keep you full for a longer time and provide you with energy throughout the day. Besides, who doesn’t love a treat of delicious idli, dosa, poha in the mornings?

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A morning exercise session won’t make you miss chai! Image courtesy: Shutterstock

Get some exercise: Depending on chai to give you that kick of energy in the morning is easily replaceable. Get in the habit of exercising to provide your body the health benefits of exercise and increased energy levels throughout the day!

Get enough sleep: Believe it or not, but incomplete sleep can be a reason for your poor energy levels and improper food choices. Once you wake up in the morning with enough sleep, you will definitely feel energized and not at all lazy. And once your brain has completely woken up with complete sleep at night, you will automatically make better choices for yourself as you wake up.

Practice these, and you may find that you won’t need tea, coffee or biscuits to give you that kick for the day. You will wake up feeling ready to take on your day, automatically!