Jitterbug!

If you have too much it makes you shake, sometimes become paranoid and too little (If you are used to it daily) can give you withdrawal headaches.

Sounds like a drug? Technically it is (a stimulant), but VERY legal and in what we all like to say gets us through the day...coffee (Or if you are like Myself and Rachael, chocolate)

Yes, it is CAFFEINE!

I took and interest in this because one of my fellow food educators Amanda said that for the New Year she wanted to cut out caffeine in her diet. While, for an average daily coffee drinker this is a miraculous feat she has been doing very well, some of us may want to learn how to simply limit it so that it doesn't decide how our day will turn out.

But how do we know how much we are taking in when we get our grande mochachino latte with soy, half steamed, little cream, shaken, not stirred and however else you order your regular stimulant.

I found an awesome article (slides included) about how much caffeine is in many of the things that we intake on the daily, such as coffee, tea, and medicines.

I also found an article about the effects of caffeine on the body and how it attributes to heart disease and osteoporosis in elderly women. If you are getting your 1,200mg calcium (from milk, dark leafy greens, etc) about three 6oz. cups of "normal" coffee (300 milligrams of caffeine) shows NO effects on the average person, so, DRINK AWAY!