So you have heard from friends or have seen Yerba Mate elsewhere, and you are thinking of trying the drink but want more information before you decide. Well first let’s talk about what it is so that we can understand what the possibilities could be when taking it for the first few times.
Firstly, it is very much like tea, however instead of having been grown or tea bushes, whether black or green tea, it is instead a leave that is produced on a plant that is a relative of the Holly plant. It is a slightly bitter tasting drink once it has been picked, dried and packed in bags similar to tea bags. The leaves themselves are grown on bushes that can grow up to 45 feet in height and which for centuries have been harvested and used in countries where it grows naturally. These countries include Argentina, Paraguay, and Brazil. It is drunk exactly like tea in that it is in a bag reminiscent of a tea bag and that once steeped in hot water releases its natural properties from the leaves, just as tea does. Also just like green tea it has a slightly bitter taste that many find pleasing. If its a little bitter for you, you can add and infuse sweeteners with it just as people do when they add honey or sugar to their teas.
So, mate is very similar to tea and also quite similar to coffee. The plant does contain more caffeine than coffee and a lot more than either version of tea. If you drink either tea or coffee, then this should have no effects on you. While the caffeine content is higher than coffee, it is a milder type of caffeine which is entirely natural to the plant itself.
The plant has numerous benefits and is hugely rich in antioxidants and which is known to boost energy levels along with your immune system and has been cited as lowering heart disease. Other benefits stem from the inability of it to boost your metabolism, which is the system that is calories as you move and exercise. The mix of the metabolism combined with the natural antioxidant properties acts as a mild stimulant to help jump-start your system so that more calories are burnt, and your weight drops.
So after reading the above facts, Yerba is just like any other beverage that you can think of. If all you have is a constant diet of one liquid and drink too much each day, there could be side effects just like there would be if you were drinking too much energy drinks or even tea or coffee. Both of these can have their side effects if too much is injected over a short period.
The final answer after the above information is that it depends on your system and whether or not you drink coffee or tea already. The reason for this is that if you are already consuming tea and coffee, then you will already be used to ingesting caffeine, so our body will process it as if it were one of the other drinks. If though, you do not already drink one of these and have had no exposure to caffeine before then yes, it is possible for you to get an upset stomach. That said, it would not necessarily be a bad thing for you and would be using the drink to flush out some toxins out of your system.
Similarly the hit of antioxidants to your system, if you are used to them, will promote a rise in your bodies desire to begin purging or eliminating those toxic waste elements that are currently sitting in your system, both your bloodstream as well as stored in your organs, while the removal of these harmful toxins is perfect for you. Would you have heard of the Detox Diet? While this is now a diet, the effects of the antioxidants along with the caffeine may accelerate the possibility of your body working to purge these.
When you look at the overall health benefits of it alongside the slim possibility of a stomach ache as your body prepares to rid itself of toxins, the decision should be an easy one to make. I would suggest that if you are new to caffeine and are worried about a stomach ache, that you have a Yerba drink (which you can find on Amazon) while you are at home in case you do need the bathroom, yours will be close by. Once the stomachache has subsided you should be OK to continue drinking it without further effects.