Before you get all up in arms and defensive about what you think I am about to say, let me assure you that I have been a coffee lover for the past 12 years. I still am only now I longer consume the regular kind that damages my physical and emotional health. I would like to briefly share my story with you in hopes that it might have a positive impact on your life.
For the longest time I didn’t want to believe or even consider the fact that coffee namely the drug caffeine was playing such a damaging role in my daily life. I would look at every thing else before I would suspect or accuse a seemingly innocent cup or 2 of coffee a day for causing me such grief. I t wasn’t until high school that I began to rely more and more on caffeine for energy to get me through my long days. Little did I know I had set myself up for failure.I was feeling really depressed and tired all the time due to my coffee consumption and to try and feel better I would drink more coffee not knowing I was perpetuating a vicious cycle. So the doctors prescribed me anti depression/anxiety medicine to counteract what was happening to me. Not once did a Dr ever mention to me the countless studies that linked coffee consumption to anxiety , depression insomnia fatigue and a whole host of other physical ailments. If they did I could have been spared years of agony and lots of stupid pills that I washed down with my morning cup of Joe The program I was on was the equivalent of driving your car with one foot one the gas and one foot on brake. Sadly enough this is what a large majority of American are doing today. Can you imagine if the coffee companies had to put those known side effects as advertising on the can for each consumer to read like they do cigarettes?
The interesting thing about caffeine is that it magnifies stress in our lives by taxing our adrenal glands “triggering a heightened sense of awareness “ for a short period of time.
Once the mood swing goes away we are left feeling tired again and in need of more caffeine. Many clinical tests have linked depression and anxiety with even mild and moderate caffeine consumption. When you ingest caffeine it releases the stimulating dopamine in your brain and give you as sort of high. Well we all know what goes up must come down and the down you feel about 3 hours after is the downswing of the caffeine roller coaster when you are most likely to feel sad and depressed and anxious.
One of the proposed benefits or myths is that caffeine helps you think better, focus and study. In all actuality what is happening is that you are experiencing decreased blood flow to your brain. The reason why you get headaches when you don’t drink your daily fix is because your are now experiencing a much more normal flow of blood to the brain than you usually due when ingesting caffeine. So what is the cure? Take more of the drug to alleviate the symptoms and punish your brain and body in the process.
This is just the tip of the ice burg and I won’t bore you with anymore with details and side effects.
What Im really driving at is that most people have no idea what life is like without the background of caffeine and stress hormones coursing through their veins. If you do decide at some point to quit you will inevitably go through withdrawl process that can be achieved graudually. For me a coffee drinker of 12 years I did what any sane person would do and that is just quit cold turkey!. I did it and it worked with smoking but my body really didn’t like it when the caffeine fix went away. I experienced extreme fatigue for a couple days , sore throats and depression for about 3 days and then little by little I began making a come back. I am doing great know but I don’t recommend this method to anyone. There are much easier programs out there for you. What alarmed me the most was my body’s violent reactions to no longer having this drug in my life. I can honestly say that I feel much more calm throughout the day and I sleep way better at night. I am in a better mood and have more sustained natural energy and I have no desire for caffeine.
The one thing I am not willing to give up is the taste of coffee and decaf isn’t a good alternative because of the trace elements of caffeine and the high acidic content. Believe it or not there are delicious healthy alternative out there that look, smell, brew and taste just like coffee and actually have health benefits too. My current favorites are from a company called Teecino and they have an awesome herbal coffee that does the job
giving you the taste and experience you enjoy in coffee without all the negative addictive side effects and junk. Another great uplifting naturally energizing drink that helps out to replace caffeine especially fizzy soda drinks is kombucha tea which you can learn more about on my blog at www.joethefoodexplorer.blogspot.com
Lastly you will never know how good you can feel until you take the challenge to be caffeine free. A great resource for you if you are thinking about dropping the mean bean is a book called “Caffeine Blues “(wake up to the hidden dangers of Americas #1 drug ) by Dr Stephen Cherniske. You will be really glad you did. I know I am and I hope this helps you in your journey to a happier life and greater health and wellbeing.
.
.jpg)
