Coffee Fix!
Thursday, January 14, 2010 at 11:01PM What? Adrian drinks coffee?
Not only does Adrian drink coffee. He LOVES coffee.
Yes, I must confess. I drink organic coffee every morning (occasionally sweetened with cinnamon) and I love every minute of it.
I'm not exactly here to tell you that coffee is good for you. If I did, I would be telling only the good side of the story and I'm no politician. I am here to give you the good and the bad and tell you how you can incorporate your favourite coffee or tea into your healthy meal plan.
The Ugly Side of Caffeine
Most coffee and tea contains a lot of caffeine. This is usually the primary reason people make coffee their drink of choice in the morning. Caffeine is a drug like any other and comes with a long list of side effects. Have you ever tried not having your coffee in the morning? The headache that comes on when you try and kick this habit can be brutal (just like with other drugs) and creating a dependency and addiction like this is harmful to the body.
Second, coffee is extremely acidic. Our bodies function at optimum levels when they are slightly more alkaline (the opposite of acidic). It is best for us to greatly reduce any foods that will drive our body's pH to be more acidic and eat more foods that are alkaline (like fruits and veggies). An acidic body pH is like a magnet for all kinds of illnesses. Also, an alkaline body has a much stronger immune system, making illness much less likely.
Thirdly, conventional coffee is filled with pesticides and chemicals and should be avoided at all costs. Coffee, in fact, is one of the most chemically sprayed consumer products available. And the common chemicals used to spray coffee crops have been shown to be carcinogenic (cancer causing).
Last but not least, the caffeine in coffee and tea is abuse to your adrenal glands. Your adrenals release your "fight or flight" hormones basically giving you a nice "boost" when needed. Unfortunately, people who drink coffee all day long are consistently beating on their adrenals. This is the equivalent of whipping a tired horse even when he is exhausted. Eventually he will not move at all.
The Pretty Side of Caffeine
Coffee tastes oh so good and makes me feel great in the morning. (What? Is that not a good enough reason to drink it?).
Many studies have shown that coffee can help in the prevention and treatment of diseases and illnesses as varied as Alzheimer's disease, diabetes, liver disease, skin cancer, Parkinsons's disease and more. Although, I don't believe coffee would be the cure all to any of these diseases, many ancient cultures did rely on the coffee bean to cure a long list of ailments. Not to mention, caffeine has been proven to increase performance and mental focus.
In those who drink coffee, it's usually the single largest provider of antioxidants to their systems, higher than any other food or beverage consumed during the day!
Green tea is also a great drink to include with a long list of benefits. If nothing else, green tea is a wonderful source of antioxidants which are important in cancer prevention. Green tea has even been found to raise metabolism and aid in fat burning. Before you go take a green tea bath, its effects are really minor when compared to the effects of sound nutrition and exercise plans. Now that I've said that, don't think you can eat junk food and just wash it down with green tea!
What is a coffee and tea drinker to do?
- Limit your coffee and tea intake to 2 cups per day. No, not 2 of each, 2 total.
- If you are currently dependent on a lot of caffeine each day, replace 1 or 2 cups of coffee with green tea instead. Green tea has much less caffeine than coffee and will help combat the ugly detox symptoms.
- Do not jack up your coffee with sugar, milk, syrup and cream (So that means no Starbucks). If you must sweeten your coffee use stevia or xylitol to sweeten and avoid all the empty, harmful calories. Please oh please, do not use any of those flavoured creamers. They are closer to someone's chemistry experiment than they are to real food.
- Make sure to make your food choices healthy. Avoiding other acidic foods like sugar, artificial sweeteners and processed foods will lighten the acid load on the body.
- Make sure the coffee you drink is organic. By choosing to buy organic coffee, we're ensuring that the farmers who produced it are following health, environmental and ethical guidelines when they harvest their beans. We're also ensuring that we're giving our bodies the HIGHEST QUALITY product available. True, buying organic these days is a little pricier. But isn't your health worth it?
Am I going to give up my coffee? Probably not, but for now I keep it in moderation and enjoy my morning Java.
Reader Comments (3)
A Friday Sweetner!
I occassionally use a sweetner in my coffee - and on my tasteless porridge but it is none of those you recommend in your 'Coffee Fix' article .
The one I use is a sucralose based sweetner 'Splenda' - it tastes great but is it one of the good-bad or the ugly?
Hi there Chrissy. Now that is extremely easy to answer. Ugly. Big time Ugly. Ugly ugly ugly! Arrgghhhh. Is that clear?! Please note I am so passionate about this issue that I think everyone should see my response. As this website is new and people haven't yet learned how to navigate around I have mentioned this in the blog. In short I am writing an article to respond more fully and you (as a member) will be able to access it next week in the Members' Lounge. It is a full article with three sections...the facts, the scaremongering, the common sense solution.
Cheers for your comment.
Adrian
A quick follow up for you...I have now posted a blog entitled 'Artificial Sweeteners' with common sense advice and links to two Articles. One is my own well researched Article simply called 'Artificial Sweeteners' and one is a more alarmist view I read whilst researching the issue which is certainly thought provoking.
Adrian