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Mech
Joined: 06 Jun 2001
Posts: 8237
Location: THE 4th REICH USA |
Coffee: The great Energy Sapper
 Thu Nov 18, 2004 4:00 am
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Coffee: The Great Energy Sapper
Compiled by Frédéric Patenaude
Published in Just Eat An Apple, Vol. 2, #2
The effects of caffeine on the body are well researched, but you never hear about them in your newspaper. You never hear about them anywhere because the whole nation, if not the whole world, is addicted to caffeine. Doctors, journalists, scientists, writers — everyone drinks coffee. Those whose job is to inform us are usually heavy coffee drinkers. And few of them ever rise up to speak against this popular drug.
But one did. His name is Stephen Cherniske, a scientist who spent 10 years of his life researching the effects of caffeine on the body and compiling them in a shocking document, “Caffeine Blues.” On the first page of this book we can read:
- Caffeine can't provide energy, only chemical stimulation and induced emergency state that can lead to irritability, mood swings, and panic attacks.
- Caffeine's ultimate mood effect can be letdown, which can lead to depression and chronic fatigue.
- Caffeine gives the illusion of heightened alertness by dilating pupils, quickening heart rate, and raising blood pressure. In fact, caffeine does not increase overall mental activity.
I have read “Caffeine Blues” and selected the most relevant information and quotes out of it for this article.
The Great Caffeine Hoax
You may have read somewhere or have been told in school that as long as caffeine was consumed in “moderate” quantities, it could not cause any problems. You were reassured. Once in a while, you may even read somewhere in the newspaper about the “benefits” of drinking coffee. So far, so good. Who could ever say anything against coffee? Mr. Cherniske responds:
“I had been told only that caffeine was a mild stimulant and its association with health disorders was unproven. I was also told that caffeine is not addictive. Since I knew from my own painful experience that the opposite was true, I reasoned that perhaps I had been snowed on the whole topic.
“What I quickly learned was that everyone has been snowed — researchers, doctors, journalists, and especially the public. The deception has been well coordinated by an industry whose goal is quite simple: to get as much caffeine into our bodies as possible. The caffeine industry knows caffeine saps your natural sense of vitality, leaving you dependent on their products to get through the day. They know that you actually crave their products and, more importantly, that you suffer when you don't consume them.
“It's a marketing dream, and it's legal. No wonder more and more companies are jumping on the caffeine bandwagon, churning out products from specialized coffees and teas to 'herbal' caffeinated energy pills, caffeinelaced fruit beverages, 'supercharged' soft drinks, caffeinated beer, and even caffeinated bottled water.” (Caffeine Blues, page 4)
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The Law of Excitation
Herbert Shelton clearly explained the delusion of stimulation in his classic book, “Orthobionomics.”
“Whenever any irritating substance or influence is brought to bear upon the living organism this occasions vital resistance and excitation manifested by increased and impaired action, which, always necessarily diminishes the power of action and does so in precisely the degree to which it accelerates action; the increased action is caused by the extra expenditure of vital power called out, not supplied, by the compulsory process, and therefore the available supply of power is diminished by this amount… Under all circumstances, vitality or energy of any character whatever is invariably manifested or noticed by us, as energy, in its expenditure, never in its accumulation.”
In other words, what appears to give us energy is draining our energies. The stimulation people get from drinking coffee is an expenditure of vital forces, not real energy which can only come from rest.
Cherniske who well understands this, wrote:
“Caffeine does not provide energy — only chemical stimulation. The perceived energy comes from the body's struggle to adapt to increased blood levels of stress hormones... Using coffee for mood-enhancement is a short-term blessing and a long-term curse. While the initial adrenal stimulation may provide a transient anti-fatigue ‘lift,’ caffeine's ultimate mood effect is a letdown, either subtle or profound. Advertisers and coffee 'institutes' have kept this side of caffeine from public view...
“While caffeine users may feel more alert, the experience is simply one of increased sensory and motor activity (dilated pupils, increased heart rate, and higher blood pressure). The quality of thought and recall is improved no more than the quality of music is improved when played at a higher volume or speed.”
Tolerance
About tolerance to caffeine, he says: “What is tolerable for one person may be excessive for another. Moreover, what is tolerable caffeine intake at some point in your life may actually cause health problems just a few years later.” (Caffeine Blues, page 
We often hear that caffeine is only bad when consumed in excess, but when taken in small quantities it is not dangerous, and could even be beneficial, raising “mental alertness.” But since when can a poison be good for you?
“... of all the thousands of research papers that have been published on caffeine, none have concluded that caffeine is good for you.”
The truth is that the moderate coffee drinker is a rare gem, because coffee is so addictive that most consumers eventually end up drinking quite a bit. And the “average person” is a myth anyway. This person described by scientists in their research papers when they statistically analyze caffeine consumption simply does not exist. Not everyone reacts to a poison the same way, not everyone can detoxify it at the same rate, and not everyone consumes the same dose.
Children are more affected too, because their organism is purer. So the same dose of caffeine will have different effect on different people. So we can see the fallacy of recommending “moderation” - because it doesn't mean anything. Moderation can only concern the healthy factors of life, not those that are damaging it. Moderation in them is impossible. Any quantity will be an excess.
But how did we come to drink coffee?
It seems that coffee beans were used as a drug long before they were used as a food. The practice of giving toxic substances to the sick has been in vogue for a long time and has not changed much today. A large percentage of today's pharmaceutical drugs contain caffeine as one of their “active ingredients.”
“It was not until the thirteenth century that Arab monks made a revolutionary discovery. Roasted coffee beans could be made into a drink. No more falling asleep at prayers! The news spread from monastery to monastery, then hit the streets in the world's finest coffeehouses.” (Caffeine Blues, page 14)
“When coffee was first brought to European cities in the seventeenth century, people were repelled by its color and taste. They complained that it smelled and looked like roofing tar. But after they experienced its stimulating effect, the beverage was quickly proclaimed to be one of nature's miracles. Historians record this phenomenon without noticing the irony of what they are writing. Caffeine is, after all, a psychoactive drug, and human beings tend to crave substances that alter their states among them caffeine, morphine, nicotine, and cocaine. Indeed, all of these alkaloids are chemically related and, while they produce widely different effects, all are poisonous.” (Caffeine Blues, page 17)
Now coffee has conquered the world to the point where almost everyone drinks coffee, if not tea, if not another type of caffeinated beverage, such as coca-cola. Americans are the largest coffee drinkers in the world - with a dazzling record of 420 million cups drunk every single day.
Toxicity of Coffee
Coffee is a “mild” drug containing a whole array of toxic substances. In addition to caffeine, coffee contains hundreds of volatile substances including more than 200 acids. These the body must reject by a great expense of energy, which is the strange stimulation perceived as “energy.”
“Caffeine is a biological poison used by plants as a pesticide. The caffeine gives seeds and leaves a bitter taste, which discourages their consumption by insects and animals. If predators persist in eating a caffeine-containing plant, the caffeine can cause central nervous system disruptions and even lethal side effects. Most pests soon learn to leave the plant alone.” (Caffeine Blues, page 17)
But humans have fooled their instincts and tastes bud and transformed coffee into a drinkable beverage, often mixed with milk and sugar. But our sense of taste was right in detecting that poison - used by the plant as a pesticide to repel insects.
But caffeine is not the only toxic substance in coffee.
“Remember that coffee contains a host of chemicals, not just caffeine, among them a group of extremely toxic compounds known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). You might remember them as the cancer-causing agents isolated from barbecued meat.” (Caffeine Blues, page 53)
Chocolate
Chocolate contains a small amount of caffeine, but also contains a good amount of another substance called theobromine. This is an substance analogous to caffeine, producing similar physiological effects. When you combine the caffeine and the theobromine contained in a one-ounce piece of chocolate, you end up with the stimulating power of 40 milligrams of caffeine!
But everyone drinks coffee!
“When it comes to coffee, the most common reaction I hear is, ‘How can it be bad for you? People have been drinking coffee for centuries.’
“To a scientist, this observation is meaningless. History is filled with cases where millions of people made serious mistakes. There are herbs in China, for example, that have been used medicinally for thousands of years, and are still being used to treat sinus congestion. But repeated use of these herbs over time can cause cancer of the nose and throat. Epidemiologists (scientists studying the distribution of disease in populations) have estimated that this habit has caused premature and painful death for millions of Chinese people. Clearly, great numbers of people can be wrong, especially when they don't know the facts.” (Caffeine Blues, page 49)
You should also question the sanity of common statements that we hear from friends, celebrities, and co-workers. In the movie Shadow of a Doubt, Joseph Cotten's famous line was, ‘I can't face the world in the morning. I must have coffee before I can speak.’ Now, substitute for the word coffee any other drug, say amphetamines. If a person said he or she can't face the world without amphetamines, we'd call him or her an addict. We'd whisk the person off to rehab and maybe even throw him in jail. But because coffee is a drug we consume ourselves, we wink and nod and say, 'Yeah, ain't it the truth!'“ (Caffeine Blues, page 50)
Caffeine and Impaired Digestion
“Impaired digestion is more of a problem than most people realize - and it gets worse with caffeine. That jumbo 32-ounce soft drink or the double espresso we have with meals is a major contributor to the bloating, pain, and gas that roughly 50 percent of American adults experience after they eat. And these symptoms are only the physical signs of indigestion. Unseen are the harmful by-products of fermentation and putrefaction. Some of these by-products are absorbed back into the bloodstream, and the toxins that stay in the gut increase your risk of gastrointestinal disease.” (Caffeine Blues, page 60)
Caffeine and Sleep Disturbance
“There is a popular notion that coffee before 3 P.M. can't disturb your sleep. In fact, caffeine at any time of the day can cause sleep problems, especially if you are under stress.”
It seems that caffeine disturbs the most important phase of sleep, the deep-sleep phase. It's a vicious circle: caffeine intake leads to decreased sleep quantity, which leads to increased caffeine intake, which leads to decreased sleep quality, which leads to disease and fatigue, which leads to increased caffeine intake, and so on.
“We also tend to think that caffeine-related problems are mostly experienced by people in the workforce. In reality, those hardest hit appear to be the elderly. Oven though seniors tend to cut back on coffee, the caffeine they do ingest is detoxified much more slowly and their nervous systems are much more sensitive than those of younger people. Research is now showing that sleep disturbance among the elderly is a major factor not only in age-related physical degeneration but in mental degeneration as well.” (Caffeine Blues, page 85)
Caffeine & Malnutrition
Coffee also causes many nutritional deficiencies. Poisons in tea and coffee, including caffeine, cause an increased loss of B vitamins in the urine. There is also a loss of calcium.
“Research just published in the Annals of Nutrition and Metabolism found that caffeine increased potassium loss by nearly one-third. To make matters worse, such mineral loss appears to be accelerated when caffeine is mixed with sugar. Studies show that the mechanism behind this mineral-wasting phenomenon may have to do with the fact that caffeine impairs the kidney's ability to hold on to calcium, magnesium, and other minerals. Most recently, zinc was added to the list of nutrients depleted by caffeine.” (Caffeine Blues, page 90)
To add to this list, iron absorption is also impaired when caffeine is taken.
Caffeine and Mental Illness
I have known for a long time that even a moderate caffeine intake may cause a small depression, the “blues.” I have noticed this on myself a couple years ago when I started drinking tea, thinking that this beverage only had a tiny amount of caffeine in it. I couldn't fall asleep before 2 a.m. and started to experience a mild depression.As soon as I quit drinking tea, it went away. How many people feel depressed and tired for no apparent reason? And how many of them drink coffee or tea and can't give it up?
“If a person were injected with 500 milligrams of caffeine, within an hour he or she would exhibit symptoms of severe mental illness, among them, hallucinations, paranoia, panic, mania, and depression. But the same amount of caffeine administered over the course of a day only produces the milder forms of insanity for which we take tranquilizers and antidepressants.” (Caffeine Blues, page 124)
Coffee and Constipation
“... many people claim that caffeine helps them maintain normal bowel regularity, but that is the same as relying on laxatives. Either way, you're using a drug to induce bowel movements, and ultimately many coffee drinkers become dependent on this laxative action. Without the caffeine stimulation, they experience what is known as ‘rebound constipation.’ (page 173)
Caffeine and Headaches
“Forty-five million Americans suffer from chronic headaches. Seventeen million are migraine sufferers.”
“The person with a headache doesn’t know that it was caused or triggered by caffeine, so he or she looks for a painkiller (analgesic). Studies show that in 95 percent of cases, the analgesic drug contains caffeine. Such painkillers work, especially if the headaches was caused by caffeine withdrawal, but the caffeine ultimately triggers another headache. Ultimately, the hapless sufferer becomes dependent on the painkiller for even a modicum of relief, but the headaches increase in frequency and intensity. This may go on for many years, creating a cycle of pain and depression that destroys the quality of life.” (Caffeine Blues, page 185)
“A caffeine deprivation (withdrawal) headache results from the normal opening (dilation) of blood vessels that are constricted by caffeine. In other words, habitual caffeine intake keeps blood vessels in the brain constricted. When caffeine is not consumed, these blood vessels return to their normal blood-flow potential, and it is this increased circulation in the brain that causes the throbbing agony of a caffeine withdrawal headache.” - (Caffeine Blues,
page 186)
Adrenal Exhaustion
“Caffeine contributes to adrenal exhaustion, wherein a raft of important hormones are depleted. The destruction is not silent. You’ll feel it every day in many ways as you simply can no longer command the vitality necessary for what were once everyday tasks.” (Caffeine Blues, page 197)
Caffeine and Women
“Compared to men, research shows that caffeine is much more damaging to women, producing adverse effects at lower intake. The effects are even more far-reaching when you consider the harm caffeine does to fetuses and nursing babies.” (Caffeine Blues, page 225)
Here are other facts about caffeine concerning women: caffeine causes iron deficiency; increases calcium loss and risk of osteoporosis; caffeine produces short-term mood elevation, but contributes to rebound depression.
Ecology: pesticides, rain forest destruction and land use issues.
Coffee is the most important crop in the world. More than wheat, rice, corn, or livestock. More than fruit, more than vegetables, or any other staple crop -- coffee is number one. More than cars, more than steel, more than everything, only third next to petroleum and some metals used to make weapons. The reason: coffee is a drug, nearly everyone is addicted to it, and it’s part of the culture.
Coffee also happens to be one of the most heavily sprayed agricultural crops. In the countries where it is grown, there are few restrictions concerning pesticide use, where there are fewer laws to protect workers and the environment.
“Coffee plantations use huge amounts of pesticides that pollute the land, rivers, and destroy plant and animal life around them. The beans go off to market, but what happens to coffee pulp and the processing water? This water, now laden with pesticides, fungicides, and nitrogenous waste, goes directly into local streams, rivers, and lakes. With no filtration or reconditioning, the water pollution harms aquatic life as well as the health of people who live alongside those same bodies of water. And the coffee pulp? It sits in huge, rotting piles, leaching out its high nitrogen discharge into the groundwater and eventually into the same polluted waterways.” (Caffeine Blues, page 276)
Cherniske also mentions in his book how coffee plantations have probably contributed to the destruction of Rain Forests more than any other crop in the world, since large portions of the forest are destroyed every year to make room for the coffee plantations.
Coffee culture is labor-intensive and requires large portions of land and resources. These are astronomical numbers once you get your calculator out and consider that the world demand for coffee is 13 billion pounds a year. Since the average plant produces one to two pounds of roasted coffee a year, this will require 7 billion trees. Judging from what the average farmer can get from one acre, it ends up that 70 million acres are devoted to grow this non-food, this drug, this poison that contributes to human suffering and ruins the health of the millions without their being aware of it.
70 million acres devoted to the culture of coffee. Let’s ponder that for a moment. 70 million acres... If we add to that the land devoted to cacao culture (for the making of chocolate), tea leaves culture, sugar cane (for the making of sugar), and grape culture (for the making of wine), we would arrive at frighteningly high numbers. Hundreds of millions of acres of the most fertile land in the world exclusively devoted to the culture of non-foods and beverages that contribute to the suffering of humanity. Why talk about a lack of food? We’re simply cultivating the wrong plants for the wrong purposes!
The corruption of the health food industry.
"Until the 1990’s, caffeine was one of the no-nos of the health-food industry, like sugar and white flour. Caffeine-free herbal teas got their start in the healthfood industry, where caffeine-free products have traditionally been the hallmark of natural food choices. Now those same stores have huge display bins full of coffee beans and many have coffee bars serving pumped-up caffeine concoction. How did this happen? (Caffeine Blues, page 266)
“The face of the industry changed as the original visionaries sold out to conglomerates for whom profit superseded health principles. The proliferation of organic coffee bins in natural food stores took off, and before you knew it, manufacturers of health food products discovered what the food and beverage industry has known for decades: Caffeine sells.” (Caffeine Blues, page 267)
Coffee replacement and giving up coffee
We know it: giving up coffee is rarely easy, especially for those who have been drinking a few cups a day for many years. The detoxification symptoms can include headaches, depression, tiredness, and many more discomforts.
Cherniske mentions a plan where one can give up coffee with little discomforts, by gradually replacing coffee with herbal replacements until no more coffee is drunk. However, this process seems a bit long, and I personally would recommend a more radical method, but people will go with what they think they can do best.
It takes 60 days for your body to eliminate all the caffeine and really see the results. But this could be accelerated by a short fast, or a raw food, eliminating diet, such as a strict raw fruits and vegetables diet.
There are coffee replacements that can be used to give up coffee. Health food stores now offers a wide range of products, usually made from roasted cereals, that have a similar taste to coffee. However, you have to make sure that you buy genuine, caffeine free replacements. Items such as guarana, kola nut, green tea, maté tea, and ephedra are just other plant sources of caffeine and other stimulant drugs. They impair the body’s functions just like coffee does. There is also a new product called “Teeccino” that brews like regular coffee but does not contain any caffeine or any coffee beans. It is made from dates, figs, carob, barley, etc. It can be found in many health food stores or ordered from: Teeccino Caffé, Inc P.O. Box 42259, Santa Barbara, CA93140,, 800-498-3434, www.teeccino.com, email: info@teeccino.com
Caffeine Blues makes a great gift for your coffee-drinking friends. Order on the Internet, go to: www.amazon.com/sunfood02 |
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Mech
Joined: 06 Jun 2001
Posts: 8237
Location: THE 4th REICH USA |
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Thu Nov 18, 2004 4:13 am
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Kicking The Caffeine Habit
By Caroline MacDougall
You may have just visited your health practitioner who told you to quit drinking coffee. Or your body has been giving you alarm signals that it no longer tolerates caffeine like it used to when you were younger. But you love that coffee habit! It's the morning brewing ritual. It's the aroma of the roasted beans. And it's the caffeine jolt that makes waking up seem easier, not to mention the headaches that can be severe when you miss your next cup of coffee. Don't worry, there is an easy way to quit, some satisfying alternatives to replace that roasted brew, and plenty of good reasons to do it now.
You can get off of caffeine painlessly using a weaning process that gradually reduces your caffeine intake while you rebuild your natural energy supply. The solution is herbal coffee. Like herbal tea that is caffeine-free and made from herbs that are brewed like tea, caffeine-free herbal coffee is made from herbs, grains, fruits and nuts that have been roasted, ground and brewed just like coffee. Herbal coffee is high in potassium, an electrolyte mineral that stimulates nerve impulses, helps oxygenate the brain, lowers blood pressure and enhances athletic performance. Herbal coffee helps you rebuild your own natural energy supply by nutritionally supporting your body's energy production. No more drug induced jolts that leave you with an energy crash a few hours later!
Coffee has become a fixture in our lives because of one thing. It is an excellent drug delivery system for caffeine. A coffee drinker wants, expects, and has grown to require an energy lift. But letÕs look at this more closely. Does caffeine deliver an energy lift? To answer that, we have to define what is energy and what isn't. We know food delivers energy. Food supplies calories in the form of carbohydrates, protein and fat which, when metabolized, give the body glucose, vitamins and minerals that feed the brain and the muscles. Without real metabolic energy, our bodies can't perform. But what do caffeine and coffee supply? They don't contain any nutrients so they aren't feeding our brain and muscles. In fact, they don't give us energy at all. They give us stress. Caffeine is a drug that stimulates the adrenal glands to produce the classic "fight or flight" syndrome. Epinephrine, norepinephrine and cortisol are released by the adrenals into the blood stream to shut down any ancillary systems that require energy, like digestion and immune protection, so that all the body's energy can be channeled into survival. This was great for facing saber tooth tigers and other life threatening dangers, but what happens when our bodies are kept in this emergency state day in and day out, all day long?
Well, imagine that your adrenal glands are like a bank account. The answer to how long you can continue to make repeated withdrawals against your reservoir of good health and longevity depends on your genetic inheritance and other lifestyle habits. But you can be sure of one thing. Caffeine depletes energy, it doesn't supply
The Adrenal Glands and Stress Prevention
More than 150 hormones including DHEA, testosterone, and estrogen are produced or metabolized by the adrenal glands. These extraordinary glands are thus very important to good health and longevity. If you're whipping them everyday with caffeine, expect your aging process to accelerate especially as you hit your forties when hormone production starts to decline. High levels of cortisol, which unfortunately can stay elevated as long as 18 hours after a cup of coffee, will compromise your immune system and interfere with your body's ability to fight off pathogens. And if you are one of those coffee drinkers who can go right to sleep after a double shot of espresso, ask yourself, why am I still waking up exhausted and reaching for another cup of coffee? You may sleep, but caffeine interferes with you reaching the stage of deep sleep called Stage Four sleep where your body does its essential rebuild and repair work.
And how about the way you feel when driven by caffeine? Remember the last time you or someone else flew off the handle when faced with an everyday challenge? It would be interesting to know how many cups of coffee preceded the meltdown, because caffeine lowers the brain's "stress threshold". Events that we would normally handle with aplomb, suddenly become insurmountable.
Consider that most working adults consume 300 mg or more of caffeine (20 oz of drip coffee) before lunch, often on an empty stomach. Research shows conclusively that this can produce anxiety, irritability and in some individuals, panic...exactly the opposite of what we need when facing life's inevitable delays or conflicts. If you or your mate end the day stressed out and exhausted, depressed and worried, remember that caffeine is the greatest cause of stress in our culture.
Rebuild Your Natural Energy Supply
When a coffee drinker quits caffeine, they miss that drug induced jolt that gave them the sensation of having enough energy to get going. What they really need is a true natural energy lift. Herbal coffee, unlike coffee beans, actually has calories because it is made from herbs, grains, fruits and nuts that contain food nutrients. The herbs in herbal coffees are naturally high in potassium. Potassium is added to sports drinks to help athletes recover their energy after workouts. Herbal coffee has twice the potassium as Gatorade¨ whose potassium is artificially added. So herbal coffee gives the body a natural energy lift that is produced by the body's own natural energy systems.
Caffeine, on the other hand, forces the liver to release glucose into the blood stream. This produces a temporary blood sugar high that is often followed by a blood sugar low when the body reacts by producing insulin to store the excess sugar as fat. With herbal coffee, you can avoid this metabolic stress and enjoy a steady energy state produced by complex carbohydrates and potassium.
Some people find their natural energy returns easily but others suffer from some energy lows during the first few weeks after quitting coffee. Allow yourself to feel more tired than usual. Your body is giving you some important signals you may have been ignoring for some time as you continued to seek energy from caffeine. That tired feeling is temporary but you may find you need to catch up on some much needed sleep. Herbal tonics that help rebuild adrenal health and detoxify the body can help you restore your natural energy more quickly. Siberian Ginseng (Eleutherococcus senticosus) and Panax Ginseng (Panax ginseng or quinquefolius) traditionally combined with licorice are considered adrenal tonics. Both are classified as adaptogens, herbs that strengthen the immune system, the nervous system and the glandular system. Other adaptogens which can be of help to weakened adrenals are astragalus, schizandra berries, ashwaganda and wild yam. You might also consider some herbs to help detoxify the liver, kidneys and bowels. Herbs such as milk thistle, burdock root, parsley, uva ursi and psyllium seeds can strengthen and support taxed systems of elimination that have been exhausted by too much caffeine. Remember to drink more water - at least 8 cups per day - during this detoxification period.
Nutritional supplements that support adrenal health are the B vitamins and in particular pantothenic acid (B-5). If you need an additional energy boost during your recovery, try a bioenergetic nutritional supplement that has Co-Q10, alpha ketoglutaric acid, chromium, and potassium and magnesium aspartate. You'll find it gives you a real energy boost by increasing metabolic efficiency rather than stimulating the nervous system. This approach can be likened to feeding the horse rather than whipping it.
Beware of products parading as energy uppers that simply contain more harmful stimulants. Many of them depend on caffeine from lesser known sources such as guarana, kola nut, and yerba mate, or ephedrine from Ma Huang.
Some heavy coffee drinkers experience "brain fog" in the first month or so of quitting caffeine. Good nutrition along with a bioenergetic supplement coupled with some herbal extracts including gotu kola and gingko biloba will help you clear that fog and restore your normal brain clarity.
De-caf Versus No-caf
Why not just switch to decaf coffee you may ask? Decaf still contains approximately 7 mg of caffeine per 6 oz cup, enough to give healthy adrenal glands a good jolt. Decaf still has all the coffee acids and oils that may be giving you problems with your digestion or liver. In fact, since decaf is made from stronger flavored but highly acidic robusta beans, it tends to be even more caustic than regular coffee, which is usually made primarily from the higher grade arabica beans. Scientific studies have shown that decaf raises blood cholesterol levels faster and higher than regular coffee!
The acid issue is also significant. A steady diet of highly acidic foods and beverages can strain the body's alkaline balance. In order to neutralize dietary acids, our bodies use calcium as a buffering agent. Coffee thus creates a "double-whammy" by using up available calcium and at the same time causing increased excretion of calcium in the urine. The net result is that coffee drinkers rapidly deplete their calcium reserves and are at increased risk for osteoporosis. This can be a devastating problem for post-menopausal women and is also a significant factor in men's health.
If that wasn't bad enough, most decaf coffee is still being processed with toxic solvents such as methylene chloride. While most of the chemical is washed off the beans after the decaffeination process, it is impossible to remove it all, and significant residue has been found in the final product. Even the Swiss water process exposes the beans to a very hot water bath that removes much of the flavor along with most of the caffeine, leaves behind the oils and acids, and requires a chemical solvent to speed up the process. The fact remains that the finest decaf still carries significant health risks.
Caffeine and Your Body
If you need additional motivation, keep in mind the following health problems that can be exacerbated by caffeine.
* Cardiovascular Problems: Caffeine increases your heart rate, elevates your blood pressure, and can contribute to the development of heart disease. Both decaf and regular coffee increase your cholesterol and homocysteine, the biochemical that science has linked to increased risk for heart attack. Caffeine is also linked to coronary vasospasms, the cause for 20% of all fatal heart attacks which kill otherwise perfectly healthy people.
* Stress: Caffeine stimulates the excretion of stress hormones which can produce increased levels of anxiety, irritability, muscular tension and pain, indigestion, insomnia, and decreased immunity. Increased levels of stress from caffeine can keep you from being able to make healthy responses to the normal daily stress everyone is subjected to in their lives.
* Blood Sugar Swings: Diabetics and hypoglycemics should avoid caffeine because it stimulates a temporary surge in blood sugar which is then followed by an overproduction of insulin that causes a blood sugar crash within hours. If you're trying to loose weight, this rollercoaster will actually cause weight gain since insulin's message to the body is to store excess sugar as fat and the appetite becomes increased once the blood sugar is low.
* Gastrointestinal Problems: Many people experience a burning sensation in their stomach after drinking coffee because coffee increases the secretion of hydrochloric acid leading to an increased risk for ulcers. Coffee, including decaf, reduces the pressure on the valve between the esophagus and the stomach so that the highly acidic contents of the stomach pass up to the esophagus leading to heartburn and gastro-esophageal reflux disease. With our culture's high consumption of coffee, its no wonder the best selling over-the-counter drugs are the so-called antacids.
* Nutritional Deficiencies: Caffeine inhibits the absorption of some nutrients and causes the urinary excretion of calcium, magnesium, potassium, iron and trace minerals, all essential elements necessary for good health.
* Male Health Problems: Dr. Milton Krisiloff, M.D. has found that in the majority of cases, men can significantly reduce their risk for urinary and prostate problems by making dietary changes that include eliminating coffee and caffeine.
* Female Health Problems: Fibrocystic breast disease, PMS, osteoporosis, infertility problems, miscarriage, low birth weight infants, and menopausal problems such as hot flashes are all exacerbated by caffeine consumption. Women on birth control pills are particularly at risk since they have a decreased ability to detoxify caffeine.
* Adrenal Exhaustion: Caffeine consumption leads to eventual adrenal exhaustion that can leave you vulnerable to a variety of health disorders related to inflammation, autoimmunity, depression and other mood imbalances.
* Aging: Many people find in their forties that they can no longer tolerate the same level of caffeine consumption as they could in their twenties and thirties. The production of DHEA, melatonin, and other vital hormones start to decline and caffeine speeds up that downhill drop. Conversely, cortisol, a stress hormone, increases in productions as we age and caffeine increases cortisol levels in the blood for up to 18 hours. Caffeine dehydrates the body and contributes to the aging of the skin and kidneys. It has been shown to inhibit DNA repair and slow the ability of the liver to detoxify foreign toxins.
If you're interested in a more comprehensive and in-depth look at caffeine and it's effects on the body and mind, read Caffeine Blues by Stephen Cherniske, M.S. published by Warner Books.
Quitting Coffee the Pain-free Way
Caffeine withdrawal headaches can be incapacitating. Often they are accompanied by fatigue as your body starts to recuperate from its former caffeine-driven pace. It may interest you to know why you get a headache when you skip your morning cup. Caffeine, you see, acts a as powerful vasoconstrictor in the brain. That is, it constricts blood vessels in the brain and decreases circulation! When caffeine is not present, the sudden increased circulation causes headaches. While this keeps millions of people addicted to the caffeine habit, the good news is that you can avoid this pitfall by slowly weaning yourself off caffeine over a two to three week period. Start by mixing your normal coffee 3/4 to 1/4 herbal coffee. Gradually reduce the percentage of your coffee over a two-three week period until you are drinking 100% herbal coffee. You should be able to avoid the headaches and also gradually adjust your body to less reliance on stimulants.
Herbal coffee is versatile; you can brew it in drip coffee makers, percolators, French presses, and even espresso machines. Like coffee, you can get a variety of different flavors of herbal coffee. So no matter what method or flavor you prefer, you'll still be able to keep your same brewing ritual and enjoy the aroma and flavor of a rich, deep roasted brew.
Protect the Gift of Good Health
As many coffee drinkers have discovered, you never know the myriad ways that coffee is affecting you until you quit. Your body is like a sophisticated laboratory that specializes in one thing: you. If you listen carefully, it will tell you exactly what it needs. But it is hard to hear its signals if it is stressed out by stimulants. You may be experiencing pains and discomforts you would never imagine were caused by caffeine until they miraculously disappear after you quit coffee. The body's reaction to the toxicity of coffee can vary so greatly that you have to discover how it is uniquely affecting you. Look for improvements in your skin, digestion, sleep, mood, and energy among others. Don't be surprised if three months after quitting coffee, you discover you feel better than you've felt in years and your energy supply stays steady all day long. Then, if you have an occasional late night when you need that extra alertness to keep you going, use caffeine like any drug should be used - on occasion but never habitually. |
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Swamp Gas
Joined: 06 Jun 2001
Posts: 4254
Location: On a Hill in the Lowlands |
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Wed Nov 24, 2004 5:12 am
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Substitutes for caffeine:
1) Ginseng
2) Gotu Kola
3) St John's Wort
4) Schisandra berries
5) Gingko Biloba
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Heard it from a pilot who spoke real gooooood! |
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blogGreen88
Joined: 01 May 2006
Posts: 3
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| chronic constipation
Thu May 04, 2006 4:19 pm
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Are you talking about chronic constipation or something else?! Umm. There is a good page for chronic constipation perhaps!
Also,you can find some other content on it,such as diabetic products or air brush tanning or leadership tools.
You can search on the homepage try some other keywords,no ads even.these page updated every day.Because of the huge database,it perhaps not very fast,if you don't like it,take it easy.
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mr. jones
Joined: 03 Mar 2006
Posts: 1899
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Thu May 04, 2006 5:26 pm
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In the morning what the body needs first is water, coffee has water but the body is fooled because it has a strong chemical stimulant also "caffeine".
If you drink coffee in the morning and think you can't get up without it, try drinking a glass of water instead, you'll feel good but won't drain your energy.
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"The whole aim of practical politics is
to keep the populace alarmed, and thus clamorous to be led to safety, by menacing it with an endless series of
hobgoblins, all of them imaginary." |
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Jeanie
Joined: 18 Nov 2001
Posts: 1323
Location: North East U.S.A. |
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Tue May 09, 2006 2:11 am
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16oz of warm H2O with fresh lemon juice from 1/2 lemon, and a pinch of cayanne pepper, first thing in A.M. alkalanizes the body and supports blood sugar with no let down. |
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nutroviatsub
Joined: 19 Jun 2006
Posts: 1
Location: Torrance,Ca,Usa |
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Mon Jun 19, 2006 7:45 am
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Schizandra Adrenal Complex is a classic Chinese formula, prepared from some of Asia's most precious 'superior' tonics. In traditional Chinese herbalism, superior tonics were the most highly respected of all classes of botanicals. Superior herbs such as these are designed to enhance and promote general health and well-being, and are especially suited for individuals dealing with overwork, excessive stress and inadequate rest.
For Schizandra Adrenal Complex Products :
Schizandra Adrenal Complex
For More Information Nutrovita
Health Articles
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Nutrovita |
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