30 Reasons to Quit Coffee

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30 Reasons to Quit Coffee

1. According to the author, Cherniske, " Caffeine is a biological poison

used by plants as a pesticide. "

2. " Over 700 volatile substances in coffee have been identified, including more

than 200 acids and an incredible array of alcohols, aromatic compounds, carbonyl

compounds, esters, hydrocarbons, heterocyclic compounds, and terpenoids… Coffee

often contains a raft of pesticide residues and other contaminants such as

nitrosamines, solvents, and mycotoxins. These carry well-defined health risks,

and some are carcinogenic. "

3. Caffeine raises blood pressure.

4. Caffeine increases homocysteine (a biochemical that damages artery walls).

5. Caffeine promotes arrythmias.

6. Caffeine constricts blood vessels leading to the heart.

7. Caffeine seems to give you energy but it is not real energy — only " chemical

stimulation " . According to Cherniske, " The perceived `energy' comes from the

body's struggle to adapt to increased blood levels of stress hormones. "

8. Children are the most vulnerable to caffeine because they don't detoxify the

drug as easily. " Caffeine stays in a child's brain and bloodstream much longer

than an adult's and subsequent doses produce a cumulative increase in stress and

addiction. "

9. Cutting out caffeine can reduce and even eliminate chronic pain. Pain and

tension in our bodies are related to the level of stress hormones in our bodies,

which caffeine increases.

10. Caffeine is a stimulant. " Using stimulants is like a whipping a horse. They

work for a short time but prove disastrous when used repeatedly. " In other

words, coffee may help you in the short term, but in the long term, it hurts you

in myriad ways.

11. Caffeine powerfully affects stress hormones. " It takes three weeks or more

after withdrawal from caffeine before stress hormones return to normal. "

Cherniske recommends that you eliminate caffeine for a minimum of 60 days in

order to see how you really feel without caffeine. (I can personally attest to

this. I have so much more energy today — but it did take several weeks off

caffeine for me to feel it.)

12. Caffeine damages the nervous system. " Human and animal data suggest that

dopamine and benzodiazepine receptors are involved in hand tremor, and the

condition is common in both habitual and casual coffee drinkers. "

13. Coffee, even decaf, taxes your liver. " Coffee contains a host of chemicals,

not just caffeine, among them a group of extremely toxic compounds known as

polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons… The liver also has to deal with all the

aldehydes, alcohols, and sulfides found in coffee. "

14. Coffee and drugs don't mix. (That's because coffee is a drug!) Many

prescription and over-the-counter drugs contain caffeine. Many drugs (including

birth control pills and heartburn drugs like Tagamet) " interfere with the

liver's ability to detoxify the chemicals found in coffee. " Other pharmaceutical

drugs have been shown to increase blood levels of caffeine by more than 600

percent. "

16. Caffeine impairs digestion. I could write a whole blog post on this one.

It's not just coffee but also decaf — the oils in decaf are damaging to the gut.

(Yes, I'm quitting decaf as of today.)

17. Caffeine causes stress on the body. Stress is a factor in most diseases.

18. Caffeine lowers your stress threshold. In other words, coffee drinkers

handle stress less effectively.

19. Caffeine elevates cortisol.

20. Caffeine taxes the adrenal glands, which in turn negatively affects your

thyroid, sex hormones, and your metabolism.

21. Caffeine suppresses immunity. " In all, more than 150 hormones are produced

by the adrenals or metabolized from adrenal hormones. One group, known as

glucocorticoids (including cortisol), act as a brake on the immune system…

Scientists have recently learned that excess glucocorticoid production (caused

by stress and caffeine) can profoundly suppress immunity. "

22. Caffeine depletes GABA, the calming brain chemcial that makes you feel in

control and centered, not overwhelmed. " Caffeine disrupts the normal metabolism

of GABA. Here's this wonderful brain biochemical that increases the `filter

mechanism' of the brain, helps you to step back and see clearly even under

stress, and caffeine screws it up. "

23. " Caffeine has been found to shorten total sleep time… Research shows that

people who consume more than 250 milligrams of caffeine per day tend to have

poor sleep quality. "

24. " There is a popular notion that coffee before 3 pm can't disturb your sleep.

Caffeine at any time of the day can cause sleep problems, especially if you are

under stress. "

25. Caffeine plays a role in hypoglycemia and blood sugar disorders. " As part of

this (flight-or-flight stress) response, the liver rapidly raises blood sugar

levels. This is felt as a `lift' by the person who drank the coffee… but the

body must then deal with the metabolic emergency of hyperglycemia (elevated

blood sugar).

26. Coffee plays a role in malnutrition. Caffeine causes an increased loss of

thiamin and other B vitamins, calcium, minerals, sodium, chloride, potassium,

magnesium, and zinc. " …studies showed that a single cup of coffee can reduce

iron absorption from a meal by as much as 75%. "

27. Caffeine causes depression and anxiety, and can lead to panic attacks.

Cherniske says that many people turn to antidepressants due to the fatigue,

diminished sleep, and various mental problems they experience from drinking

coffee. At the same time, SSRIs like Prozac seriously interrupt sleep patterns,

which makes you feel drowsy during the day — at which point people reach for

more coffee. He said (and this is one of my key takeaways from the book) that

you cannot get off of an antidepressant if you are still consuming caffeine. And

remember, it takes a minimum of eight weeks to truly get off caffeine.

28. Coffee can lead to stroke. " One study illustrated that a dose of 250

milligrams (approximately 15 ounces of coffee) produced approximately a 30%

decrease in whole-brain cerebral blood flow. This is not only unfortunate, but

it's dangerous, because at the same time, caffeine increases blood pressure in

the brain, leading to an increase risk for stroke. "

29. Coffee makes you crazy! " If a person were injected with 500 milligrams of

caffeine, within about 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. "

30. Caffeine can lead to allergies, food allergies, asthma and reduced immune

response. There is evidence that caffeine interferes with the secretion and

immune activity of secretory IgA, and stress is once again the principal factor.

As the stress hormone cortisol rises, sIgA tends to fall. This is demonstrated

even in mother's milk. "

I could keep going, guys, but I will stop there