Quit Coffee, Improve Your Health and Travel the World
A few weeks ago, I wrote a piece on alcohol, which stirred a few emotions amongst some friends.
Alcohol is something I can quite happily give a miss, as it really isn't that close to my heart.
So I thought I'd face up to something that is a little closer to home.
COFFEE.
Mmmmmmm.
I only have to walk past a coffee shop and the aroma wafting out past my nostrils gets me practically drooling like Homer Simpson over ch-o-c-o-late.
It's fair to say the latte lifestyle is ingrained in me.
Sitting around and catching up with your mates, whilst sipping away on your favorite beverage (mine's flat white, extra hot, made with love).
What a great way to spend half hour.
And judging by the five coffee shops within a 100m of me (I'm in one writing this), understandably it's ingrained in many others too.
I've just had the barista tell me that they sell on average about 800-1200 cups a day! So it's easy to say I'm not the only coffee lover around here.
What amazes me more is that, I contribute on average, about two of those cups.
At $3.
50 a pop that's $49 a week, and $2,548 a year! There's a return flight to the other side of the world right there.
Ouch.
We always recognise coffee, or even more so caffeine, as a bit of a pick me up.
It clears the foggy cloud hanging above your head first thing in the morning, and then a mid afternoon fix to get you over the finish line for the day.
Interestingly too, caffeine is often touted as a weight loss stimulant.
Firstly, I think we can all agree that if you keep things in perspective, the body copes well.
Ie.
You eat wholesome and natural most meals, but throw in a pizza once in a while, no problem.
But it's when the scales start to tip the other way the body starts to give out.
I'm the first to defend coffee, as I love the taste and the whole culture that goes with it, so I feel I can justify the odd cup, but I know those scales have started to tip, which has now led me to start digging a little further and finding out what the effects are of a regular caffeine hit are, and this is what I came up with.
When you have a cup of coffee, it initiates uncontrolled neurons firing in the brain, which triggers the pituitary gland to secrete a hormone that tells your adrenal gland to wake up and release adrenalin.
So this response now puts you in 'fight or flight' mode, which I'm sure you're all aware of, and of course you can see the great benefits of this 'fight or flight' safety mechanism that's embedded in each and every one of us like a loaded gun, ready to go off at the slightest sniff of threat or danger, while we sit in our office chair or the cafe checking our emails first thing in the morning.
With this in mind, your body has just been put on red alert, with the biggest danger you'll probably have is spilling your cuppa or writing a typo.
So you may get a bit of a lift from this, (as it generally raises blood sugar too, which is counter productive for weight loss), but of course, you come down with a crash later on in the day.
Consistently doing this day in day out will put undue stress on your adrenal glands, forcing your glands to secrete when there's not much there to give, which exhausts them over time, and can contribute to mood swings, depression, fatigue etc.
And just to lay some icing on the cake, caffeine inhibits Iron and Zinc absorption by up to 50%, especially if consumed near meal times.
Just type it into Google, there's plenty of thoughts on it.
Now, after re-reading what I've just wrote, I'm trying to put logic and meaning to every coffee I've had to date:- Pros - Tastes amazing (to me) - Social aspect (good excuse to hang out and chat) - Heightened awareness for short period of time, in case of any lightning speed reactions needed while I'm sitting on my butt.
- And it's cheap at $3.
50.
Just for a little daily treat.
Cons - At $3.
50 a mug twice a day, you've got a round the world ticket.
If you halved that to one cup, I've still got a surf trip to Bali (from Sydney) once a year.
- There's an art to living stress free with out the daily curve balls thrown at us.
Do we need to compound this more by putting our endocrine system under stress, which can contribute to mood swings, depression, fatigue etc.
- Food here in the city these days lacks enough nutrients as it is, especially through processing.
So do we want to effect that any more than we need to? Conclusion? My favourite beverage has just taken on a whole new look.
If I bury my head in the sand a little longer, surely no one would want to come up behind me and kick me up the arse!
Alcohol is something I can quite happily give a miss, as it really isn't that close to my heart.
So I thought I'd face up to something that is a little closer to home.
COFFEE.
Mmmmmmm.
I only have to walk past a coffee shop and the aroma wafting out past my nostrils gets me practically drooling like Homer Simpson over ch-o-c-o-late.
It's fair to say the latte lifestyle is ingrained in me.
Sitting around and catching up with your mates, whilst sipping away on your favorite beverage (mine's flat white, extra hot, made with love).
What a great way to spend half hour.
And judging by the five coffee shops within a 100m of me (I'm in one writing this), understandably it's ingrained in many others too.
I've just had the barista tell me that they sell on average about 800-1200 cups a day! So it's easy to say I'm not the only coffee lover around here.
What amazes me more is that, I contribute on average, about two of those cups.
At $3.
50 a pop that's $49 a week, and $2,548 a year! There's a return flight to the other side of the world right there.
Ouch.
We always recognise coffee, or even more so caffeine, as a bit of a pick me up.
It clears the foggy cloud hanging above your head first thing in the morning, and then a mid afternoon fix to get you over the finish line for the day.
Interestingly too, caffeine is often touted as a weight loss stimulant.
Firstly, I think we can all agree that if you keep things in perspective, the body copes well.
Ie.
You eat wholesome and natural most meals, but throw in a pizza once in a while, no problem.
But it's when the scales start to tip the other way the body starts to give out.
I'm the first to defend coffee, as I love the taste and the whole culture that goes with it, so I feel I can justify the odd cup, but I know those scales have started to tip, which has now led me to start digging a little further and finding out what the effects are of a regular caffeine hit are, and this is what I came up with.
When you have a cup of coffee, it initiates uncontrolled neurons firing in the brain, which triggers the pituitary gland to secrete a hormone that tells your adrenal gland to wake up and release adrenalin.
So this response now puts you in 'fight or flight' mode, which I'm sure you're all aware of, and of course you can see the great benefits of this 'fight or flight' safety mechanism that's embedded in each and every one of us like a loaded gun, ready to go off at the slightest sniff of threat or danger, while we sit in our office chair or the cafe checking our emails first thing in the morning.
With this in mind, your body has just been put on red alert, with the biggest danger you'll probably have is spilling your cuppa or writing a typo.
So you may get a bit of a lift from this, (as it generally raises blood sugar too, which is counter productive for weight loss), but of course, you come down with a crash later on in the day.
Consistently doing this day in day out will put undue stress on your adrenal glands, forcing your glands to secrete when there's not much there to give, which exhausts them over time, and can contribute to mood swings, depression, fatigue etc.
And just to lay some icing on the cake, caffeine inhibits Iron and Zinc absorption by up to 50%, especially if consumed near meal times.
Just type it into Google, there's plenty of thoughts on it.
Now, after re-reading what I've just wrote, I'm trying to put logic and meaning to every coffee I've had to date:- Pros - Tastes amazing (to me) - Social aspect (good excuse to hang out and chat) - Heightened awareness for short period of time, in case of any lightning speed reactions needed while I'm sitting on my butt.
- And it's cheap at $3.
50.
Just for a little daily treat.
Cons - At $3.
50 a mug twice a day, you've got a round the world ticket.
If you halved that to one cup, I've still got a surf trip to Bali (from Sydney) once a year.
- There's an art to living stress free with out the daily curve balls thrown at us.
Do we need to compound this more by putting our endocrine system under stress, which can contribute to mood swings, depression, fatigue etc.
- Food here in the city these days lacks enough nutrients as it is, especially through processing.
So do we want to effect that any more than we need to? Conclusion? My favourite beverage has just taken on a whole new look.
If I bury my head in the sand a little longer, surely no one would want to come up behind me and kick me up the arse!
