Coffee.....

[Amberly]

Can someone tell me what the bad things are about coffee? I know caffeine, but what else, besides the fact that it's heated. I know that even decaf is bad because it makes me feel bad, but what is the particular reason? Thanks!

[Veganforlife]

Alissa talks in her book about how bad coffee is for one's body. It is very taxing on your heart not to mention other organs.
Decaf is worse as it is treated with chemicals!
It's bad, awful stuff! :mad:
Here's some info:
Coffee: How Bad is it Really?

By Dr. Joseph Mercola
with Rachael Droege
Although coffee is one of the most heavily researched commodities and studies have spanned decades, there is still much controversy surrounding its ill effects, or lack thereof, on health. Study after study is performed--often with conflicting results--and it seems there is always a new study out to discount the last one. Still, the average American adult consumes over 10 pounds of coffee per year, which amounts to a total of 2.4 billion pounds a year in the United States alone.

It appears that drinking coffee may interfere with your body's ability to keep homocysteine and cholesterol levels in check, most likely by inhibiting the action of the vitamins folate, B12 or B6. Coffee has been previously associated with increased risk of stroke and rheumatoid arthritis. Studies have also shown that caffeine in coffee can raise blood pressure and levels of stress hormones, and if consumed in large quantities it can lead to heart palpitations, jitters and nervousness.

With that said, coffee is clearly not the healthiest liquid to drink--the best choice is pure water--but coffee and caffeine are far less dangerous than fruit juice or soda. While I do believe that eliminating, or at the very least limiting, coffee should be one of your goals, if you are in the midst of other dietary changes, such as those outlined in my nutrition plan eliminating coffee can be put toward the bottom of the list, and you should strive to eliminate soda and fruit juice from your beverage list first.

There are, however, some important facets of coffee that you should know before you have your next morning cup.

Coffee and Pregnant Women

Pregnant women should NEVER drink coffee. Caffeine is a stimulant drug that easily passes through the placenta to the developing fetus and is also transferred through breast milk.

During pregnancy and in infants the half-life of caffeine is increased, which means that it will stay in your body, and your infant's body, longer. Moreover, fetuses have no ability to detoxify caffeine.

Research suggests that drinking more than 300 mg of coffee daily, or the equivalent of two to three 8-ounce cups, may increase the risk of miscarriage, birth defects such as cleft palate and low birth weight, although as I mentioned above I don't believe that ANY amount coffee is safe for pregnant women.

Even with moderate caffeine intake, when the woman experiences no effects, studies have found changes in both the mother's and the fetal heart rate and blood pressure. Preliminary studies also suggest that drinking four cups of coffee or more per day may put the infant at an increased risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). Caffeine may also make it more difficult for women to maintain necessary levels of iron and calcium, which are especially important during pregnancy.

It also appears that coffee consumption is associated with increased estrogen levels, which means an increased risk of breast and endometrial cancer.

Coffee also has the issue of pesticide contamination, which is particularly harmful during pregnancy. You can read more about this issue below.

Coffee and Pesticides

Coffee is usually not grown in the United States and we therefore have no control over how many pesticides are sprayed on coffee crops. As such, coffee is a heavily sprayed crop, so drinking coffee is likely to expose you to a dose of pesticides with each cup.

Pesticides have been associated with a number of health problems such as:

Prostate cancer and other cancers
Parkinson's Disease
Miscarriages
If you choose to drink coffee, drinking organic coffee might reduce or eliminate the exposure to toxic herbicides, pesticides and fertilizers. The only drawback is that the countries where coffee is produced probably have less control and monitoring for compliance to organic practices along with pesticide use. Another plus of organic coffee is that you will also be helping to protect the health of the people working in the coffee fields, as you will be helping to reduce their exposure to toxins as well.

Avoid Coffee if You Have High Blood Pressure, Insomnia or Anxiety

Since coffee is a stimulant it will only worsen the symptoms of insomnia and anxiety and should definitely be avoided. People with panic or anxiety disorders may find that they are especially sensitive to caffeine and may find that even a small amount of the stimulant exacerbates their symptoms. Similarly, the caffeine will linger in your body for hours after you drink it, so it may keep you up at night even if you drink it long before bedtime.

For those with high blood pressure, a general rule is that the more caffeine you drink in a day, the higher your blood pressure will be. So if you are already at the higher end of the scales, drinking coffee will only increase your blood pressure further.

How to Wean Yourself Off Coffee

If you try to stop drinking coffee "cold turkey" you will likely experience symptoms of withdrawal that can include severe headache, fatigue and depression. This can be avoided by cutting down the amount you drink gradually over a period of days or even weeks. It's also important to drink plenty of water during the process in order to keep your body well hydrated.

If you find that you miss your morning coffee-drinking ritual, replace it with a new tradition that will also boost your health and energy. Vegetable juice makes a great coffee replacement, and if you're in a hurry you can try Living Fuel Rx Superfood. Both options will give you the energy boost that you're looking for in the morning without the negative effects of caffeine.

While you're in the process of weaning yourself off coffee, here are some tips to reduce the chance of harmful effects until you can completely eliminate it:

Use organic coffee. As mentioned above, coffee is a heavily sprayed crop, so drinking organic coffee might reduce or eliminate your exposure to toxic herbicides, pesticides and fertilizers. It will also help the people working in the coffee fields, as they will be exposed to fewer pesticides as well.

Try "Swiss Water Process" decaf. If you are going to drink decaffeinated coffee, be sure that it uses a non-chemical based method of decaffeination. The "Swiss Water Process" is a patented method and is the best choice. Most of the major brands are chemically decaffeinated, even if it says "naturally decaffeinated" right on the container. If you are unsure of the methods, contact the manufacturer.

Avoid sugar and milk. These are actually much worse for you than the coffee itself. Don't compound the detrimental health effects by adding milk or sugar to your coffee.

Only use unbleached filters. If you use a "drip" coffee maker, be sure to use non-bleached filters. The bright white ones, which most people use, are chlorine bleached and some of this chlorine will be extracted from the filter during the brewing process.

[Amberly]

Thank you. Thank you. I find myself trying to rationalize the occasional cup of decaf. I've been having about one a week (after not having any for 2 years) and was looking for some motivation to stop again.


I love raw food! I LOVE RAW FOOD!

[luckitri]

Notice how "they" have been touting the "antioxidant" properties of coffee lately? Thank you for this info....I haven't been able to quit cause I fall asleep at work without my 1 cup a day.....will have to try harder.

[rawpriestess]

I was a coffee addict for many years, drinking three grande breve's each day, I had a $10+ a day habit, back in 1993, when I quit the first time, so I KNOW it's horrible stuff, because I would do anything to get it, and I always had headaches, now I wouldn't drink it if I was starving or dying of thirst!!!!

I might as well take it introveniously for the way it affects me.

so, if you think that taking a bean, broiling it at 500 degrees for an hour or so, then grinding it up, then pouring boiling water over it, then tossing the bean, but drinking the dregs of putrid brown slushy water that you poured over those dead beans is good, then by all means, drink coffee, personally, since it is everywhere, and there are litterally thousands of places I can get it, I don't want it, it is way toooooo common for me, I like to be different and weird, and unuique, so I stay away from anything that anyone can easily obtain,

I'll be weird, it's my nature.!!!

[lissomllama]

Coffee actually dehydrates you. it is known as a 'diuretic'. It basically sucks the water out of your body and contributes to losing skin elasticity, wrinkles, healthy tissue function and cell production. It also often causes hair loss and stress. Coffee (especially conventional cooked/boiled/heated coffee) is bad news. A big glass of water will give you ten times the energy and won't DE-hydrate you.

[rawfigure]

I was a coffee addict for a few decades. I gave it up a few months ago. Since then I had a cup two different times and both time I was awake all that night. I had insomnia and jitters. So after all those years of drinking it, and now I cannot have any since I detoxed off it !! Why is it bad, did not really ever believe it was but NOW I DO ! My new raw body tells me so !

[MarciRoundtheWorld]

I am drinking my organic, swiss water process, fair trade decaf.

My "problem" with everything I read it sites research on the effects of caffeine. Does anyone know of any research on the effects of my type of coffee? I enjoy my morning ritual, but if I have enough evidence of ill effects, I'll quit it.

But perhaps this is why my cholesterol has been high.

[pdx kris]

Here are some of the effects coffee has on me when I only remember the good and not the bad and decide to indulge. :)

Good:
-more mental sharpness (in the short term)
-big rush of physical energy

Bad:
-really red face about an hour after I drink it
-makes my palms and armpits sweat a lot, and I usually don't sweat much otherwise
-two hours later after the physical and mental sharpness disappear, I get foggy and no matter whether or not I've brushed my teeth and rinsed my mouth, I have a horrible taste in my mouth.

Overall, I think it's much better to get our energy from getting enough sleep and eating easy-to-digest foods!

[Raw Magwene]

If you really crave the taste and the ritual of coffee, there is a product out there called Teeccino. There is no caffeine, no coffee and no tea (camellia sinensis) in it. It is not raw, here's list of the ingredients: roasted carob, roasted barley, roasted chicory, roasted ramon nuts, cinammon, ginger, cardamom, vanilla extract.

I like the taste of it and you brew it just like coffee (it's not an instant thing). I don't drink it all the time but I do like it as a nice treat occasionally with a piece of raw cheesecake.

I agree that coffee is just plain awful for my body. But I also can't handle the caffeine in green and black tea or mate. It makes me really jittery (duh!), paranoid, achey stomach and diarrrhea, makes my body smell weird...Ick...like pseudoephedrine or real speed!

Pdx Kris is right, it's much better to get plenty of sleep and eat intelligently!

[Princess Elaine]

Good morning...I'm 7 weeks off of coffee ...I was into my second week when I took Alissa's food preparation class with Diana (Long Beach) and I was so proud at that time to be about 98% raw, coffee being the last thing I WOULDN'T give up..Diana explained to me that though it was only about 2%...in health measurements...it was much more then 2% going against what I want to achieve...a happy healthy body (I paraphrased her discription)....at that moment I said, 'today I commit to no more coffee ) and that was it...a 30 year habit...done...I had a headache the next morning and it wasn't bad...was gone by noon...and that was it.....I missed the ritual for a while...didn't switch to anything to replace it...water is the only thing I drink other then green smoothies or fruit smoothies...

I've NEVER had more energy...I'm a massage therapist and trust me...I used to feel that craving for coffee after the first 4 hours...now...when I finish my day (6-7 hours of massage)...yes, I feel a normal amount of fatigue but since I've gone 100% raw...even after a full day of work I have energy.....

...oh, in the things to avoid in one of the above posts...it says 'fruit juice'....what are they calling fruit juice....I put fruit in the blender and drink it straight...is that fruit juice???? I'm thinking they mean bottled...would someone explain...thank you...

I feel so good eating raw and coffeeless...love, Elaine