coffee question

[jamesfarrell]

I read on another forum that coffee rots your bones. My body is basically falling apart. I'm 36 and although I'm about 80% raw, I consume apple juice and also a cup of coffee in the AM with 3 sugar (raw) and cream.

I eat raw all day. smoothies (green) and salad for lunch with olive oil and vinegar and lemon water all day 1.5 liters. This is like a glass of water with slice of lemon.

At night I have another green smoothie and then a large ice coffee (decaf) with 4 sugar (raw) and cream.

My bones are creaky, I'm achy, I feel like I'm frign 80 years old. I woke up the other day and my back was killing me. I went to the chiro today and they said my spine is looking good. They took xrays but didn't develop them yet.

On the weekend I usually take 3 tramadol which is a pain killer. 1 friday night, 1 saturday night and 1 sunday night. Monday and Tuesday I usually feel like crap from the tramadol I think.

I also smoke too 1/2 pack a day.

Look, I know I shouldn't smoke. That's a given. I'm planning to quit when my wife gives birth to our girl, which is any day now. I figure the excitement will be so much that I won't be feeling sorry for myself about quitting. Others have a different view. "It's a stressful time and you shouldn't quit when your baby is born"

Well cigarettes if you ask me cause more stress for the body, do they not? They accelerate the nervous system. So the usual "I smoke because I am stressed" is BS if you ask me. I smoke caus I'm an addict and I "think" I like to smoke.

Now for the bones. I drink decaf only. I don't need racing heart. I don't want heresy, I want facts. Does anybody know if coffee rots your bones. I mean I'm hurting and have been for a while. Everything creaks and cracks. I exercise 3-4 times a week. Cardio consisting of jumping jacks, push ups, situps and strenuous yoga type activities.

What do you think is my problem? I feel like I have cancer. Actually if I did, then perhaps I would die and be no longer feeling like crap. :D

Kevin

[barose]

Cut the sugar, cream and cigarettes first. Worry about the coffee later.

For you coffee, you can always add agave nectar to sweeten it.

Jumping jacks is very hard on the joints, knees especially. Unless you're eight, cut those out.

[Nurse in the Raw]

From a medical standpoint.

Caffeine inhibits calcium absorption, therefore the bones can become brittle. Since you are not drinking caffeine, I don't think this is the problem. It sounds like you are having health issues due to smoking. It's amazing what raw foods and smoking cessation can do to heal the body. If you haven't already quit, you need to immediately.

I can't tell you how many babies I see in the hospital for pneumonia because they have one or more parents that smoke.....even if they smoke outside. Not sure if it is because they bring it in on their clothes or what. The point is, you need to quit for your family and especially for yourself.

[EZ rider]

You sound like a lot of people eating SAD. Why not try 100% raw for a month and put it to the test ?

[jamesfarrell]

Well, I don't believe that 100% raw is the be all end all. Mostly what I see on here is scare tactics to get people to eat RAW. I'm not adamant about not giving up meat. I don't need it. I like pizza and eat it once in a while.

The only thing not RAW that I eat is apple juice and cream with coffee.

I eat a steak once a week. I'm not like most people that eat it after cooking it 30 seconds per side. The way I cook it, it's deader than a door nail.

I know, the toxins from cooking. I don't need to hear that. Obviously what is the prolbem is smoking

[GlimR]

I've never seen any scare tactics.hmnnnnnnnnnnn:rolleyes:
What you mention is that sometimes or often you eat

coffee (decaf DOES have caffeine, just less of it)
meat
cheese
wheat
dairy (cream)
and sugar.....raw sugar is still processed and still "white"
AND
you smoke.

All of these these make your body highly acidic which is the environment that disease flourishes in. Every choice you make is entirely your own and always will be based on whatever information you chose to take in and embrace.

You Say...

"My bones are creaky, I'm achy, I feel like I'm frign 80 years old. I woke up the other day and my back was killing me. I went to the chiro today and they said my spine is looking good. They took xrays but didn't develop them yet.

On the weekend I usually take 3 tramadol which is a pain killer. 1 friday night, 1 saturday night and 1 sunday night. Monday and Tuesday I usually feel like crap from the tramadol I think.

I also smoke too 1/2 pack a day. "

These health issues are not simply because you smoke. You are a young man in what should be the prime of your life....you are obviously looking for answers to why you feel like you are 80 instead. Wishing you whatever you need to find the answers to your health problems...and the stamina and strength, the determination to make changes for improvment~

[ladypeace82]

How about some calcium supplements?

[jamesfarrell]

Yeah I know, your right. I've just talked to a lot of people that have gone raw for several years and don't have much good to say about it. It's a subjective experience, I admit and I'm not anti-raw. I'm more of in the thought process of
eat mostly raw, and cheat once in a while. I don't think that's a bad thing.

I've just read a lot on the subject, which is why I haven't been on here much. Been reading and educating myself instead of blabbing.

The sugar I use is raw sugar and is not white. I'm sure it can still be called white sugar and I agree it leads towards an acidic body. I'm acidic. I know I am. The problem is that I've become addicted to the drugs that I take and make associations between the buzz, the coffee and the cigarettes. I need to quit everything, but I'm trying to reach the mental stamina point where I can throw it all out and be prepared for weeks of pain. Nobody likes pain, but I don't like the pain I'm in right now. I have a problem. I'm an addict. If I could go 2 weeks without the weekend pills, I'd be free. Then I'd have the mental and physical strength to quit smoking and ultimately all the rest of the sh*t I put in my body.

Kevin

[jamesfarrell]

How about some calcium supplements?


I've read all about suppliments and take none of them except b-complex and flax oil. All the others I threw out.

Did you know that the vitamin - C (ascorbic acid) has only ONE of the 24 properties of natural vitamin C? UNREAL. Some guy went to the AMA or the FDA or whatever way back when and said "hey, I've isolated ONE of the 24 compounds in natural vitamin C" So I think we can call it vitamin C. They said, well let's call it ascorbic acid but tell people it's basically vitamin C.

What's to say that the calcium in supplements is not the same thing. People don't realize that synthetic stuff does not go into the body as does the same compounds in naturally occuring foods. Most of the crap we take we just piss out and it does the body absolutely no good.

I eat a lot of spinach in my shakes. Spinach is a good source of calcium is it not? I'm not saying your wrong, I'd just need to see some data from a chemist or someone that knows what they are talking about. Calcium pills for all I know could be absolutely useless and perhaps harmful to the body. I don't know ????

[GlimR]

James~
It isn't easy. I was on some serious meds for a bad back injury which I still have. The meds did quiet the pain a bit but the effect they had on me was horrible...worse than the pain really....eventually I just said screw this, no more!! Maybe you can take one issue at a time...it is a journey and a progression. I've been making changes over a long period of time and after two years am finally 100% raw...the difference between that and "sometimes" eating other stuff is profound.

Add smoking into the mix and you have a tough time. But it is worth it...you want to feel energetic and youthful for yourself and for that new baby. You'll need it to keep up with her and get as much joy from the experience as you can. Almost every culture in the world has an expression that means..you are what you eat....ther eis soooooo much truth to that.

I really do wish you the very best~

As for the calcium...sesame seeds are a major source...some folks make sesame seed milk as a base for shakes w/ cacao...smoothies etc...I like it ONLY w/ cacao to cover the sesame taste
though~

btw...you said you've read a lot...have you read The China Study?

[ladypeace82]

hmmmm I dunno then. when I was little my dad would give my brother and I half of an adult sized calcium pill. From the age of 6 up until a little over a month ago (started trying raw) I had taken one every day of my life. I'm 25 now. My brother and I have never broken a bone and niether has my dad. he is 47. And that's with SAD as well.
So who knows. I heard that spinich was good for calcium too which is why I stopped with the suppliments and all other vitamins except Blue Green Algae. :)

[lore-ah]

Hi Kevin,

Ignore me if you'd like, I don't want to make things worse here but I did want to say something.

There is a lot of tension in your posts, you almost sound angry. Obviously you're under tremedous stress if you're about to have a new baby. I can't go near my sister's house. She's due in a month and her and her husband are totally unapproachable.

It sounds like you know what works for you, but you're sort of lashing out because other people might be judgmental about you eating a steak or pizza? This is the one forum I go to where I NEVER see anyone bad mouth anyone for anything they eat.

I guess where I'm going with all of this is stop beating yourself up so much! If you're doing the best you can at the time, that's all you can do. Your best is never going to be perfect because no one is perfect. Your best might be smoking and pizza and tramadol for now. But down the road your best will be just pizza and tramadol, or whatever.

I think I'm writing this post just for me, because your posts read like my journal entries sometimes.

[Revvell]

Hi James,

I don't have time to read all the posts that have been written in response to your question yet, having just read your post here's my response:

Stop doing what's causing the problem. Is it coffee? You already know coffee is something that is not healthy. Stop drinking it and find out how you feel. You'll go through about 3 days of potentially severe detox from the coffee and the sugar (there is NO such thing as "raw" sugar unless you're getting it directly from the cane, btw).

Since you're into reading, there's a book you may wish to get asap. It's called "Empty Cribs ~ the impact of smoking on child health". Even if you smoke outside, do NOT have you baby in bed with you as a smoker. Smoking is the biggest cause of SIDS known. Do NOT breath your toxic breath near your newborn child.

I'll be having the author on my newest podcast soon. There's a reason he wrote the book.

Sorry I'm so blunt yet, if you know me, you know me. :)

Best to you and yours,

Revvell

[jamesfarrell]

Well, I'm not stressed. If you met me in person, you'd see that the aggressive manner I might come across in the posts is not really me. I am convinced that this life is an illusion. Judgement is an illusion and many other things. This is my belief. I take not much seriously and I don't mean to come across harsh.

As far as the tension of having a baby. I have a 10 year old with my X-gf. The only tension was her freaking out about the baby bottles not having 1 single cell of bacteria. The whole process of preparing bottles with her took 1.5 hours and I'm not kidding. This is ridiculous. The baby was the easy part, LOL. All they do is sleep, sh*t and eat.

I'm not worried or stressed at all. I'm mostly freaked out because I think of things in a very different way than most people. Things such as, there is an empty bassonette which will be occupied by a life form in a matter of a day or a week, is kind of what feaks me out. It's not the responsibillity and all that. It's easy as far as I'm concerned.

I'm actually not that negative at all. All I hear about the subject is negativity "your life is over" "you'll never sleep again" "your done dude" "kids ruin your life"

I don't pay any attention to any of that. It's my baby girl and I love her. That's all I think about. What the hell do I do now that a kid is going to prevent me from doing? My Saturday nights now consist of the same thing week after week. 3 hours of guitar then a movie with wife. LOL. Can you sense the excitement? I'm very sad that my Saturday nights might be altered in some way. So instead of 3 hours of guitar and movie with wife, it's going to be....... 3 hours of guitar and movie with wife while baby sits in swing.

I realized a few years ago what letting LIFE get to me does. It does nothing for me, but break my body down. I just have to face the fact that I've got some work to do. I just have some guy trying to convince me that coffee breaks down and rots your bones. I've never heard anything like that and I don't do caffinated either. I hate caffeine. I don't know how people get addicted to their hearts racing. But I guess you can get addicted to anything, Look at Crystal Meth and that has liquid drano in it :eek:

Where the anger comes in is this. I know I'm in the prime of my life, but I feel like a 70 year old man. This is the only thing I'm angry about. and there is nobody to blame but me.

[Revvell]

Hi Kevin,

There is a lot of tension in your posts, you almost sound angry. Obviously you're under tremedous stress if you're about to have a new baby.

Perception is projection. I just went through a few of James' posts because of this and don't get this at all. What I see is he's responding to what's written in a very thought-filled manner and contemplating the responses. *shrugs*

[solarliving]

Coffee is really bad. It definately takes calcium and b vitamins out of your body and who knows what else. You might upping the water intake because coffee and cigs are both dehydrating as well and your joints need water.

On a another note, Congratulations on your new baby and be Kind to yourself.

best wishes,

Solar

[SharonC]

As you said, you are obviously acidic. Health and healing can only take place when you eliminate what is preventing the body from being healthy and give it what it needs to heal. The combination of smoking, drugs, sugar, dairy, and coffee is a heavy duty combination - just the smoking and drugs would be enough to prevent health and healing. Your body is giving you warning signals that it is in distress and is in survival mode.

Regarding the bone issue, that is part of the survival mode. The body must work hard to maintain balance, especially the blood's ph (or we would die), so in an acidic situation, it must pull minerals from the bones and tissues to maintain the blood's ph because that is it's first priority to survive.

Bone loss and Acidity - http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0ISW/is_261/ai_n13654013

I believe that juicing is the best and fastest way to heal the body - frees up the body's energy required for digestion that can go towards healing, and at the same time, gives the body mega nutrients to heal. Listened to a doctor's tapes years ago that suggested to just start drinking lots of juice (mainly vegetables), and as the body begins to heal, bad cravings will lessen, and it will become easier and easier to eliminate harmful habits such as smoking.

Congratulations on your new baby!

[bellabella]

Hi James
All I can say is, read Alissa's book. You obviously havent, and the answers are there.
A steak a week?? You aren't vegetarian or raw, if you ask me. You cheat...well, that's why it hasnt' worked for you. You are certain that the 20% non-RAW that you're eating is no big deal, so I'm not sure what advice you're asking for.
Read the book. If you want results, 100%, 30 days. Period.

[Raw Angel Mom]

Hello, i haven't read all the replies.

You know, what is important is that you are happy and this is what matter. Everything in moderation they say. You truly seem to be wonderful husband and you will be a wonderful daddy.

Unfortunately i got bad new for you concerning the bone decease related to meat and dairy but before that i share this with you, i would like also to tell you that magnesium will transmute into calcium for your bone. You can find all kind of valuable information about angstrom size mineral from David Wolf WEBSITE just google. Calcium intake is for our muscle, somehow it doesn't go in our bone, this is magnesium and another mineral that will do this but i cannot remember the other mineral

You can always try to put rice milk in your coffee, if you are ready to let go dairy but if not, enjoy it and please don't let guilt be in the way, i would suggest of not be in denial about it either such that this is good for you unless that you are convince that this is good for you. Sound weird isn't it, lol... What i mean is that if we know something isn't the best interest for our health, not to lure ourself with excuse or opportunity to justify why we will have it anyway but instead to take it from a responsible place. I know this isn't good for me but still i choose to take it, this is a responsible place and it won't give power to any addiction.

Now here is the bad new about meat and dairy or eggs or fish that do to our bone. This information is base on my own experience and mainly from the dvd "A diet for all reason" which has been research by a M.D. who was raised on a dairy farm. You can google to find this DVD.

We only need about 30-40 g of protein per day, of course it depends of the individual. But if you consume meat, let's say for breakfast one egg and toast, at lunch one burger, and for diner a cook meal with meat. You will have about 150g of protein. Which mean, your body will need to get ride of this and in order to do this, it will use the calcium from the body. Yeap, the calcium. In North America, we are the worst case of bone decease and the one that consume the most dairy. The chart that was taught to us at school that we need the four group of food in order to be healthy was paid by dairy farm association, well this tell you a lot. I would say,if you aren't ready to let go meat or dairy, i would say maybe use skim milk for your coffee or rice milk would be better. Cut down dramactically cheeze, eggs and meat. I was having problem to let go dairy and after seing this DVD, it gave me the faith that i needed to continue to be RAW vegan, then i noticed that my skin is finally clearing etc....

Congratulation with this little baby coming. Please don't feel guilty for being a smoker for it will give power to the addiction. So We do what we can and when you are ready to quite, use the greens (visit www.rawfamily.com if you want some info about greens can save your life)to help you to heal the addiction and one moment at the time.

You are doing great already with your health and this is amazing that you are trying out some raw food. There isn't anything wrong to take it slow.

Blessings,

[Ginger]

Caffeine: Cup of Pain, Liquid Stress

article here-
http://bodytechnician.com/caffeine.html

[currious]

Hi James
All I can say is, read Alissa's book. You obviously havent, and the answers are there.
A steak a week?? You aren't vegetarian or raw, if you ask me. You cheat...well, that's why it hasn't' worked for you. You are certain that the 20% non-RAW that you're eating is no big deal, so I'm not sure what advice you're asking for.
Read the book. If you want results, 100%, 30 days. Period.

I think thats a little harsh, aside from the fact there are many people who eat raw meat, raw dairy and raw fish who all benefit from the raw food lifestyle in their respective ways, but being 80 % does prove to help some. There is always going to be a way that works best for each individual and that will always be different per person. Its what makes life so beautiful :D

James,

The easiest thing to do to discover what is ailing you the most is cut one thing out at a time, rotate it even. Its hard to stop with the coffee, the cigerattes, i know :D ! but i wish the best of luck and grats on the babe!

ps boy or girl? :D

[Dj 247]

Kevin I don't think you should go 100% raw at this point. What I would suggest is taking some superfoods to build your body up. Eat some raw and some cooked and slowly cut out the cooked foods. I think if you cut every thing at once you will not be successful. You would have major detox and right now I don't think you need that in your life. I wish you the best of luck!

[sciencegal]

Raw Vegan Mom:
Thanks for the caffeine article!!I think I need to go cold turkey b/c when I try to cut down, I always start drinking it again-force of habit:( That article is a real eye-opener!!:eek: I will go cold turkey!! Thanks!!!Sciencegal:D

[Nurse in the Raw]

Hey James.......just thought I would mention that 4 months ago I was fatigued day and night, drank starbucks coffee day and night, got migraines from the coffee and SAD food that I ate, so I had to take darvocet most of the time as well. I know how you feel and I finally got tired of feeling like crap so I cut out everything I knew was bad for me. I juice fasted to start the detox process and it's been raw food ever since. I cheat from time to time (I like steamed rice) and I suffer for it (get a little bloated), but all in all.....I feel fabulous! I have energy like I used to when I was 20 (I am 39), I don't have body aches, joint pain, migraines, fatigue, irritability or stomach aches any more. Feeling great is worth a LOT more than the little pleasure you feel from the bad habits.

[solarliving]

Kevin- I just reread your post and realized that you might actually be going back and forth with the whole detox thing. I know when I stop drinking coffee my back gets ache for about 2 days. Like its moving out of my joints... Since you are high raw your body is definately trying to move the coffee out. Just a thought.