coffee and antioxidants

[Rawling]

I read that coffee in moderation (1 cup a day) is good for you and has more antioxidants than green tea and other things. what it everyones opinion on this? if the caffeiene is bad you can always get decaf for the benefits of the antioxidants.

[Eva]

Green tea isn't a food. You'll get the most antioxidants from kale, berries and other fruits, things that come from nature. I don't know whose bright idea it is to talk about things like that in coffee, tea, or alcoholic beverages, but I see these reports and just have to shake my head and ignore them.

Coffee is harmful and a toxin. Most people who stop drinking coffee report a headache. That's detox. You don't detox antioxidants, you deTOX toxins!

When I quit coffee, I felt like I was going off of crack or something. I had a migraine and was so confused and dizzy that I thought I should get my husband to take me to the emergency room!! I ended up having maybe a quarter cup of coffee that day, got my "fix" in the toxins, and I felt better. I didn't have any the next day after that though... As soon as most of the caffeine was out of my system, I felt better than ever!!!

[snoops]

Eva, I don't understand why green tea isn't natural. Its just tea plant leaves isn't it?

[Eva]

I didn't say it's not natural. I said it's not a food.

[rawwannabie]

I am only a newbie, but I do have to say that on my first round of trying to go raw (over a year ago) I quit all caffeine. I've kept that up since then, and even with a SAD diet I have felt better this past year than I have in years. My opinion is that giving up the toxins outweighs the benefits of any antioxidants that you may get from coffee.

[Revvell]

I often laugh when I read articles where people say alcohol, caffeine, etc. is good for us (in moderation, of course :rolleyes: ). They're saying what the addicts of these things want to hear. I can hear the sighs of relief "oh yay, I can drink my drug of choice ~ it's healthy for me".

IF it's something you loathe to give up, it's a addictive drug. That's it!

There are so many other ways to get one's nutrition ... without putting toxins in one's body (well, not the obvious toxins, anyway).

Yes, you can drink decaf but I'd suggest you check out the process. It's not encouraging.

Revvell (http://LetsTalkRaw.com)

[snoops]

Eva, sorry my bad reading. I agree with you regarding coffee and alcohol but I think there are anti-oxidant benefits drinking green and white teas. Not raw I know! (Unless its sun tea) I am absolutely not addicted to it but I do like it with some squeezed lemon in the morning. I don't think there's enough caffeine in green tea to be physically addicted to it. JMO

[Eva]

Eva, sorry my bad reading. I agree with you regarding coffee and alcohol but I think there are anti-oxidant benefits drinking green and white teas. Not raw I know! (Unless its sun tea) I am absolutely not addicted to it but I do like it with some squeezed lemon in the morning. I don't think there's enough caffeine in green tea to be physically addicted to it. JMO

No worries!

I have an occasional cup of white tea. Green tea makes me nauseous, so it's just not an option. Coffee was once an addiction that harmed me, and so I choose not to go down that road. I realize that the white tea does have caffeine. And it actually does affect me, but just a bit. Not much! I don't find myself waking up the next day needing the white tea to wake up!! LOL!

I didn't used to be super sensitive to caffeine, but on raw and without stimulant drugs or coffee I am. Actually, I started drinking coffee as a kid because it helped with my ADHD symptoms and relaxed me. I also took stimulant medications for that. Then, I worked at 3 coffee shops! The third was Starbucks; I was there for 5 years.

Actually, at one point (for just a few months) while working at Starbucks, I got off coffee with white tea. It gave me a buzz, which I attributed to the huge amount of antioxidants, which at that time (preraw), was a LOT. I did not get the same affect at that time when I drank green tea, which did not yet make me nauseous.

And honestly -- we're both just sharing our experiences. And if you enjoy the green tea, or even if Rawling wants to continue to enjoy coffee, it's your prerogative. We all make our choices on what we find acceptable. And taking someone's tea or coffee about with them kicking or screaming, doesn't do any good and is much worse than the tea or coffee itself!

And if it's helpful (it was to me), I learned that white tea has about 1% of the caffeine of an average cup of coffee, green tea has about 20%, and decaffeinated coffee still has about 3%! (One might think decaf = no caffeine, but it's not true!)

[Dimond]

There's plenty of antioxidants in raw food that it makes no sense to use anything unhealthy. If you need to supplement, there are fruit powders, goji berries, etc.

[JennaBoBenna]

I often laugh when I read articles where people say alcohol, caffeine, etc. is good for us (in moderation, of course :rolleyes: ). They're saying what the addicts of these things want to hear. I can hear the sighs of relief "oh yay, I can drink my drug of choice ~ it's healthy for me".

IF it's something you loathe to give up, it's a addictive drug. That's it!



Whenever I see an article or w/e say that a glass of wine is good for you because of the grapes and blah blah blah, I'm like JUST EAT SOME GRAPES, THEN! These kind of reports are driving me nuts! haha