Dear Genevieve,
Always look for things that ADD to your VITALITY rather than subtract. The popular/trendy thing to do is to just cut things out when someone feels like it’s not right for them. If you read every little negative detail or account on something, it’s possible to instil fear in yourself. Your physiology – the way your body responds through pulse, temperature, mood and sleep – your environment, your experiences (past and present), the way you eat, the way you have eaten – and many more factors, all work to produce *your* reaction. So someone else’s’ experience/account probably will be completely different from yours. Don’t let their experience or even your past experience from ruining your experience of a good thing. Find a way to make the good things work for you – sometimes it’s not enough fuel, the timing or just time…
Coffee is one of those things you do not want to or have to cut out! Learn to use it to your advantage. Caffeine is one of the benefits that strongly enhances vitality.
“Often, a woman who thinks that she has symptoms of hypoglycemia says that drinking even the smallest amount of coffee makes her anxious and shaky. Sometimes, I have suggested that they try drinking about two ounces of coffee with cream or milk along with a meal. It’s common for them to find that this reduces their symptoms of hypoglycemia, and allows them to be symptom-free between meals. Although we don’t know exactly why caffeine improves an athlete’s endurance, I think the same processes are involved when coffee increases a person’s “endurance” in ordinary activities.” – Dr Ray Peat
Caffeine is really a “vitamin-like nutrient or adaptogen.” It can stabilise neurons in the brain and when you eat good things your body needs, your body decides whether it’s used for rest or energy. When stressed, coffee allows for rest. When well fuelled and calm, coffee gives energy. It’s structure is very similar to uric acid. It’s a xanthine, so a powerful antioxidant and lowers nitric oxide. Energy relaxes the cells, so when you are healthy, caffeine can cause relaxation. Something, a lot of us aren’t use to…
Caffeine can also:
– Increases progesterone concentration and production (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/10837842/)
– Lowers the incidence of thyroid disease.
– Protects the liver from alcohol and liver damage
– Protects against cancer, including breast cancer and those caused by radiation
– Increases “efficiency of fuel use,” so speeds up your metabolic rate (http://researchpub.org/journal/jcvd/number/early/70.pdf)
– Improves mood
– Inhibits cortisol synthesis (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0014579306007538)
– Provides magnesium and vitamin B1
– Improves athletic performance
– Protects against stress induced cell death without interfering with normal cell turnover
– The polyphenals in coffee chelates heavy metals
– Prevents nerve cell death
– Prevents free radical damage
– Prevents Parkinson’s disease
(http://raypeat.com/articles/articles/caffeine.shtml)
And even improves lung development for babies https://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2017-07-15/benefits-of-caffeine-for-premature-babies-long-lasting/8709772?pfmredir=sm and in adults https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4123217/
Caffeine is actually so good that it’s similar to thyroid hormone.*
TSH and growth hormone have also been shown to be lowered from it. (When your TSH is high, it means your thyroid isn’t working well) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/6104718/
*(From Haidut from Ray Peat Forums/IdeaLab) There are many studies showing this effect but here is one of the more recently published.
https://www.nature.com/articles/1602901
“…Methods: Twelve healthy, normal weight men (age: 23.7±2.6 years, mean±s.d.) participated in a four-way crossover, randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind study. Treatments were administered as tablets of 500 mg GTE, 400 mg tyrosine, 50 mg caffeine, or placebo, and were separated by >3-day washout. The acute thermogenic response was measured in a ventilated hood system for 4 h following ingestion. Blood pressure, heart rate (HR), and subjective appetite sensations were assessed hourly and ad libitum EI 4 h post-dose.
Results: Caffeine induced a thermogenic response of 6% above baseline value (72±25 kJ per 4 h, mean±s.e.) compared to placebo (P<0.0001). The thermogenic responses to GTE and tyrosine were not significantly different from placebo. Tyrosine tended to increase 4-h respiratory quotient by 1% compared to placebo (0.01±0.005, P=0.05). Ad libitum EI was not significantly different between treatments but was reduced by 8% (−403±183 kJ), 8% (−400±335 kJ) and 3% (−151±377 kJ) compared to placebo after intake of tyrosine, GTE and caffeine, respectively. No significant difference in haemodynamics was observed between treatments.”
Here is another one that corroborates the first one above. This one also demonstrates the thermogenic effects of 50mg caffeine and shows that doubling the dose to 100mg did not increase that effect further.
https://academic.oup.com/ajcn/article/77/6/1442/4689853
“…Results: The thermogenic responses (increases over the response to placebo) were 3.7%, 4.9%, 7.9%, 6.3%, 8.5%, and 9.8%, respectively, for the gums containing 1/0, 2/0, 1/50, 2/50, 1/100, and 2/100 mg nicotine/mg caffeine (P < 0.05 for all). Adding caffeine to 1 and 2 mg nicotine significantly enhanced the thermogenic response, but changing the caffeine dose (from 50 to 100 mg) did not change the thermogenic effect. None of the combinations changed the respiratory quotient compared with placebo, which indicates that glucose and fat oxidation rates were increased to a similar extent. Side effects occurred only with 2 mg nicotine.”)
With such strong metabolic benefits, know that their will be a cost. Always look for reasons why, rather than discounting a sole substance. Learn to make good things work in a way that are helpful for you.
Further resources here: https://www.functionalps.com/blog/2014/06/04/coffee-done-right-tips-to-help-avoid-coffee-intolerance/
Love,
Genevieve ❤️
ichooseicecream 