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1seekspie
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 13 Feb 2008 10:41 pm |
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At the moment, I'm feeling very good about my current lifestyle  and am in much better shape (physically and mentally) than I was a few months ago  ! I just have a little question....
What is CPH's (or your own personal opinion) about caffeine? My tea/coffee drinks are the most enjoyable parts of my diet right now and they help me avoid over-eating or turning to sweets between my afternoon snack and after dinner. I drink 2 cups of tea a day (green & black tea) with 1 cup of coffee (organic). I sweeten each with a little splenda and some 2% milk or vanilla cream with the black tea and coffee. This doesn't add up to an extreme surplus of caffeine, but I've heard some bad things about its affects on health (as well as good things) so I was just curious what you experts out there think of it....
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 14 Feb 2008 04:11 am |
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Here is the Eat To Live line:
http://www.diseaseproof.com/archives/hurtful-food-waking-up-to-the-effects-of-caffeine.html
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Javan
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 14 Feb 2008 11:58 am |
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| I know that I have cut way down on my coffee intake. Mostly due to the effects of cafeine and the liver. I was drinking about 14 cups a day (had a huge travel mug). So, I cut it out totally (replaced with OJ). Now I am at about 3 cups a day (one travel mug) a day during the week, a little less on weekends. It is my goal to get rid of it or down to 1 cup a day. I do notice major headaches if I go without for a day.
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NevD
New Member
| Joined: | 26 Oct 2005 |
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| Posts: | 1536 |
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Posted: 14 Feb 2008 12:31 pm |
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Like Javan, I cut back hugely on my intake quite a few years ago.
At one stage, I drank coffee all day, but had caffeinated coffee only twice a day, morning and night.
Then I started to drink decaffeinated tea most of the time, and moved onto 3 caff. coffees a day (most days) being morning, noon and night.
I won't say that I don't wish I could cut it out altogether, but I treat it as a reward for losing the weight (and keeping it off).
Most of the herbal, non-caff alternatives are yeuk  . I'd sooner take up smoking than drink them.
All in all, I guess that if you eat mostly healthily and drink mostly healthily (and neither to excess) then you'll be somewhere in the 1% of humans who benefit from a healthy (as opposed to obsessive or addictive) lifestyle - a little caffeine notwithstanding!
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Javan
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 14 Feb 2008 01:49 pm |
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| I agree with you NevD. I intend to try and to get down to 1 cup a day and no more. I will not go to decaf, as I do not like coffee anyway. I just like the caffeine buzz. I do not like tea either, so I am sort of stuck, unless I can find a food that will give me a nice jolt of energy.
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NevD
New Member
| Joined: | 26 Oct 2005 |
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| Posts: | 1536 |
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Posted: 15 Feb 2008 09:36 am |
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...so I am sort of stuck, unless I can find a food that will give me a nice jolt of energy.
Have you tried roadrunner eggs, lightly poached?
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CodeMonkey
New Member
| Joined: | 6 Aug 2007 |
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| Posts: | 350 |
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Posted: 15 Feb 2008 10:17 am |
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My personal intake on caffeine is this. I try to avoid it as much as possible. I used to drink coffee every morning before work and was addicted to it. If I didn't drink it I'd get headaches (obviously). So I decided that I'd rather not be addicted to anything.
If I'm traveling and I am feeling tired I would get me a cup of coffee. I try to go to bed early and get at least 8 hours of sleep so I won't need the caffeine.
I watched a show on TV where they had two heavy coffee drinkers and did an experiment on them. They provided these people coffee and gave one of them decaf but wouldn't tell them who. The guy who had the decaf did slow down a bit but after a week he was back to his usual self. He even performed as well as he did before his usual intake of caffeine. The woman who did have caffeine thought she had the decaf pot and suffered headaches as well, but her performance didn't diminish that week. So if you're willing to go through the withdrawal period you can be totally free of the caffeine addiction within a week.
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Javan
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 15 Feb 2008 01:16 pm |
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NevD, I assume that by Roadrunner eggs, you mean the actual bird, not just some fancy way of preparing chicken eggs. Nope, I have never heard of them, nor have i seen them in the store. Eggs are not a good source for me anyway as I rarely eat them. Maybe 1-2x a month, if that. I eat cereal amost every day of the week.
Regarding the coffee, it is my goal to get off it, with the odd exception of once in awhile after supper or something like that. I have already started to cut back on it but brewing less and less each week. It used to be 6 cups brewed each day, I would drink 3 in the am, then the rest after work. Now I brew 3 and drink that in the morning, and that is all.
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1seekspie
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 15 Feb 2008 08:03 pm |
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Interesting input...
Just curious, does any one have any more links on HOW coffee/tea can affect your health? I know a lot of us are trying to cut back...but why exactly? I'm intriuged and want to know more positives and negatives of coffee.
To be honest though, unless some one comes up with an accurate link that says something like "coffee is actually a drink created by the government and is controlling your mind," I plan to keep my one cup a day. I don't consider myself an addict. I mean, not everyone that likes South Pole jackets is a South Pole jacket addict, right? (though I might be !)
Last edited on 15 Feb 2008 08:04 pm by 1seekspie
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NevD
New Member
| Joined: | 26 Oct 2005 |
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| Posts: | 1536 |
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Posted: 16 Feb 2008 05:36 am |
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NevD, I assume that by Roadrunner eggs, you mean the actual bird, not just some fancy way of preparing chicken eggs.
Sorry, Javan, I meant the cartoon bird. Just me being silly (again).
I didn't even know there was a real bird. Of course, I don't get out much...
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Peter
Founder of this forum
| Joined: | 24 May 2005 |
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| Posts: | 4180 |
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Posted: 21 Feb 2008 08:24 pm |
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I don't like coffee and tea, so for me we're talking Diet Pepsi.
For me, it's an addiction I don't like. And I don't think (lots of) soda pop could possibly be good for you. So I'm always trying to stop or at least cut back.
But I don't think a reasonable amount of caffeine is a bad thing. (Just my personal thought... not cph's!)
Peter
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Aimless
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 17 Mar 2008 11:43 am |
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NevD, your roadrunner comment made me grin so much :D
I don't like coffee at all. I like tea occasionally, but it's more a once or twice a fortnight. I'd rather be drinking water.
My problem was carbonated drinks, diet or otherwise. They really helped me get through work for college and really banished my fatigue. I haven't noticed any improvements in sleep or fatigue since stopping drinking caffeine [just before I stopped, three or so weeks ago, I was drinking a pint of Irn-Bru a day to get some work done! I wish I could say it was the diet version...]. I didn't get any withdrawl symptoms either, compared to previous times when I quit drinking caffeinated stuff.
I personally don't think caffeine is necessarily an unhealthy thing unless it is affecting you in a negative way. Of course, if you're consuming far too many mg of the stuff it's advisable to cut down because it is toxic... but so are a lot of things in large quantities.
I do miss caffeine, it really helped me stay awake and concentrate. But current medication recommends I avoid it!
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kalypso
Member
| Joined: | 3 Mar 2008 |
| Location: | Eh?, Canada |
| Posts: | 186 |
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Posted: 23 Mar 2008 06:50 am |
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This is kinda weird but coffee actually has the opposite effect on me - it makes me SLEEPY. I'd drink about 2-3 cups and be napping like a baby within an hour. What is up with that?
Javan: I was interested in that coffee experiment you posted about. It may just be mind over matter maybe? I think the good news for all coffee addicts, as it has been mentioned, is that it's so much easier to overcome. Everyone will suffer the headaches, but after a week or so we just function normally again. I just wish I could get to that point! (A week without coffee? Unheard of!) 
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