Caffeine Blues_ Wake Up to the Hidden Dangers of America's #1 Drug ( PDFDrive )

by Неизвестный

  to the musculoskeletal, brain, and nervous systems, you find tremendous resiliency, astounding capabilities, and even spare parts (you have two of many organs and need only one).

  So why don’t we feel this sense of vigor and vitality? It’s not because we lose it. We throw it away. We fall into the trap of sedentary living, poor diet, and caffeine. When we stop moving, we lose metabolic efficiency. Remember, life is a “use it or lose it” arrangement. The body only produces as much energy as you create a need for. When you stop moving, your body takes the easier metabolic route of creating fat. With poor dietary habits, the body becomes malnourished.

  It can’t maintain high energy or even adequate repair without the necessary raw materials. And then there’s caffeine. At first it’s a temporary crutch to get us through periods of fatigue, but caffeine quickly becomes an addiction, setting up a chain reaction of stress, illness, and fatigue that accelerates the downward spiral.

  To recover your natural energy, you must take three important steps: Eliminate caffeine abuse, boost your nutritional intake, and develop a habit of regular exercise. The order in which you take these steps is also very important.

  You may have already learned that jumping into an exercise program can prove disastrous. While everyone else in the gym is exercising energetically, you feel like you’re going to die. That’s because you first need to restore your metabolic efficiency. You then take that renewed energy and use it to build up an exercise program that feels good and works. When I describe this sequence of events to patients, their most common response is “Of course. That makes perfect sense.”

  Boosting Your Metabolic Efficiency

  In a very real sense, lack of energy is a problem of a sedentary lifestyle. Have you ever noticed that people who exercise regularly seem to have an abundance of energy? It’s common to think that they exercise because they have energy, but it’s more accurate to say that they experience energy because they exercise.

  Once again, it’s use it or lose it. When you exercise regularly, you are placing a demand on your body, and your body will respond by creating energy. But if you do not make the demand, your body will not create a great deal of energy. Why should it?

  Now, in order to generate consistent energy, exercise must also be consistent.

  And that’s a problem because exercise for most people is arduous and painful.

  Who would willingly repeat a painful experience day after day? Only those who are fit can really enjoy exercise. So here’s the catch-22: You can only enjoy exercise if you’re fit, but you can only become fit by exercising. It seems like the unfit are doomed.

  To find the way out of this dilemma, you need to understand why exercise feels bad to a sedentary person. It’s a phenomenon known as adaptation. You’ve seen it a hundred times (and perhaps experienced it yourself)-Sedentary individuals get inspired to begin an exercise program, maybe even pay a handsome membership fee to a health club. They go to their first workout, but instead of feeling invigorated, they feel exhausted. The same thing happens on the second day, and by the third day they can barely move because every muscle and joint in their body aches. In frustration, they quit, assuming they just don’t have what it takes.

  What they were experiencing was adaptation, the painful period between the unfit and the fit state, the time when you’re making new demands on your body but your body hasn’t quite figured out where to get the energy you need. The sad part is that if these individuals had stuck with it through adaptation, they would have experienced a whole new level of energy. But adaptation takes time—from several weeks to months—and it is the rare person who has that kind of dedication.

  Getting through (or Eliminating) Adaptation

  I spent years studying the biochemistry of human performance. I have been an adviser to members of the U.S. Olympic team and served on the faculty of the American College of Sports Medicine. In helping to train world-class athletes, I developed a formula of what I termed bioenergetic nutrients. These substances are critically important for the body’s creation of energy. They exist in every cell of the body, but most people don’t have levels that will support peak performance.

  I realized that the same substances I was using to help athletes maximize performance could be used by unfit people to get through adaptation. That’s because in both cases, the need is to enhance metabolic efficiency. Athletes benefit from these bioenergetic nutrients because they’re using them up faster than they can be replaced. Unfit individuals benefit because their bodies have (temporarily) stopped making them in sufficient quantities.

  In effect, raising tissue levels of bioenergetic nutrients tells the unfit (or semifit) person’s brain that this body has been exercising. The brain then responds by directing the body to create more enzymes (such as fatty acid oxidase) to fuel energy production. The result? Greater vitality in a very real and natural sense, because the body itself generates the energy. And at that point, adaptation is no longer an issue.

  The Energy Scams

  In today’s “you can have it all” world, the part that everyone forgets is that you have to do it all. That’s why energy is a hot topic and a hot commodity. Leafing through a health magazine, you’d think that getting more energy was as easy as taking a few pills—but as much as we would like that to be true, it doesn’t happen that way.

  Any pill that purports to give you instant energy is very likely to be just another stimulant like caffeine, the drug you’re trying to avoid.

  Energy pills abound at the checkout counter of your

  convenience store, in catalogs, and at the gym. But look at the ingredient list. Guarana, maté, bissy nut, kola nut, or green tea extract are simply herbal sources of caffeine. Ma huang and Chinese ephedra are herbal sources of ephedrine, another central nervous system stimulant. If you see botanical names of plants (such as Ilex paraguayensis or Paulinia cupana), the manufacturer is using the Latin nomenclature to further hide the fact that the

  product contains stimulants. I have even seen the chemical name for caffeine (trimethylxanthine) used on a product label! (See Chapter 7, “Politics and Pushers,” for a detailed discussion of this ruse.)

  What Will You Do with the Extra Energy?

  What would you do if you won a million dollars? Chances are you’d spend some of it and invest the rest. In other words, money is useful for the things it can buy now and also for producing extra money for future needs. Likewise, when people start to experience greater energy, they naturally feel like spending it—usually in the form of exercise and activity. Soon they find that not only do they have more energy to spend, but for the first time they have an energy reserve that they can call upon when they most need it.

  This energy reserve marks the difference between caffeine abuse and real energy. It also highlights an important difference in motivation. Whereas before you might have motivated yourself to exercise through guilt and condemnation (not very effective in the long run), now you exercise because you have abundant energy—and because you enjoy it!

  When you win the energy lottery, your life can change dramatically. The amount of time it takes depends on how much caffeine you’ve been consuming.

  Tissue levels of bioenergetic nutrients are not restored instantly, but be patient—it doesn’t take long. Most people start to feel better within a week. The full range of bioenergetic benefits won’t be experienced until you’ve detoxified the caffeine in your body and normalized stress hormone levels. As we’ve learned, that may take three to four weeks.

  Off the Bean

  STRATEGIES

  FOR COFFEE DRINKERS

  There are basically three ways to get off coffee:

  1. Cold Turkey: This is a mistake. Don’t do it. Remember that the crushing headache and other withdrawal symptoms are triggered by rapid changes in caffeine blood levels. Cold turkey (quitting all at once) is a surefire way to suffer the worst withdrawal reaction possible.

  2. Replacement: Some people find that this works, but
it has to be done carefully. If you consume four cups of coffee a day, don’t assume that you can have your first two cups and simply replace the last two cups with herbal tea.

  That will still produce a radical drop in blood caffeine levels, triggering a withdrawal headache. For the replacement method to work, you have to figure out how to maintain a normal (for you) level of caffeine in your blood while you gradually reduce that level over a two-week period. That’s most easily done by alternating coffee and caffeine free beverages.

  Example: Many people have two cups of coffee in the morning, another at midmorning, and their final cup with lunch or afternoon coffee break. A rapid drop in blood caffeine levels can be avoided by having cup #1 at the customary morning time, but replace cup #2 with decaf, herb tea, coffee substitute, herbal coffee, or hot soup. The midmorning coffee would be continued, and the alternative would be used at the afternoon coffee break.

  Then, of course, one needs to reduce the caffeine intake at the morning and midmorning time points. Here are a few tips:

  A.Brew your coffee with 50 percent decaf. Some companies produce

  coffee blends with a fifty-fifty mix of decaf and caffeinated coffee. After a week or so, you will need to add increasing amounts of decaf until you are ultimately using 100 percent decaf. Don’t forget, decaf still contains some caffeine, as well as harsh acids and oils inherent in the coffee bean (see Chapter 9). You might do better by ultimately switching to herb tea, herbal coffee, or another coffee alternative.

  B. Get a smaller coffee mug. One client of mine had a revelation when we were exploring the cause of her fatigue and anxiety. She started noticing increased fatigue shortly after turning thirty, and of course she (and her doctor) attributed it to “getting older.” But as she and I looked at a possible coffee connection, she burst out laughing. “That’s it,” she cried.

  “For my thirtieth birthday, a friend gave me a coffee mug with one of those cute ‘Now that you’re over the hill…’ inscriptions. This new mug was huge, but I filled it and drank it twice a day as I had with my old mug.” Unknowingly, this woman had nearly doubled her caffeine intake and was suffering the consequences.

  Well, it works the other way, too. Most of us just want to have a mug of some good-tasting, hot beverage, and the size of the mug doesn’t matter all that much. So downsize your mug (avoid refills) and that will help reduce your caffeine intake.

  C. Make your coffee weaker. Whether you brew your coffee or use instant, you can gradually decrease the amount you use.

  D. Add more milk. If you already take milk with your coffee, simply add more. If this is not your habit, give it a try. Adding low-fat milk reduces the amount of coffee in the cup and therefore decreases your caffeine intake. Plus the milk provides a valuable source of calcium and protein.

  3. Weaning: The No-Headache, No-hassle Method. This is my recommended method for people who don’t want to mess with the complex replacement technique. It also works great when more than one person is trying to get off the bean, because everyone can drink from the same pot. Here you

  simply brew or mix your coffee with small amounts of herbal coffee or coffee substitute, and continue drinking the same number of cups. Over a two-week period, you gradually increase the amount of herbal coffee or substitute while decreasing the coffee. Thus there is no dramatic decrease in blood caffeine levels and no headache.

  Importantly, this method enables you to get used to new tastes, and if you’re using herbal coffee, these tastes will be surprisingly rich and enjoyable. You can do this easily in a drip coffeemaker or a French press pot. Use a scoop or tablespoon as a measurement and mix your regular coffee with herbal coffee as follows: Begin by mixing approximately three-quarters regular coffee to onequarter herbal coffee. After three to four days, reduce your regular coffee to twothirds and increase the herbal coffee to one-third. Begin Week 2 by blending your regular coffee half-and-half with herbal coffee. After three days, reduce the regular coffee to onequarter and increase the herbal coffee to three-quarters.

  Over the next few days, gradually taper off the regular coffee until you are drinking 100 percent herbal coffee. (See Appendix B.)

  Here’s an example of the measurements you can use if you make a ten-cup pot of coffee in your home or office:

  Days 1–3 4 scoops (or tablespoons) regular coffee

  1scoop (or tablespoon) herbal coffee

  Days 4–6 3 scoops regular coffee

  1 scoops herbal coffee

  Days 7–9 21/2 scoops regular coffee

  21/2 A scoops herbal coffee

  Days 10–11 2 scoops regular coffee

  3 scoops herbal coffee

  Day 12

  1 scoop regular coffee

  4 scoops herbal coffee

  Day 13

  1/2 scoop regular coffee

  41/2. scoops herbal coffee

  Day 14

  5 scoops herbal coffee

  Many people have found that blending herbal coffee with their regular coffee is the most painless way to kick the caffeine habit. However, if you use instant coffee, you can also blend it with an instant coffee substitute. These grain-based beverages are sold in your natural food store or supermarket. Blend each cup of coffee you make using both the instant coffee substitute and your regular brand

  coffee you make using both the instant coffee substitute and your regular brand of instant coffee just as described above. Over the two-week period, keep lowering the amount of regular coffee you use and increasing the amount of instant coffee substitute.

  STRATEGIES

  FOR TEA DRINKERS

  Begin by steeping your black tea for less time, such as one minute instead of three or four. Alternate every other cup of tea with either green tea, green tea mixed with herbs, or herbal tea. Try some of the stimulating herbal teas such as spice or ginseng blends. Gradually cut down the number of cups of black tea you drink over a two-week period while substituting low-caffeine or caffeine-free teas. Explore the many varieties of green and herbal teas suggested in Chapter 9, “Options and Alternatives.”

  STRATEGIES

  FOR COLA DRINKERS

  Your task is to reduce both your caffeine intake and your sugar consumption.

  You will need to read the Nutrition Facts box on a variety of cola brands and start slowly pushing your sugar consumption downward as you wean yourself off caffeine. For the first week, alternate each can of your normal soft drink brand with a juice/mineral water combination that has under thirty grams of sugar. In Week 2, start substituting caffeine-free colas for some of your cans of caffeinated cola.

  Depending on how many cans of soda you consume, you’ll need to calculate a gradual reduction. Start blending mineral water with juice at home. Try some of the herb tea and juice blends recommended in Chapter 9. By Week 3, you can be off soda altogether and enjoying healthful leverages while you continue to get used to less and less sugar. After a month of being soda free, if you’ve

  successfully reduced your sugar intake too, you won’t even like the overly sweet taste of colas anymore.

  ADVICE

  FOR “COMBO” DRINKERS

  Like many people, you may be drinking both coffee and colas, or tea and colas.

  In that case, the best approach to getting off caffeine is to eliminate coffee first, if you’re a coffee drinker, or tea first, if you’re a tea drinker. Your challenge is to keep from ingesting more soft drinks than usual during this process. Use the other substitute beverages recommended above. The good habits you establish during the coffee/tea phase-out will ultimately help you give up colas. Start cutting back on cola beverages only once you’re comfortably off coffee or tea.

  Tips for Traveling

  When you’re out of the house, it’s easy to slip back into caffeine if there aren’t any options available. I always have a selection of herb tea in my briefcase: Celestial Seasoning’s Roastaroma for the morning, a ginseng or fruit-flavored tea for the afternoon, and chamomile or Celestial’s Sleepytime tea for t
he evening. I look forward to the day when these options, as well as herbal coffee, are available in coffee shops.

  Brain Defogging Aids

  In the first stages of recovery from caffeine abuse, you may find that you can’t stimulate and organize your thoughts as effectively as you did when you were on caffeine. Caffeine creates a highly alert phase during its onset, which is really a state of emergency induced by stimulating your adrenals to release stress hormones. When you first get off caffeine, you may benefit from some herbal support to overcome adrenal exhaustion. The following substances have proved helpful:

  Ginkgo biloba: Ginkgo improves cerebral circulation, dilates peripheral blood vessels throughout the body, and increases memory retention and concentration.1

  As such, ginkgo’s effects on the body are essentially the reverse of caffeine’s.

  Moreover, the herb protects brain neurons against freeradical damage, and evidence suggests that it may be helpful in the prevention and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease.2 I recommend that everyone quitting coffee begin taking ginkgo extract, 24 percent standardized concentrate, in small dosages of thirty milligrams daily during the first two weeks of withdrawal. Increase the quantity of ginkgo to sixty milligrams after your system has been weaned off of caffeine, and continue a daily intake for one to three months.

  Gotu kola: Gotu kola can help rebuild mental stamina, increase mental ability, and improve memory and learning retention.3, 4, It can also help you overcome the negative effects of stress and fatigue. The herb has been used in India for centuries, where it is reputed to be a “rejuvena-tor.” Gotu kola doesn’t contain caffeine, although it has’ been confused with kola nut, which does contain caffeine. Gotu kola extract (one dropperful of liquid extract in juice) can be taken daily for the two-week period during which you are reducing your caffeine intake. Thereafter, continue taking gotu kola as needed.