As much as I want to be immune to the fascination with the before-and-after transformations that are way too prevalent on Instagram, I’m not. I see them. And to be completely honest, I find some of them amazingly inspiring. Mostly, however, I find them terrifying, misleading and harmful.
There’s one part of me that wonders how someone can create so many before-and-after photos. I’ve often wondered if I could do that myself, like over the span of a five-minute transformation that involved lighting and posture changes only. What I find terrifying about it is not the dramatic transformations people put themselves through, but the way in which it is done. Often it is done through a mix of good lighting and then intensive training, low-carb, high-protein meals, moderate fat intake and then loads and loads of caffeine to keep the energy going when every other aspect of their lives is being pushed to its total limit. But is coffee good for you?
See, a little stress on the body and on us as a whole is what triggers changes, and can be a good thing. A little stress on the body motivates us and lets us see progress and achieve goals. Small amounts of ongoing stress, when processed effectively, can be a tool to help us achieve physical, emotional and spiritual health that is sustainable and maintainable.
Too much stress, however, is not a good thing. Whether it’s from training so much our bodies don’t have time to repair, getting less sleep than is optimal, emotional stress or the dietary stress of loading up on blood sugar fluctuating snacks, meals and high dosing caffeine/coffee – we are working against our goals for long term, sustainable, disease-preventing health.
Sometimes the most dramatic changes in your health can come from the simplest, easiest, calmest, most soothing practices. It all comes down to a few mighty and powerful hormones, many of which are triggered by a lack of nutrients, lack of sleep, and excess of alcohol and caffeine.
“The Caffeine Ditch is something we can fall into, and have a tough time climbing out of. Don’t worry; I’ve got my rope ladder at the ready for you.”
– UnDiet
Is coffee really that bad for me? The answer may surprise you. No. It’s not that bad for you. There is, of course, a catch. The catch is that coffee is great, delicious and a treat when consumed once in a while, as an occasional indulgence. If, however, you are more closely related to zombie than human before you slurp back your morning brew, than my answer is yes, coffee really is that bad for you.
Caffeine causes a cascade of processes in our body to run amuck. Let’s look at some of them.
Caffeine, coffee and Hormones
Caffeine has a half life of 4-6 hours, which means it is kicking around in our body, predominantly our nervous system, for a long time. It affects the functioning of a whole cocktail of hormones including:
We know caffeine keeps us awake. But that wakefulness doesn’t always fade away by the time we hit the hay. Once our stress hormones are activated, they tend to have their way with us. The affects of caffeine and coffee on our stress hormones can impair the mighty all-important restorative deep sleep cycles. This in turn affects our energy levels the next day and weakens our will to resist temptation, making us even more susceptible to more treats, and more caffeine and so the cycle continues.
Caffeine increases our stress levels, from perceived stress in our external world, to the stress response we have on the inside. Stress and caffeine can elevate cortisol levels, which in turn can lead to other negative health effects including accelerated aging, anxiety and the carrying of extra weight. Increased levels of cortisol leads to intense cravings for caffeine, fat and carbohydrates, and here we are in another depleting cycle.
The adrenal glands help us cope with stress. When we abuse them and run them out of juice, we experience anxiety, depression, PMS, headaches, chronic fatigue, emotional swings and other cranky-making-fun.
Long-term abuse of stress hormones will impair thought, perception, memory and concentration. Essentially, you stop seeing and processing life as it is, and stop seeing yourself as you truly, beautifully are!
This can result in muscle stiffness, chronic exhaustion, morning nausea, hair loss, insomnia, weight gain, diminished sex drive, recurrent infections, depression, multiple food allergies/sensitivities, cystic breasts, and menstrual irregularities.
When we abuse our cells by throwing heaps of insulin at them every time we eat, there will come a point where they say no (often referred to as insulin resistance), or need more than we can produce (what we’d call insulin dependence). The overall result is an inability to regulate blood sugar levels, a potentially deadly state without medical intervention or overhaul in diet and lifestyle.
Stress is not good for the heart, physically or emotionally. With a reduced ability to process it, we feel stress on a physical level more acutely, leading to high blood pressure, which in turn, is commonly associated with blood clots, heart attack and stroke.
There is nothing worse for our overall health than stress. Again, the abuse of stress hormones impairs the function and efficiency of the immune system. This means that anything, from recovery from the common cold, to post-surgery recuperation, to dealing with auto-immune conditions is more severe, takes longer, and is tougher on our bodies.
Belly fat, or what we call the spare tire, is associated with hormonal imbalances resulting from elevated insulin, cortisol and adrenalin levels. This is when no amount of time on the elliptical or no number of sets of crunches seem to make a dent.
Each of us has our own bio-individuality, and optimal healthy living is going to look different for you than anyone else. The goal is to work towards each of us feeling our very best. So is coffee good for you? You probably already know the answer to that question.
It’s not just the coffee that’s the issue that we need to address. There is a whole collection of habits that can help. The first and most obvious is to try and cultivate a lifestyle that is not dependent on caffeine as your primary energy source.
This means finding ways to:
You might just find yourself achieving your health, sleep, weight and life goals in a way that is pain- and deprivation-free. Sure, you may not get those dramatic before-and-after photos, but if you wait long enough, what you will get is shockingly sustainable lifestyle practices that will transform not just your body, but your life.
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