Here are some tidbits about coffee that I found pretty interesting myself;
"Caffeine is a stimulant of the central nervous system, similar to cocaine, and has been linked to a host of maladies, including increased heart rate, change in blood vessel diameter, irregular coronary circulation, increased blood pressure, birth defects, diabetes, kidney failure, gastric ulcers, cancer of the pancreas, ringing in the ears, trembling in the muscles, restlessness, disturbed sleep and gastrointestinal irritation. It also upsets the blood sugar level, as it forces the pancreas to secrete insulin...
It takes one cup of coffee or tea 24 hours to pass through the kidneys and urinary tract. More than one cup in a 24 hour period places an extremely heavy burden on those organs...
COFFEE CONSUMED WITH FOOD FORCES THE FOOD TO LEAVE THE STOMACH PREMATURELY and also slows down the motility of the intestines...The caustic effect of coffee is what causes the intestines to move food through rapidly for some people. The coffee itself takes 24 hours to be processed through the kidneys...
Coffee and tea happen to be pure acid in the body. The more acid in the blood, the more the body will retain water in an attempt to neutralize it."
"Body for Life," by Harvey and Marilyn Diamond.
That's a few exerpts from one of my all-time favorite nutrition resources. But I do also know that coffee stimulates the peristaltic reflex in the body, which is what causes the body to pass food from the stomach to the intestines to be moved throughout and passed through after completing digestion. You have to understand that if food isn't allowed the adequate amount of time to be broken down in the stomach before being passed through the intestines, essentially you end up wasting precious nutrients in food. You do the MAJORITY of your absorption of vitamins and minerals from your food within your intestines as the food moves along. The nutrients are absorbed through the intestinal walls. Most people think the stomach is where most digestion takes place, but that's the pitstop along the way where the food is broken down into a form that is usable to the body. When coffee is taken with food or too close before or after a meal and that peristaltic action is triggered too soon, you pass food through that can't be absorbed. So you've basically wasted the meal, nutritionally speaking.
But I, too, used to be a daily one cup of joe kind of gal. I loved my morning boost and it took me a while of mixing regular with decaf to get used to not having it. I just put more decaf and less regular in each day until it was all decaf, then started to have a smaller and smaller cup of that. Now I begin each day with fresh fruit juices, good spring water and fresh fruit. My energy levels, even upon waking, are 100 times what they were even with the 100% leaded coffee. Takes a while and some discipline, because coffee is very addictive and gives lots of withdrawal symptoms as you wean yourself off, but it was so worth it for me.
Just some info for you, take it or leave it, but make sure all of your nutritional decisions are informed ones.
Take care!
