I realize coffee is not raw, but much controversy over the years in the books I have read..etc..has me just doing what I think. I love my two cups a day...how bad is it?
Thank you

I used to drink 3 - 4 cups a day for many years. It's hard to tell how bad it is until you get off it for a while and then feel the difference. I still drink an occasional coffee but it feels like my teeth are rattling and my mind goes too fast afterwards.

I find if I eat poorly i.e. heavy or cooked foods at night I crave coffee in the morning. And when I have coffee at work I immediately want to head to the cafeteria for soup and potatoe salad, not a good thing. It's one of those things that puts me right back into a vicious cycle.

My opinion:

-Anything outside of fresh, unprocessed, raw plant foods is not going to be optimal (just my experiences). But its certainly a challenge to stop doing non-optimal things (like caffeine stimulants) all at once. I certainly didn't.

-I WAS a guy that drank cups of coffee & 3 liters of cola a day. But having made the personal decision to live a healthy lifestyle...quitting stimulants (caffeine & cigarrettes)...and depressents (medications & alcohol)...was a no brainer. So I made plans. I switched out coffee for decaf/hot cocoa....and sodas for flavored seltzers & juices. It took me a few months to wean off completely....with designated cheat days. You know? I did it slowly...so no it was a challenge...but not one I couldn't handle!

-I think YOU need to identify YOUR health goals and long-term dreams and passions. If those dreams NECESSITATE a caffeine free lifestyle...then you'll find a way. If they do not...you will always be in a 'grey area'. You know?

-If YOU truly love coffee...and you believe it is healthy for you....you should drink more of it. If you DON'T want it...and it conflicts with your goals....then it's a matter of getting off the fence...and admitting that you DO it....but you don't LOVE it.....and it's not a part of YOUR goals and dreams.

-As to the objective nutrient values and health effects? I don't think many folks are calling coffee a major healthy drink! Ha! ha! (not like fresh orange juice anyway!) LOL. What do you think?

-Success to you.

-David Z. Mason

WWW.RawFoodFarm.com

Thank you Dulset as I can relate to the difference after being off it. I went away on a vacation awhile ago to australia, where there was no coffee (in the desert) and went totally off coffee for three weeks. I felt great!!!!!! Although on the airplane flight back it sure tasted good. :-) I should have stayed off it then!

David, it is a challenge, because I KNOW i drink it for a comfort food (mostly), but I love the idea of going slowly, decaf, then going slow to nothing. I have totally quit sodas, and after realizing how bad they are., I don't miss them. My parents, their parents, LIVED on coffee, that's all they drank....I'll have to make a decision to get it out of my "blood". I am in that grey area, yup.
I think I will make a fresh orange juice "juice" right now.
Thank you for being "you"!!
Sandy

I've never been one for coffee, tea or cola - in short, in my adult life I've rarely consumed caffeine.

So when I kept having headaches not so long ago I was puzzled as I don't usually have headaches - one thing I was doing though was drinking green tea. Which has caffeine!
I stopped drinking it and my headaches went away,
I started drinking it again, and my headaches returned. Now I don't drink it at all - no headaches.

I don't think caffeine is meant to be consumed - it's quite a processed food in the form of coffee and tea and cola etc, I think we can do very very well with out it!

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[www.azurastorch.blogspot.com]

Very interesting....good thing you figured that out! So it's the caffeine, not the green tea....? Decaf green still has some caffeine in it right? so that wouldn't be an option. ?
I grow some herbs and make my own calming spirit tea.Calming spirit meaning "good feeling" not "going to sleep feeling". :-) Real good!! Cold or hot. This is a good recipe if you like a warm drink.
One part Rosemary
One part Lavendar flowers
One part spearmint
Half part chamomile
Half-quarter part dried cloves
Steep n go! It's good cold too, make it, then refrigerate.
Sandy

that sounds nice : )



Have you tried dandelion coffee?

no I haven't. I will try to google it for the recipe..?

I don't know if you can make it yourself, I have seen it for sale in health food shops. I have tried it, and tastes nice in my opinion. If it helps those caffeine/coffee cravings somewhat, then it can't be all bad I guess : D

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[www.azurastorch.blogspot.com]

I drank coffee for about twenty years (since I was a kid). I really cut down during my first pregnancy but started back after that. When I got pregnant the second time I quit drinking it regularly and just on weekends or for special times. I got to where I was hardly drinking it at all after I went high raw. When I had gone a few months with no coffee and I had a big cup one night I became so sick the next day. I felt like I had the worst hangover ever. I had a headache and dry heaves. I wasn't sure if it could be the coffee. It seemed too extreme so I tried again and the same thing happened. The memory of that feeling is enough to make me never want coffee again. Yuck :<! That tells me that coffee is bad for me. My body was pretty clear on that one.

Good thing you figured out what was making you sick! I'm sure the second time around was obvious..

The more I exercise, the less I crave anything bad for me. After a workout of any kind all I want is "good-for-ya" food. Plus coffee depletes nutrients from your body....right? Along with dehydrating.?

I've been a heavy coffee drinker for years (5-6 cups a day), stopped after going raw. What really helped me at the time was reading an article by Frederic Patenaude (http://www.fredericpatenaude.com/blog/?p=44) who's been a coffee addict himself. I haven't had a cup of coffee in over six months and, frankly, I do not miss it.

Thank you Alina, I found it on the website. Lots of good info, I would suggest anyone with a coffee question check it out!! Just do a "coffee" search on the website and click coffee on the list of questions that comes up. I wasn't able to get there direct from the link, maybe it's me.

Gets crazier every time we learn more and more about how the big companies or the gov are playing the general public like puppets, just to make the big cash. ugh.

Anyway., I will spread the word!
Thanks!

caffeine is a drug and all drugs are bad. it was actually the month that i quit eating my soy coffee ice cream that my husband and i finally got pregnant. could have been a coincidence, but i did read in all those pregnancy books that caffeine reduces fertility and that can't be good. caffeine actually makes me tired, it doesn't wake me up. i'm very sensitive to chemicals and basically anything that i breathe or that enters my body and i always crash really bad after i cave and eat any chocolate or soy coffee ice cream. i get really tired, really depressed, and i get a ton of headaches. altho i'm sure it's the sugar, too, and it isn't entirely the caffeine to blame. the fact that caffeine is so bitter that we can't eat it w/o sugar should be enough to let us know we aren't naturally meant to eat it. since it always needs sugar, it's double bad. i try really hard to avoid caffeine and i always regret it everytime i let myself sneak some.

Coffee has always made my heart race, me feel dehydrated, and given me a headache amongst other things...I think it's very bad...without it, I definitely have more energy.

Thank you! Hopefully this along with other things will work for me too, as we have been trying to get pregnant for 6 years. Maybe it's the coffee....

I do have more energy without it.Thanks!

THANK YOU FOR ALL THE HELP!!!!!

I have been drinking coffee for many years, and your advice when I wrote this origonal message has been so helpful!!! ALL of it!I stopped coffee 11 days ago and have felt soooo good. I have found, as a help along the way, "Teeccino", a caffeine free coffee substitute with barley, chicory and nuts combo is fantastic. I know it is still a hot drink but it is helping the transition. I ate small amounts before but I also gave up all bad sugars and meat that day too. So, THANK you for showing me the way! I am doing a not-so-radical detox and I am feeling fantastic.
You guys are amazing!
Sandy

YOU are amazing. conquering any addiction is a challenge and a worthy endeavor, keep it up! your body will thank you with many years of excellent health in return.

<<-If YOU truly love coffee...and you believe it is healthy for you....you should drink more of it. If you DON'T want it...and it conflicts with your goals....then it's a matter of getting off the fence...and admitting that you DO it....but you don't LOVE it.....and it's not a part of YOUR goals and dreams.>>

Very well said indeed.

Cheers,
J

Juliano of juliano's raw in Santa Monica drinks coffee and has something to say about it...
[youtube.com]
about 3:30 into it he talks about "good for you" coffee.

I like watching him...but I don't know, he's a little manic. But certainly full of life.

I don't drink caffeine.

measure twice, cut once.

"In Watermelon Sugar the deeds were done and done again as my life is done in watermelon sugar." ~r.brautigan

I make paintings

Thank you again guys n gals! Funny thing...........after my first week of not drinking coffee and having lots of fresh greens n veggies I smelled the pot of coffee my husband made that used to smell good and it smelled so aweful and harsh, and I know it's the same coffee because I bought it. I knew coffee wasn't for me, my body was telling me but it used to be comforting, now I don't even need it!

This group is so wonderful!!
Sandy

way to go - that is fantastic! well done

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[www.azurastorch.blogspot.com]

Consider yourself an F-16, and Coffee as jet-engine fuel accelerant. :~J

[www.oneillpaul.com-a.googlepages.com]

Shaine
Thanks for the youtube link. That was inspirational!- and yes he is full of "energy". :-)

Its been my experience that stimulants such as coffee take away more than they give.

Bryan Wrote:
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> Its been my experience that stimulants such as
> coffee take away more than they give.

I couldn't agree more Bryan. Coffee was the hardest thing to give up. At my heaviest use i was drinking at least 1 quart to 1/2 gallon of strong coffee every day... and it was always loaded with cream and refined sugar. If I didn't have my first 20oz cup within 30 minutes of waking up i would get an awful headache. I quit coffee a little over a year before going raw and I'm glad I did because going raw and quitting coffee at the same time might have proved too difficult and resulted in failure. In retrospect, going raw has been easy and enjoyable compared to quitting coffee.

Aloha, Greg

everyone is different, but the fact that it is so DIFFICULT to QUIT was the major flag to me that this is not so good for me. i mean, if i had to give up avocados, it would really suck, but i wouldn't be FREAKING OUT inside everytime i smelled one, or saw someone eating guacamole.

i was either trying to quit or binging on coffee for years. when i was drinking it, i was rationalizing it ("lots of famous yogi's drink coffee!". when i was trying to quit, i was struggling. i've given up lots of things in my life (booze, drugs) but coffee was BY FAR the most difficult.

i did the master cleanse last year for 11 days and when i was finished, had no desire for coffee. there is not a trace of my old addiction in me now, i could sit inside a starbucks all day and never want it. i consider it a real miracle. and everything is better for me now: my sleep patterns, my focus, my energy, my digestion -- everything.

but don't just take my word for it. i encourage you to check it out for yourself and see how YOU feel without coffee in your life. easier said than done, i realize.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/30/2008 10:39PM by maui_butterfly.

Aawww, coffee...

I was such an addict, had to have my coffee every morning. My latte every day. Then when I became pregnant six years ago switched to decaf - still, had to have my daily latte. Then last August dropped all coffee for a cleanse. Since then I made a jug of cold-processed (look up Filtron or Toddy if you're unfamililar with this - you basically soak ground coffee in cold water overnight then filter it instead of using hot water) organic, free-trade, shade-grown, water-processed decaf coffee, kept it in the fridge for a couple of months and would once-in-awhile put a splash in my almond milk. It was tasty - had a nice bitter flavor and not much acid - but I could kind of take it or leave it. If someone's transitioning away from a coffee habit, this is one way to go.

Congratulations on getting off coffee so quickly! Hooray for better health.

Emily