Coffee - The Good, Bad & the Ugly

Coffee the Good, Bad and the Ugly By: Jeff Rose

I am tired of people saying "all the raw foodists I know drink coffee" or " all the raw vegans I know drink coffee" or "all the vegetarians drink coffee." So I am going to share my thoughts on coffee, the good, bad and the ugly. Mostly the bad and ugly. I am not a doctor. I am an observer of people. This document was constructed by my observations and discussions with many people over the years.

Coffee tastes good? Yes to some people. Pig ears might taste good too just not with a cup of coffee. Coffee has minerals, like Manganese as well as other minerals. Are some of the minerals being locked up from the acidity of the coffee? Oxalic acid locks up some iron in various raw vegetables. Worms love coffee grounds. Coffee grounds make great compost. My grandfather used to put grandma's coffee grounds in the compost. He also put egg shells and tea bags and many things in the compost. Grandfather didn't drink coffee. Born in 1889, he was a rebel. He didn't eat MSG, drink alcohol or coffee. He exercised every morning at 5 AM. Yes he really did ride the train to Princeton and sit next to Albert Einstein. He worked for the USDA and the FDA at various times in his life and served in WWI and WWII. Grandpa had two wives and eight children over time and made it almost to 100. He gardened an acre the last 25 years of his life and canned lots of food for the winter. OK back to minerals and coffee. I haven't seen any document that displays the minerals in coffee. One would think if there was any great quanities of minerals that we would see Nutrition Facts on bags of coffee. Lately I see coffee with other things added like Reishi mushroom. I don't think there is anything you can add to coffee to make it healthy so why bother. Drink your reishi tea separately or put the reishi powder in a smoothie.

I have met many women who told me their doctors told them not to consume caffeine because it increases their risk of breast cancer. I bet women would get more bang for their buck staying away from plastics, chemicals and pesticides. Is it the coffee or is it the caffeine? Ever wonder why nurses have higher incidence of breast cancer? Some work in hospitals? They are in the OR, the ER and ICU, etc, etc. What does a nurse do all day? They open up little plastic bags containing sterile instruments. They breathe plastic dusk and particles. It is the vinyl. Try to tell this to a nurse with breast cancer. They just say "oh I guess I am just unlucky, I have bad genetics." Breathing vinyl dust doesn't do anyone any good. We are all becoming sterile.

I think women and people should avoid coffee in general for many reasons , including the caffeine. I believe decaffeinated coffee has all the same "bad" and "ugly" that regular coffee has. People who want to lose weight often will give up many things but not coffee. Coffee would be the best thing to give up. The acidity in coffee will keep your fat locked up and make it harder to lose. Why does any diet work? They work because they say eat more salads, more fruits and vegetables. Eating more salads lowers your acidity and allows the pounds to be shed. I have seen people practice portion control and exercise, still drink coffee and have problems changing their weight. Or the changes they do see are very slow. I lost three pounds this year, I worked out three times per week. Trust me, coffee and diet success can be mutually exclusive. The quickest way I've seen to shed pounds is to eat 100% raw vegan with no coffee and with exercise. Many people can't just make that jump to 100% raw vegan even if only for a limited time. Allowing the caffeine to clear out of the system and some of the acidity to neutralize can be difficult. Usually caffeine withdrawal takes one to three days and can be accompanied by severe headaches. The thing about coffee is that it makes you feel groggy the next day so you want to drink it again. The coffee high is nice. It feels better than exercising.

Moreover, walking around living our lives we are exposed to many sources of acidity. Stress, polution, unhappy thoughts, anger, certain foods, coffee, medications, and toxins can contribute to acid conditions. In fact our bodies are always neutralizing acids so much so that we can run out of neutralizer. I say if you want to be real successful on your diet, give up the coffee. You can still have a cup at your parents holiday party or on New Years Eve. For some of us that would be all it would take for us to fall off the wagon. Battle the acid. Take a bath, soak your feet, remove chemicals from your home, air out any new purchases that may outgas toxins, exercise and give up the coffee.

The coffee mafia will surely not like me saying all this. I am expecting men to show up at my door. So if next month I am dancing around telling how coffee is the miracle drink you will know what happened. Right Ellen? The meat mafia are right behind them. Have you ever soaked your meat in coffee and then grilled it? Well let me tell you it is good, not to do that. How about that coffee enema thing that Gerson does. What that does is implant caffeine in your colon. The caffeine shoots straight to the liver and causes it to release loads of toxicity. That is a one or two time thing. Maybe if Starbucks ever loses market share they can add the emena to their menu, implant some espresso as you go through the drive-thru. Drive through. The drive-thru is very popular, you dont even have to stand up to buy coffee. I know oil tankers full of coffee are consumed each day. Slowly it changes everyones health, sort of without them noticing.

Stimulants effect your hunger impulses. Drink coffee in the morning and try to skip lunch and then you end up eating 2 lunches in the afternoon, 2 dinners and a midnight snack. Hey the coffee made you feel like you went to the gym so all is well. Coffee gives many of us that hunger backlash. Skip a meal and eat three times more later. When hungry we are more likely to make unwise choices. Coffee never gave me the desire to eat 3 salads for dinner. It made me want to eat three pizzas. If you need to eat pizza, eat your salad first. Then you are less likely to eat half a pizza. I had a girlfriend once that drink coffee with her pizza. And followed it up with another coffee and a piece of chocolate cake and a cigarette (in the 80's ). She could knock off two pots a day by herself. Cigarette's seem so 80's but I see people smoking all over the place. Have they read the side of the pack lately. Cigarette's can cause some of the same effects as coffee. The bottom line is consuming stimulants and dieting are difficult when practiced together. Get off the stimulants and focus on the diet. I know you need a lift in the morning. After a few days or weeks the diet and exercise is supposed to do that. Is coffee bean extract going to make you skinny? Is there anything wrong with eating a salad and exercising? If there was a magic pill we would be taking it. There are lots of ideas to choose from for dieting and health. Check out the healthy snacks, dried fruits, nuts and seeds and other great products at www.naturalzing.com. One great idea is give up the stimulants, including coffee, stop eating white foods, eat less of other foods and eat more fruits and vegetables and exercise. Don't get the Sugar Blues you Paleo, get in The Zone or try the The Alkalarian. Be Fit or Fat and hang with Joel Fuhrman. Or just go Raw.

So we covered acidity and stimulants. Let me put another pot on and finish the last slice of the pizza before I continue. Your daily habits will create your health. Your great daily health choices will create your great health. You are responsible for your own great health. No global multinational corporation is going to make you healthy. Avoid corporations too when dieting. Now lets talk about smells, vision and teeth. I believe coffee consumption effects peoples vision. Your vision can blur after a cup of coffee. Perhaps this effects older people more than younger. Something is going on inside the eye when we consume coffee. Perhaps the acidity is being raised. Marijuana lowers the pressure in the eye. Maybe coffee raises the pressure. Our blood and body chemistry effects the eyes.

Do you know anyone with receding gums? Everyone? Acidity in the mouth must cause receding gums. Sucking a cup of joe over a few hours bastes the teeth in acid. And then you have your body in an acid condition. Your gums can't function best under this daily assault especially after a few years of being a Barista.

Women, this is for you and I really hate to put this in here. I apologize for being the one who has to say this. I am covering everything here. Body parts can change their smell and taste when your body is in an acid condition, yes after that cup of coffee. Think of asparagus but not that bad. Keep some coconut oil at arms reach. Your breath may smell too. The smell of fresh brewed coffee drifting around this house might smell good for a minute or two. And then something happens and it just smells like stale flat beer left over from a party. Some of us can feel our body chemistry change just by smelling a cup of coffee.

Drink coffee if you wish, I know I will but go in there full knowing the good, bad and the ugly. And that you read this article and coffee is not the gift you once thought. Save the coffee for a party. Buy the best organic fair trade you can find, grind your own beans and have a blast. Brush your teeth before bed. And the next day buy some superfoods at www.naturalzing.com , have that salad and go exercise. Then start drinking tea and superfood smoothie elixirs. Blessings!