1. Coffee & Fatigue
2. New Naturopathic (In Office) Health Plans Available

1. Coffee & Fatigue

Coffee. I love the smell of coffee. I used to make it for my grandfather every morning when I visited him as a child. I also enjoyed watching it make on the stove in his clear glass pot. We all have memories around coffee. We have coffee at breakfast time, after dinner with or without dessert, and with friends and alone. Coffee houses have become places of socializing. We use coffee to wake up in the morning. We use it get over a hangover. But unfortunately, we drink it everyday so we can stay awake, work, and work faster.

Coffee was originally meant to be an occasional beverage and not a daily one. Drinking coffee occasionally can be beneficial. But, daily coffee is not good for us at all in my opinion. For as many studies that say that coffee gives us benefits, you'll find studies that show the harmful effects. I realize the pros and cons of coffee are very controversial. Please remember who (the corporations) stands to benefit when studies are released on how great coffee is for you. Drinking 1 cup per week maybe. But, daily coffee has more harmful effects than we ever want to admit. Unfortunately, in this society we tend to turn everything into a dependency and an addiction.

So, here's the straight information. I believe everyone agrees that coffee stimulates the adrenal glands to release adrenalin. I hear you say, "Yes, that is what I want it to do so I can wake up and get to work." Well, I understand. Except, daily drinking coffee keeps your adrenals turned "on" for hours everyday your drink it. When your adrenals are on, adrenalin (epinephrine) is constantly pumped through your blood stream. Adrenalin helps to shut your digestion and immune system off, and shunts blood to your bones, heart, and muscles. The reason is that your body is misled to believe you have a bear to fight or run from. No, I am not talking about your boss. Your body is falsely put into a fight or flight response by drinking coffee. This is not healthy to do to your body everyday. Many of us do this everyday and have for many years. I spoke last time about gambling with your health, and this is what you are doing with your health drinking coffee everyday. How many years do you think your body can take the coffee you drink everyday.

Part of the trouble is that after many years of drinking coffee everyday, you need more of it to get the same effect. For those of you are now drinking 1/2 to 1 full pot of coffee everyday, you probably started out drinking 1 cup a day. Those of you who are currently drinking only 1 cup per day need to understand that you may be having to increase the amount of daily coffee to achieve the same results.

The main trouble is when you drink coffee; the first thing that happens is the caffeine stimulates the adrenals to produce adrenalin. Adrenalin then stimulates the pancreas to produce glucagon, which tells the liver to convert fat to glucose. The glucose is there for energy to go to your muscles to fight or run from the bear your body has been fooled into believing is there. When you do not use the glucose, it rises to excess in your blood stream. Excess glucose in the blood causes your pancreas then to produce insulin that makes the glucose go back into fat storage. Your heart rate increasing, from the coffee, will use some of the glucose, but the rest will most likely go back into fat.

I believe coffee will wear out your pancreas and adrenals. I believe some of the obesity and diabetes in this country is due to abuse of coffee. Coffee also causes adrenal fatigue as well. Please realize the fatigue you feel the next day is NOT due to a coffee deficiency. Your fatigue IS due to the coffee you are drinking everyday. When you feel so fatigued that you cannot get going without coffee, your daily coffee causes the fatigue you feel. Understand? So, do you want to treat your fatigue with more coffee? Or, do you want to treat the cause? As a naturopathic doctor, I help you treat the cause of your fatigue. How many years do you think your body can withstand you drinking daily coffee? People come in to my office with migraines, high blood pressure, diabetes, hives, allergies, and others that can be contributed to by daily coffee.

Giving up coffee is challenging. But, you can do it. Cold turkey is brutal. I do not recommend that. An easy way is to switch to green tea as part of withdrawing from coffee. Green tea still has caffeine and can be as strong as coffee. The other way is to dilute the coffee and/or switch to decaffeinated. Decaf coffee still has come caffeine, but definitely not as much. What makes withdrawing from coffee the most difficult is the headaches that occur. Caffeine is also an allergen and can contribute to migraines. If a headache occurs from caffeine withdrawal, you can drink as little coffee as possible to relieve the headache as you withdraw. When people are off coffee completely with no withdrawal symptoms, most people begin to feel much better than they did while drinking coffee every day. Your adrenals and pancreas will begin to repair. You mental function improves. Allergies can improve also because you are no longer continually adding the allergen caffeine to your body.

Does coffee still smell as good as it did before you read this newsletter? Maybe, or maybe not. I am here to help you understand that excesses harm the body no matter what the excess may be. Whether it be sugar, caffeine, alcohol, tobacco, or other habit. Daily indulgences are bad for your health. They are not investments in your health but are actually withdrawals to your health. With drinking daily coffee you are actually gambling with your health. Most people do not want to change their lifestyle but want their symptoms to go away. Whatever the reason you are drinking coffee everyday, it can be helped by naturopathic medicine naturally.

Feel free to call me. I am happy to answer all of your questions.

2. New Naturopathic Health Plans Available to Save You Money

I have been inspired by the movie Sicko to add to the solution of high health care costs. Call the office to learn more. I want to help you save $1,000's per year on office visits.

in Health and Service,

David Hogg, ND
Naturopathic Wisdom
1101 South Winchester Blvd.
Suite E157
San Jose, CA 95128
408-297-6877
http://www.naturally4health.com/
http://www.naturopathicwisdom.com/