Coffee and black tea both contribute to higher acidity levels in our bodies, most people know that. Remember how all acidic food makes your body more prone to inflammation and stress (see previous blog), and these foods should be avoided during a detox. Some black teas are even more acidic than coffee, as low as 4 pH, where coffee is normally around 5-6 on the pH scale, 7 being what our bodies try to keep to avoid disease, using minerals to compensate, that should be used in organs instead.
We also have to consider many other health issues these popular drinks can give us, specially on the adrenal glands and kidneys, so if you already have health issues you probably know to avoid these. Both of these loved drinks are more or less toxic for us depending on your metabolic type. Caffeine is the bad guy. Studies show that from tea it is slowly released but from coffee it is released quickly, and within 30 minutes we can feel the caffeine kick. That’s mostly why we drink it in the first place. Now, if you react with headaches, heavy sweating, etc, than I would not recommend it. If you feel good I would say it’s OK with 1-2 cups a day for most people. Specially considering the alternatives. The coffee made in espresso machines have less caffein than the drip brewed where the coffee stays in the water dissolving much more of the caffein.
Some people feel that the pleasant feeling coffee gives them when they wake is so life energizing that they can actually get out of the bed. For me only the aroma of coffee makes me happy. More so than to drink it, as the taste rarely lives up to the freshly ground coffee aroma. Pure aromatherapy! Very early mornings, waking up with anxiety and worries, are when most people feel depressed. If they can avoid getting very low with a coffee, and stay away from an anti-depressant, hey coffee is relatively very healthy. The problem starts, like with everything else, when we drink to much of it. What is too much? You have to feel yourself.
Also, notice if you gain weight when you drink coffee. I have that experience, maybe because the caffeine makes the liver release glucose and this might be stored as fatty tissue in some bodies, or simply because it enhances hunger feelings and sweet cravings. Be aware and feel in!
The plus part is that both coffee and tea actually give you antioxidants depending on how quick the coffee has been roasted or the tea oxidized. If you want a less oxidized tea choose green tea or a high quality black tea (probably not in tea bags). When it is roasted quickly at a high temperature the coffee beans and more so the tea leaves loose the antioxidants. If you want to have the benefits of the antioxidants in coffee find a slow and low temperature roasted coffee. The best tea is the green tea.
You can see if the coffee you are about to drink still has the antioxidants which is in the fat of the bean. It turns into foam and forms a layer on the surface. These slow roasted coffees are not as bitter and have much more taste. As they require more time to produce they are sometimes more expensive, but not always. Producers often fool us with appealing names on their roast, like Espresso or Italian Roast, but can very well be coffee of less quality.
Now to wine. Basically alcohol is not good in any form inside our bodies. It is a solvent, it dissolves our tissues and that is not good. Having said that…if you just had a meal with animal fat that is difficult to dissolve, like bacon, of course alcohol would help your digestive system to dissolve it, but I would rather recommend you to stop hurting your body with that kind of food than tell you to drink alcoholic beverages. The alcohol is, after cigarettes, the highest cause of disease including cancer.
You have probably heard that wine is good for us. It is because it contains antioxidants, the so called OPC’s, specially red wine. These polyphenols are fantastic, I agree. But to get the daily doses to do any good, you have to drink 1-2 bottles of wine a day. If you do, you would also be considered an alcoholic! Most of the studies saying it is so good are payed by the wine industry, actually I have never found one that isn’t. So don’t fool yourself that wine is healthy, specially not more than 1-2 glasses per day.
If you want the antioxidants from wine I recommend you take a supplement with grape seed extract. It is less costly, and a fantastic supplement that helps against many conditions; CVD, allergies, arteriosclerosis, flues, PMS, menopausal problems, etc. And if you still want your wine, make it a good, quality wine. Drink less but let it be good. Drink mindfully!
To enjoy the tastes you love is being healthy. We often forget that all can be eaten but as a treat. So find out what you really enjoy and don’t want to be without and eat it without guilty feelings. Otherwise the risk is huge that you won’t stick to your new ‘boring’ lifestyle. Let it take time. If it is meat, bacon, ice cream, wine, candy, what ever it is, you should eat it, but make it the exception and not the rule, and know the costs. Consider everything that is unhealthy as a treat. Don’t over do it, maybe keep it to weekends only. It is not unlikely that you will notice after a while, that fewer and fewer things are worth the ‘cost’. Take less of it, and when you do get the best quality products. Enjoy it!
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