Ten Important Reasons
Charlotte Bhakti Yoga
[Stephen A. Cherniske is a renowned health educator. With a bachelor's
degree from the State University of New York at Albany and a master's
degree in nutrition from Columbia Pacific University, Mr. Cherniske has
over 30 years of clinical, research and teaching experience. His latest
book, Caffeine Blues, is a must reading for all health seekers.]
1. Caffeine Blues is not a bad-news book.
The bad news is what happens if you DON'T read it. Caffeine is an
addictive drug that contributes to a long list of disease. The book
provides the information you need to avoid those health problems. Such
as anxiety, insomnia, panic attacks, cardiovascular disease, diabetes,
eye and vision problems gastrointestinal disease, miscarriage, etc.
2. The Caffeine Cover-up.
This critical information is not provided by the caffeine industry. In
fact, they're working overtime to make sure you DON'T learn about
caffeine's proven deleterious effects.
3. Informed Choice.
I'm not saying that everyone should stop drinking coffee, tea and soft
drinks. Rather I believe that people should make informed choices, and
until this book was published, that was impossible to do. The book
provides an easy quiz to enable the reader to determine, first of all,
how much caffeine they are consuming in a day. Usually people are
shocked. Next, the book provides a clear and easy way to evaluate how
that quantity of caffeine may be harming you. And third, the book
provides an easy and painless program for reducing or eliminating your
intake of caffeine.
4. Caffeine DOES NOT give you energy.
This is the greatest myth that has been perpetuated by the caffeine
industry. Scientifically, you cannot measure any increase in energy
provided by caffeine. You can measure higher levels of stress, as
evidenced by spikes in stress hormones, elevations in blood pressure
and heart rate, but no one would claim that these are positive
benefits.
5. There ARE ways to increase your body's production of energy.
This has been my special area of research for 20 years (including years
on the faculty of the American College of Sports Medicine, and advisor
to the U.S. Olympic Team). Caffeine Blues includes this breakthrough
material so that readers can begin to experience greater levels of
health, energy and vitality at any age and in any condition.
6. Caffeine DOES NOT improve learning or memory.
In fact the exact opposite is true. I have scientific studies showing
that caffeine as normally consumed can reduce cerebral flow by as much
as 30%. That means less oxygen to the brain and reduced memory and
cognition.
7. Caffeine DOES NOT give you a lift.
Caffeine is referred to as a mood elevator but this is inaccurate. If
you take a person who doesn't drink caffeine and give them some, it
doesn't elevate their mood. It makes them uncomfortable and tense. In
habitual users, caffeine appears to elevate mood, but research clearly
illustrates that it's simply enabling them to avoid the depression and
fatigue associated with withdrawal. It's a classic addiction scenario.
If you deprive a smoker of their cigarettes, they feel miserable. You
give them a cigarette, they feel much better. Does that mean cigarettes
give you a lift, or are somehow good for you?
8. Women's Health.
Caffeine is far more damaging to women, and Caffeine Blues contains an
entire chapter devoted to women's health issues. It Highlights the
effects of caffeine on bone mass and fracture risk, heart disease,
anxiety and panic attack, menopause, PMS, anemia, fibromyalgia, chronic
fatigue, depression, fertility and conception disorders and
complications of pregnancy and childbirth.
9. Children's Health.
Increasingly, children are becoming the primary target market for the
caffeine industry. The strategy? Addict them at an early age in order
to gain life-long customs. Caffeine Blues uncovers the darker side of
this industry, as it markets products with ever-increasing amounts of
caffeine in ever-increasing serving sizes. It explains how soft-drink
companies ignored congress, health departments and medical associations
and went directly for the promised land of market share: the schools.
Today, in direct defiance of USDA guidelines, soft drink machines line
the halls, cafeterias and walkways of schools from coast to coast. It
is a matter of great urgency, and the health and welfare of an entire
generation is at stake.
10. Ecology: pesticides, rain forest destruction and land use issues.
Coffee is the largest agricultural commodity in the world. More coffee
is grown and traded than wheat rice, corn or livestock. More than
fruit, vegetables or any staple of the diet, COFFEE is number one. In
fact, it's the third leading commodity after petroleum and strategic
metals. More than automobiles, steel, and technology. Add all of those
together and it couldn't touch coffee. Why? Because coffee is
addictive.
There's another problem. Coffee is also the most heavily sprayed of all
agricultural commodities. It is grown in regions where there are very
few restrictions, regulations or protections regarding pesticide use.
The environmental impact is tremendous. Coffee doesn't grow in Kansas,
it grows in and around the rain forest. In fact, rain forest has been
destroyed to plant coffee farms.
The fact is that coffee is a terribly inefficient and incredibly
labor-intensive crop. Coffee is the seed of a cherry from a tree.
Coffee cherries ripen at different times, so they have to be picked by
hand. It takes approximately 2,000 Arabica cherries to produce just one
pound of roasted coffee. Since each cherry contains two beans, your one
pound of coffee is derived from 4,000 coffee beans. The average coffee
tree only produces one to two pounds of mastered coffee per year and
takes four to five years to produce its first crop.
Do the math. The world demand is 6 billion kg per year. That's 13
billion pounds. If the average tree produces one to two pounds of
roasted coffee per year, this 13 billion pounds of coffee requires at
least 7 billion coffee trees. The average farmer gets about 100 trees
per acre, which means that 70 million acres of the most fertile land on
this planet is devoted entirely to growing a product with no
nutritional value; one that actually has proven and significant
anti-nutrient properties, that is addictive and that contributes to a
long list of disease states.
Note from Chet: In place of coffee, try pure water with a squeeze of
lemon. This is a tasty, healthy drink, either warm or cold. I have this
drink several times a day.