Many times people come to me and say, “I just don’t have any energy and by the middle of the day I struggle to stay awake let alone concentrate.”
When that happens I normally start by asking a few questions, like;
Do you eat breakfast?
If you do have breakfast, what do you eat?
If you drink tea or coffee, how many do you drink each day? Do you add sugar to that?
Do you eat lunch? What?
How late is it before you eat dinner?
Do you drink coffee or tea before bed?
Do you exercise, how and when?
Often times when people answer these questions for themselves, they realise just why they do or don't have enough energy to last the whole day.
Let’s just take one part of that survey and offer you with a challenge.
First get three glass jam jars.
Then for one week, keep a written record of how many cups of tea/coffee you have per day
Also keep a count of how many tea spoons of sugar you consume with each of those drinks. If you don’t drink tea or coffee, you can still try this challenge with whatever you do drink (soft drink, alcohol).
Then at the end of the week, pour that much tea into one of the jars.
Repeat the same with the coffee you consumed into a second jar, and
Finally, spoon that much raw or refined sugar into the last jar.
You will no doubt be surprised by just how much there is when it's all in one place.
In fact let’s dig a little deeper and talk about the caffeine in coffee and tea.
The positive effects of caffeine are quite useful.
1. Socially, it’s often the medium used to meet with friends.
2. Culturally different types of coffee and the place to drink it can be associated with a level of social status.
3. It stimulates the production of adrenalin. This increases your level of alertness
4. It is said to be good for your gall bladder because it reduces the risk of gallstones.
5. Coffee is an antioxidant. (More on the benefits of antioxidants in a future article)
6. It is said to enhance the efficiency of antibiotics. And
7. It is said to protect the liver against the harmful effects of alcohol and reduce the risk of liver cancer.
All of that sounds pretty exciting and enjoyable.
However, there are also so not so great effects including;
1. The body losing calcium & magnesium
2. Stress hormones are elevated for long periods of time
3. Anti-aging hormones are decreased
4. Blood vessels constrict, reducing the flow of oxygen to your brain and body.
5. It increases muscle tension
6. Will tend to suppress the functioning of both immune and digestive systems
7. Your insulin levels spike creating a blood sugar rollercoaster.
8. Your liver and pancreas fight each other as one releases higher levels of sugar & fat into your blood stream & the other try’s to remove it and store it as fat.
9. Research suggests that there may be an increase in the possibility of cardiovascular diseases.
10. Your ability to concentrate and focus is greatly impaired as your body goes to war on itself.
11. It is addictive.
And now - lets have a look at sugar;.
No good news here I’m afraid.
1. Refined sugar has been linked to being one of the causes of gallstones. Which are very painful to say the least.
2. Sugar robs the body of vitamin B which means that cells die and insulin production is strangled. Low insulin means high glucose levels in the bloodstream, which can lead to confused and other kinds of un useful mental states.(i.e. the sugar rage that some kids go though after eating to much chocolate, lollies or soft drinks. Did you know that one 12oz. Cola contains 11 teaspoons of sugar)
3. One expert Dr. David Reuben says, “…..white refined sugar-is not a food.”
In the refining process everything of food value has been removed.
4. Studies show that sugar has the same additive effect as many narcotics.
So when you consume a caffeine based drink, and consume sugar with it (or it has sugar in it). You can "feel the effects" of these stimulants because, like it or not, all of you is affected. Your brain, internal organs, muscles, cardio vascular system, immune system, is thrown into total chemical nightmare.
If after reading this you consider that it might be a good idea to quit or at least cut back on your consumption.
Just be aware that you may experience some symptoms like cravings, headaches and aches as your body goes though the withdrawal phase. As it does, having been addicted to any drug.
The way though is to drink water when ever you used to drink the other. And use your usual coffee break to take a walk or do something else useful until the craving passes.
Substituting caffeine and sugar with activity seems to be a successful way of making the transition where as, Substituting either with say food is not.
Your initial enemy will be the unuseful self talk that the cravings may generate like; “just one won’t hurt” or “I’ll start tomorrow.Or having that pie and twiky roll at the convenience store.
One of the easiest ways of breaking though will be to support your goal by learning and utilizing the powerful patterns in Session One of my “Go for Gold, Goal Setting that Really Works” program because that will enable you to transform that unuseful stuff into more supportive and empowering beliefs that will strengthen your commitment and resolve.
Once in control of your thinking - it won't then take long to be free of the addiction to caffeine and sugar or for that matter, any other addiction you care to be rid of. Leaving you amazed by how you begin to feel, as your body gets back into sync with it self.
Article by David Martin, Top Performance Coach and founder of Core-Resourcing.com
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