Coffee, Tea or ....

Last week we wrapped up our series on the benefits of drinking copious amounts of water when you are losing fat and/or weight and we ended by mentioning that it may be beneficial to cut out caffeine from your diet. The pursuit of a healthier me (or you) shouldn't involve losing everything we enjoy. With that said, it's really all about balance. Maybe you'll read this issue and decide to quit caffeine altogether. Maybe you'll read it and be careful to avoid extra caffeine. Maybe you'll read it and decide to focus on next week's newsletter!

Whatever you decide, just remember... this weightloss/fatloss journey is a voyage that will take time, committment and slow, steady progress. Some of the information that we share will be utilized immediately and some may take a while to sink in. So if you are personally responsible for the financial wellbeing of your local Starbucks, we'll talk to you next week!

Two aspects of caffeine's relationship to weightloss that we want to review this week are cortisol and dehydration.

According to Caroline MacDougall, founder of Teeccino, cortisol is what's known as a stress hormone and it's purpose is to activate many of the body's defenses. While doing so, corisol is responsible for shutting down other functions (digestion, immune system) in the name of energy conservation. The hormone's purpose is to give us a quick boost of energy for a very short period of time, if we are in a dangerous or life-threatening situation.

The problem is that caffeine causes the body to release cortisol into the blood stream, even when we are not in danger. The effects of overexposure to cortisol include elevated blood sugar, higher cholesterol, higher blood pressure, higher appetite, and, with age, loss of cartilage, bone and muscle tissue. It doesn't take much reflection to realize that we need to seriously evaluate how caffeine is affecting us and our pursuit of a healthier body.

Teeccino makes an herbal coffee substitute that has a lot of body and flavor, and is caffeine free! If you think you can't break free from the grips of caffeine, get their sample pack and slowly substitute herbal coffee for your caffeinated brew over the course of a week. I'll bet you can do it! (http://www.teeccino.com)

The second aspect we want to discuss this week is caffeine's propensity to dehydrate. The past three weeks were spent discussing the importance of drinking water when you are trying to lose weight. Because caffeine is a diuretic, it actually causes the body to flush water out of your system. To recap from our talk on water, the more water you drink, the more your liver is available to metabolize stored fat. And that's what we're after, right?

If this issue on caffeine has caused a stir, you may want to revisit our series on water. (See the link to our archive page, below.) Hopefully you will evaluate the sources and quantities of caffeine that you ingest, and weigh the alternatives. Over the next weeks, we're going to discuss some practical things that we can do at each meal and over the course of the day that will dramatically improve our health and help us to burn more fat!

We'll talk to you next week!

References:
http://www.teeccino.com/ Teeccino
http://www.snac.ucla.edu/pages/Resources/Handouts/HOSerotonin.pdf University of California Los Angeles

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