So What"s Your Poison - Coffee Or Tea?
(PLEASE NOTE: NEVER SUBSTITUTE ANYTHING YOU READ ONLINE, SUCH AS THIS ARTICLE, WITH YOUR GOOD DOCTOR'S GUIDANCE...
DOCTORS ARE TRAINED FOR THE JOB, ONLINE AUTHORS OFTEN ARE NOT.
BUT THEN YOU KNOW THAT, RIGHT?) Most health-related issues start with a subjective discovery...
this or that happened to me and I learned from it.
Sometimes what we think we have learned is not accurate, so it's important always, these days, to at least go online and look things up for yourself.
Once you've done that, go ask your doctor.
There, you will get a safe and conservative answer at least, based on what the Medical Association of your country thinks about the issue.
It's nice to have a reliable source! If you ask your doctor about tea and coffee, they will most likely tell you that all things in moderation is key.
And this is true.
But, being human, we tend to gradually go overboard on what we like.
This often applies to caffeinated drinks of all sorts.
If you know a slim, healthy older person, and ask about their habits, they will probably tell you that they do, indeed, practice moderation in daily life.
It pays off in the long run.
If we look at the obesity problem in the West and the diseases running rampant in society, we can see that the average human body these days is not exactly a pristine vessel.
Heavy caffeine intake gives the world a hardworking, busy, over-active work force, which keeps the world turning...
the world that is governed by profit and wealth, anyway.
Not that I have anything against wealth, not at all.
But when you cope with a family, a long commute to work, heavy after-work responsibilities and lack of sleep, it's hard to put your foot down and break the cycle, right? I know how hard that can be.
As a child of twelve, I was allowed to drink tea at last! I was becoming grown up! It felt important, significant.
My mother came from the Yukon where the family had a stewing tea or coffee pot on the low-set hob all day long, as the tea got stronger and stronger.
Or the coffee.
If the pot ran low, more tea or coffee went in.
It's not the tea or coffee of your dreams, but it gets you through a difficult day.
As the years passed, I came to drink more and more tea, my drink of choice.
I also drank quite a bit of coffee, depending on the environment I was in.
I knew it irritated my colon but I just kept drinking it anyway.
The years passed.
If I read an article on the importance of regularity, I felt smug and safe.
I certainly was regular.
Oh boy, was I ever.
With all that caffeine circulating in my system, I never had to take ex-lax, no sir.
Then one day the doctor told me I had pancreatitis.
Now I was not a drinker, never have been.
How could my pancreas be damaged? I had suffered from digestive problems for a long time, and now it seemed that my pancreas could not be relied upon to produce the digestive enzymes needed for a happy tummy.
It was quite a shock.
But it explained a few things and I began to read up on the organ and how it could be damaged.
I discovered that the fluoride in tea (and coffee) is hard on the thyroid and the pancreas.
One website said that coffee contains up to five times as much fluoride as drinking water (in those communities where fluoridation is still practiced).
And tea, even more! Wow! I'd no idea.
I thought of the teapot I kept on the hob at home, stronger and stronger as the hours passed, and realized that I was not doing my body any favors.
Yikes.
Then my doctor told me I also had diverticulitis.
My intestine was blossoming with little balloons pushing out from the intestinal wall, and they contained..
..
guess what...
uck...
fecal matter.
Apparently, half the population over the age of 60 has this disease! I was floored.
I identified myself as a health-conscious person.
I drank green smoothies for years.
Made my own vegetable juices.
Took state-of-the-art supplements, very expensive.
I exercised, used to run in marathons and still used gym equipment frequently.
And, yes, above all, I had always been regular.
The most important thing! But the discovery that tea leaves (and coffee) absorb fluoride from the soils they grow in had made me stop and think.
I no doubt had damaged my body with that one, single habit, no matter what else I did that was good.
My poor thyroid, which had needed thyroxin for years now, was evidence of that.
How can anyone maintain a correct weight if their main metabolic engine is not running right?? And now my pancreas.
OK, so in addition, my intestine was holding on to, and storing up, old fecal matter.
Wow.
I sure was a healthy specimen all right.
I quit drinking tea all day, allowing myself to have only one pot in the morning.
After reducing my tea intake to only one pot a day (I'm talking a big Brown Betty pot here), I began to experience excruciating pain in many different areas of my abdomen.
It put me flat on my back in bed and, lacking good information from my doctor (which happens sometimes with such common ailments) I thought I was having a "flare" as the internet sources call it, when diverticulitis acts up.
It took two weeks of suffering before I realized that the pain had started as soon as I reduced my tea intake.
This was an epiphany for me...
of course, after fifty years of functioning in the presence of excess caffeine, my intestine had long lost the ability to carry out proper peristalsis.
I added in a second full pot of daily tea and immediately the pain was gone.
However, I had come to understand that I had to increase my fiber intake hugely and that had to continue.
As a result, my calories went down and I began to experience some weight loss.
But all that insoluble fiber meant drinking much, much more water...
or else the pain increased as all that fiber got STUCK part way down!! Now, have you ever tried to drink water when your abdomen is in pain? Impossible! The internet told me that if I was in pain, having a flare, I should change to a LOW fiber diet till the pain went away, using only soluble fibre instead on my food.
It seemed terribly complicated and difficult, but I had to master this thing.
Nothing makes me listen to the doctor more effectively than pain.
And I had it, in spades.
So this just goes to prove that old adage I mentioned at the beginning: Moderation in all things! Even when reducing bad habits...
easy does it, baby steps, a little at a time.
Nothing we do in this life is perfect, it is not a perfect world.
But we can aim for the most sensible and supportive food choices in life...
starting early...
like, at the age of twelve for example! No matter what our parents choose for themselves.
They won't be there to help us in our aging years, so we must start taking care of ourselves today.
Ask questions, get good quality answers...
your doctor is always the best source, and if you want even more, contact a trained nutritionist.
Sometimes you have to push your doctor to get the information you need...
well, that's your privilege.
Your relationship with your doctor is, after all, a business relationship.
Doctors aren't running charities, you are paying for their services, so go ahead and demand good information.
Well.
Anyhow.
That's how I see it! But then...
I'm just a lay person.
What do I know? The pain is gone...
that's all I know.
And I am losing weight and enjoying the Fiber 35 diet.
DOCTORS ARE TRAINED FOR THE JOB, ONLINE AUTHORS OFTEN ARE NOT.
BUT THEN YOU KNOW THAT, RIGHT?) Most health-related issues start with a subjective discovery...
this or that happened to me and I learned from it.
Sometimes what we think we have learned is not accurate, so it's important always, these days, to at least go online and look things up for yourself.
Once you've done that, go ask your doctor.
There, you will get a safe and conservative answer at least, based on what the Medical Association of your country thinks about the issue.
It's nice to have a reliable source! If you ask your doctor about tea and coffee, they will most likely tell you that all things in moderation is key.
And this is true.
But, being human, we tend to gradually go overboard on what we like.
This often applies to caffeinated drinks of all sorts.
If you know a slim, healthy older person, and ask about their habits, they will probably tell you that they do, indeed, practice moderation in daily life.
It pays off in the long run.
If we look at the obesity problem in the West and the diseases running rampant in society, we can see that the average human body these days is not exactly a pristine vessel.
Heavy caffeine intake gives the world a hardworking, busy, over-active work force, which keeps the world turning...
the world that is governed by profit and wealth, anyway.
Not that I have anything against wealth, not at all.
But when you cope with a family, a long commute to work, heavy after-work responsibilities and lack of sleep, it's hard to put your foot down and break the cycle, right? I know how hard that can be.
As a child of twelve, I was allowed to drink tea at last! I was becoming grown up! It felt important, significant.
My mother came from the Yukon where the family had a stewing tea or coffee pot on the low-set hob all day long, as the tea got stronger and stronger.
Or the coffee.
If the pot ran low, more tea or coffee went in.
It's not the tea or coffee of your dreams, but it gets you through a difficult day.
As the years passed, I came to drink more and more tea, my drink of choice.
I also drank quite a bit of coffee, depending on the environment I was in.
I knew it irritated my colon but I just kept drinking it anyway.
The years passed.
If I read an article on the importance of regularity, I felt smug and safe.
I certainly was regular.
Oh boy, was I ever.
With all that caffeine circulating in my system, I never had to take ex-lax, no sir.
Then one day the doctor told me I had pancreatitis.
Now I was not a drinker, never have been.
How could my pancreas be damaged? I had suffered from digestive problems for a long time, and now it seemed that my pancreas could not be relied upon to produce the digestive enzymes needed for a happy tummy.
It was quite a shock.
But it explained a few things and I began to read up on the organ and how it could be damaged.
I discovered that the fluoride in tea (and coffee) is hard on the thyroid and the pancreas.
One website said that coffee contains up to five times as much fluoride as drinking water (in those communities where fluoridation is still practiced).
And tea, even more! Wow! I'd no idea.
I thought of the teapot I kept on the hob at home, stronger and stronger as the hours passed, and realized that I was not doing my body any favors.
Yikes.
Then my doctor told me I also had diverticulitis.
My intestine was blossoming with little balloons pushing out from the intestinal wall, and they contained..
..
guess what...
uck...
fecal matter.
Apparently, half the population over the age of 60 has this disease! I was floored.
I identified myself as a health-conscious person.
I drank green smoothies for years.
Made my own vegetable juices.
Took state-of-the-art supplements, very expensive.
I exercised, used to run in marathons and still used gym equipment frequently.
And, yes, above all, I had always been regular.
The most important thing! But the discovery that tea leaves (and coffee) absorb fluoride from the soils they grow in had made me stop and think.
I no doubt had damaged my body with that one, single habit, no matter what else I did that was good.
My poor thyroid, which had needed thyroxin for years now, was evidence of that.
How can anyone maintain a correct weight if their main metabolic engine is not running right?? And now my pancreas.
OK, so in addition, my intestine was holding on to, and storing up, old fecal matter.
Wow.
I sure was a healthy specimen all right.
I quit drinking tea all day, allowing myself to have only one pot in the morning.
After reducing my tea intake to only one pot a day (I'm talking a big Brown Betty pot here), I began to experience excruciating pain in many different areas of my abdomen.
It put me flat on my back in bed and, lacking good information from my doctor (which happens sometimes with such common ailments) I thought I was having a "flare" as the internet sources call it, when diverticulitis acts up.
It took two weeks of suffering before I realized that the pain had started as soon as I reduced my tea intake.
This was an epiphany for me...
of course, after fifty years of functioning in the presence of excess caffeine, my intestine had long lost the ability to carry out proper peristalsis.
I added in a second full pot of daily tea and immediately the pain was gone.
However, I had come to understand that I had to increase my fiber intake hugely and that had to continue.
As a result, my calories went down and I began to experience some weight loss.
But all that insoluble fiber meant drinking much, much more water...
or else the pain increased as all that fiber got STUCK part way down!! Now, have you ever tried to drink water when your abdomen is in pain? Impossible! The internet told me that if I was in pain, having a flare, I should change to a LOW fiber diet till the pain went away, using only soluble fibre instead on my food.
It seemed terribly complicated and difficult, but I had to master this thing.
Nothing makes me listen to the doctor more effectively than pain.
And I had it, in spades.
So this just goes to prove that old adage I mentioned at the beginning: Moderation in all things! Even when reducing bad habits...
easy does it, baby steps, a little at a time.
Nothing we do in this life is perfect, it is not a perfect world.
But we can aim for the most sensible and supportive food choices in life...
starting early...
like, at the age of twelve for example! No matter what our parents choose for themselves.
They won't be there to help us in our aging years, so we must start taking care of ourselves today.
Ask questions, get good quality answers...
your doctor is always the best source, and if you want even more, contact a trained nutritionist.
Sometimes you have to push your doctor to get the information you need...
well, that's your privilege.
Your relationship with your doctor is, after all, a business relationship.
Doctors aren't running charities, you are paying for their services, so go ahead and demand good information.
Well.
Anyhow.
That's how I see it! But then...
I'm just a lay person.
What do I know? The pain is gone...
that's all I know.
And I am losing weight and enjoying the Fiber 35 diet.
Source...