The Skinny on Coffee

I love coffee.  I love the taste of coffee.  I love the smell of coffee.  I love the memories of coffee, like the one where my dad is pouring me out a cup at 5 am from his thermos on a road trip along the dramatic California coastline.  Coffee is opaque liquid love.  Its memories warm us.  Its heat consoles our loneliness, like a late-night cup in Ed Hopper's Nighthawks.

Coffee is riddled with memories.  Seeing my mother enjoy a delicious cup of hot coffee was one of my greatest pleasures.  My cousin's wedding held in a San Diego harbor was celebrated at a restaurant that served a deep, rich coffee.  The coffee was perhaps my greatest memory of his wedding; that and the actual church ceremony.  Coffee is so good and consumed in such delicious company that the cups themselves become discussion on coffee.  When was the last time that you were in a diner, enjoying coffee from a thick mug or fine china?

Or when a friend or family member wants to make an impression and serves coffee in decorative china?

 

Coffee occupies such an integral part in most cultures.  In our teenage years, we were instructed how to ask a girl out on a date--ask them if they'd like to go out for a cup of coffee.  Coffee was neutral that way; it was our wing man, that dark beverage behind which two strangers could be protected.

It would be nice to drink fine brewed coffee, organic coffee that I roast in my own home in a frying pan on the stove.  The coffee that I drink is NesCafe instant and Whole Foods instant.  James Wesley Rawles, who used to own and operate a coffee bar, states that most store-bought instant coffee is stale before it is vacuum-sealed that results in a tasteless beverage.  Another reason that I drank coffee, even endure the tastelessness of instant coffee, was because I love cream in my coffee.  No sugar.  I would not put sugar in my coffee; the cream was enough to enhance the flavor. 

But I write today on coffee because I may have to limit my intake.  Finding a recent post on coffee's effects on hydrochloric acid made me realize that my excessive consumption of it is harming the health benefits of the stomach acids.  Shannon Marks over at Livestrong.com reviews the health benefits of coffee and caffeine.  Citing naturopathic doctor Julia Gonen, Marks reports that "coffee can injure intestinal tissue by speeding up the process of gastric emptying, which can cause contents of the stomach that are highly acidic to dump into the small intestine too rapidly."  Caffeinated coffee has been implicated in malabsorption conditions, says Stephen Cherniske, a nutritional biochemist and author of Caffeine Blues: Wake Up to the Hidden Dangers of America’s Number 1 Drug.

These images of coffee and caffeine wreaking havoc inside our gut goes counter to our images of a cowboy being refreshed on an open plain at dawn or a patient being revived by the stimulate after days or weeks of illness or a friend being comforted by a hot cup of joe.  But we've also lost sight maybe of the prevalence of coffee.  There are Starbucks on every corner, coffee that comes in every size and every flavor imaginable and even in ones that we can't.  Coffee shops are the new, or is it the old, local watering hole.  So people attend them even though they're getting a cookie or a milk shake.  The pressure to drink coffee is immense; to resist is futile.  Then there is all the talk about anti-oxidants.  Well, there are anti-oxidants in life, in chocolate, in sugar, somewhere, in some amount, I am sure.  It may be true that coffee has anti-oxidants.  But that point is often used to justify its consumption, not necessary to treat a condition.  We take Vitamin C or Vitamin D3 to overcome a cold or a flu; coffee is not that kind of an anti-oxidant.  So although the claims that the anti-oxidants in coffee can fight cancer, perhaps, but not in the doses that you would find in a cup of hot joe.  In the last couple of years, McDonald's, the hamburger joint, has marshaled rave reviews of their Arabica bean coffee.  And it's true--their coffee is good.  Ultimately, we have to pay attention to its health effects.  Claims about the benefits of coffee will persist and they will be true.  But you've got to take personal stock.  What is that coffee doing to you?

It's the destruction of the intestinal chemical and structural composition that have me concerned.  Now, coffee is not the only culprit or perhaps the most wicked of them by itself.  But if you're a coffee lover, like myself, you might point to the fact that coffee, as much as you don't want to point the finger at such a trusted companion, is not all that good for digestion.  For comfort, yes; for reviving wonderful memories with those we love, absolutely.  But the fact is that coffee does deplete important hydrochloric acid that is so important at keeping our guts running healthy.  One can take supplements to rebuild the depleted hydrochloric acid.  But at what point does someone stop relying on enzymatic supplements to provide the digestive juices that coffee purportedly has robbed us of?  And what is so bad, honestly, about losing a little digestive juices to a great tasting cup of joe?

What happens when hydrochloric acid is depleted?

This author, Stephen Stiteler, L.Ac., O.M.D., goes even further to blacken coffee.  This statement was disconcerting, "Caffeine forces the liver to release glycogen (sugar) into the blood stream.  The pancreas responds to the sudden increase in blood sugar by releasing insulin, the hormone which causes excess carbohydrates to be stored as fat.  Within the span of an hour or so, the result is a sharp drop in blood sugar.  This creates a condition known as hypoglycemia, or low blood sugar.  That's when another cup of coffee seems like a good idea and the cycle repeats itself."  I wonder if heavy coffee drinkers end up with diabetic symptoms after so many years and so many cups?  

 I like Sally Fallon, so I googled her name and coffee.  And she concludes that coffee exhausts the adrenal glands.  How much coffee exhausts the adrenals, at what time coffee is drank actually exhausts the adrenals, and what type of coffee exhausts the adrenals, she did not say.  Her comment, which I greatly appreciate is here:  "Caffeine jolts the adrenal glands and eventually leads to adrenal exhaustion.  My own health did not begin to improve until I quit coffee–the hardest thing I ever did."

In her review of Kristina Amelong's book Ten Days to Optimal Health, Fallon advocates Amelong's findings that ". . . caffeine, alcohol, refined sugar, and artificial sweeteners contribute to chronic disease, citing a study in the Journal of Natural Medicine which found that one teaspoon of refined sugar paralyzes fifty percent of the body's white blood cells for five hours."  50% is stunning.  I didn't realize that sugar consumption was so bad.  I guess that the sugar industry's assault on corn syrup have helped to legitimize sugar as the healthy sweetener.  Paralyzing 50% of our immune system does not seem healthy.

More on coffee here, here, and here.

COFFEE AND TOOTH HEALTH

It's true, too, that coffee stains your teeth.  More than that, coffee contains oxalic acid, which promotes tooth decay, according to Rami Nagel.

IS COFFEE A DIURETIC?  IN MOST CASES, YES.

This is an interesting fact on coffee.  We tend to think of coffee as a diuretic, which it is, and that as a diuretic it will help to eliminate food.  What it can do to a bowel stool is that it can dry it out because the coffee leaches out fluids from your body.  eHow has this to say, "Since coffee also works as a diuretic, which essentially means that it can remove some liquid from the body, it can leach liquid from a stool and further dry out it out, making it even more difficult to pass. So if you are constipated, drinking coffee could ultimately worsen the condition."  The article is here.

Anti-Oxidants for Specific Conditions

Finally, what supplement to take for which ailment.  Stephen Byrnes at the Weston A. Price Foundation writes:

Studies have shown that antioxidants work best in combination. Although there is value in supplementing with extra amounts of one or two antioxidants, better results are always obtained when a "cocktail" is administered. The reason for this is simple logic: different antioxidants neutralise different free radicals. If you take a combination, then more free radicals will be neutralised. You can, however, "slant" the antioxidant effect towards a particular ailment or organ if the nutrient has a particular affinity to them. For example, glutathione would be recommended for hepatitis, Parkinson's, AIDS and liver disease; vitamins E and C would be recommended for arteriosclerosis; CoQ10 would be recommended for heart disease; and alpha lipoic acid would be recommended for diabetes. See your health care professional to help you select the best antioxidant combination for you.

Staying on top of oxidative stress is a necessity in our increasingly toxic world. Taking care to avoid those toxins as much as possible and to enrich our diets with life-giving antioxidants is a wise step to take in our endless quest for wellness."  End quote. 

To summarize: 
1.  Concerned about hepatitis, Parkinson's, AIDS, and liver disease?  Take glutathione.
2.  Concerned about arterioschlerosis?  Then take vitamins E and C. 
3.  Concerned about heart disease?  Take CoQ10.  Ubiquinol is a more-absorbable form of CoQ10.
4.  Concerned about diabetes?  Alpha lipoic acid is the anti-oxidant for that condition.

"Hormesis proceeds from low radiation exposure, not high."

I am trying to understand the range of benefits versus the harmful effects from both natural radiation from rock and man-made radiation from nuclear power plants and TSA airport scanners.  I recently went through a TSA airport scanner and had problems; in fact, I've been having problems ever since December 10, 2011 when I went through the scanner.  I've had spasms in my left ankle, spasms that vibrate or pulse deep within the bone.  The vibrations occurred a couple of times on 2 consecutive days.  After that I felt as though my body had resolved any kind of genetic mutation that the TSA scanner might have caused.  Then I wake up at  3am this morning with my head throbbing and pulling as though I can feel tissue being drawn outward, away from my brain.  My heart was racing and both my legs felt heavy and pulsing.  It's that pulsing that bothers me.  That tells me that there is a disruption in the genetic messaging, that something has pierced the genetic code of my body and I am no longer in control.  That's scary.  I have some apricot seeds or bitter almonds in my refrigerator and I ate a handful of those.  They seemed to calm my symptoms, that and a bottle of Italian mineral water.  It was only as I was drinking the water did I realize that I was a little dehydrated.  I flew to Shanghai, China with a one-night lay-over in Tokyo.  I don't how much radiation is present in Tokyo either.  Early reports coming after the Fukushima plant disaster told of bad news in Tokyo. 

I wanted to know more about the TSA radiation, so I Googled it and found an Alex Jones article titled "Government Ignored 1998 Report Finding Up to 100 Cancer Deaths from TSA Naked Body Scanners Per Year."  Clearly the government knew about it, was informed of the dangers and risk of death from it, yet altered nothing.  That's typical.  Government is a dead-end in terms of accountability.  It's a bureaucracy, and bureaucracies serve only themselves.  What would you expect.  But I would like to know what kind of radiation I was blasted with at LAX, how much, and what some antidotes are.  B-17 does seem to help.  The symptoms I've described above have slightly abated.  I contacted Dr. Stanislaw Burzynski's office this morning via email.  I should check to see if he or anyone from his office has replied.  I sent the message at 4 this morning.

Radiation confuses me.  How much and of what kind does one actually benefit from it as we are supposed to according Art Robinson's understanding of hormesis? 

A good site to review the Trade Winds that are carrying the radiation from Japan's Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant.  It also discusses the benefits of iodine, the best type, the best amount, and other remedies. Stay well.

An important question to ask is "Is any level of radiation harmful?"  Also, "Is there any level of radiation that is actually good for us?"  Tom Bethell's article in the American Spectator cites Art Robinson's claims that low-level radiation is beneficial.  Dr. Donald W. Miller, a cardiologist, also asserts actual healthy benefits from low-levels of radiation called hormesis.

Have to admit, I loved this interview where the Maddam gets tongue-tied when Robinson indicts her game.  Love it when she rolls her eyes to make her guest look bad.  She also talks over Robinson.  She runs media hit pieces.

List of cash-paying doctor services and here.

Remedies for Radiation Over-Exposure.

UPDATE, OCTOBER 21, 2016:
On Hormesis, this just stunned me.

Among those who choose to be aware of the past half-century's research, this concept is revolutionizing health physics.^11,12

1. "Fruit flies exposed to high levels of radiation experience many mutations. But if first exposed to low-level radiation, fruit flies experience far fewer mutations when later hit by high radiation."¹³

2. "Human lymphocyte cells previously exposed to low level radiation suffer fewer chromatid breaks when later exposed to large radiation doses. And this effect has been traced to production of repair enzymes stimulated by the low level radiation."¹⁴

3. Dr. Bernard Cohen provides many further examples that demonstrate the strong healing response stimulated by low-dose radiation.¹⁵

4. Researchers were surprised to find an inverse correlation of lung cancer to second-hand smoking, inhaling smoke of others. More smoke, less lung cancer.¹⁶The nearest I have seen to confirmation of this politically incorrect discovery: A study in BMJ by epidemiologist James Enstrom and Geoffrey C. Kabat of SUNY reported no significant increase among nonsmokers who lived for decades with smoking spouses, in coronary heart disease, lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Other studies have disagreed.¹⁷

5. Some animal data indicate that pre-exposure to low fluorine concentrations may provide some resistance to the lethal effects of fluorine in fluoridated drinking water.¹⁸

6. Giving Beagle dogs ten parts per million of DDT in their diet improved their health.^19-21

7. On April 26, 1986, the No. 4 reactor at the Chernobyl power station exploded. About 4,400 people in Ukraine "succumbed to radiation-related diseases contracted after taking part in the cleanup effort." High levels of radiation constantly spewed out of the disintegrating plant, exposing all who worked outdoors nearby.²² What happened at Chernobyl was not at all a contradiction of hormesis. Remember Hanford. Hormesis proceeds from low radiation exposure, not high.

Got Salt?

With the advent of refrigeration, our salt consumption gradually reduced through the years.  Since salt up to the time of refrigeration the main way that we preserved food was with the use of salt.  In fact, it is interesting to note that prisoners of war, even on their meager and undernourished diets had on average 20 to 28 grams of salt per day.  Not prisoners of war, today Americans consume on average far less than the 20 to 28 grams.

Sally Fallon Challenges The Zone Diet

by Sally Fallon

Sears’ first book, The Zone, promises us that everything will be just wonderful in our lives if simply learn to keep a strict balance of protein, carbohydrates and fat in our meals. The lipid hypothesis was wrong, he says and fat is OK–but then comes the bad news.

We’re not supposed to eat saturated fat, or fats containing arachidonic acid–which eliminates delicious and nutritious foods like butter, whole cheeses, egg yolks, meat fat and organ meats–leaving the Zone diet eerily similar to the American Heart Associations “prudent diet” of lean meat, low-fat concoctions and vegetable oils. The only real difference is that Sears has replaced corn oil with olive oil.

Mastering the Zone offers a range of recipes that allow you to enter the hallowed circle of macronutrient balance–but a quick perusal reveals that there is even less fat–or rather oil–in the Zone recipes than can be found in many “heart healthy” recipes books endorsed by the AHA. Dinner entree recipes call for only 2 2/3 teaspoons of olive oil and that’s for two people!

Skim milk cheeses, low fat yogurt, egg whites (but not the yolks), soybean imitation products, and protein powders feature large in Mastering the Zone as aids on the road to Nirvana.

If you have trouble figuring out the exact proportions of fat, protein and carbohydrates you need to get yourself into Zone heaven, you can order specially-balanced Zone bars by calling a toll free number. Principal ingredients include fructose syrup, soy protein isolate, honey, calcium caseinate (Elmer’s glue), corn syrup and sugar.