Joel Fuhrman - Eat To Live

242 Joel Fuhrman, M.D.

One cup of coffee per day is not likely to cause a significant risk,

but drinking more than this one-cup maximum can interfere with

your health and even your weight-loss goals.

Besides the increased risk of heart disease, there are two other

problems. First, caffeine is a stimulant that allows you to get by with

less sleep and reduces the depth of sleep. Such sleep deprivation re-

sults in higher levels of the stress hormone Cortisol and interferes

with glucose metabolism, leading to insulin resistance.^23 This insulin

resistance, and subsequent higher baseline glucose level, further pro-

motes heart disease and other problems. In other words, caffeine

consumption promotes inadequate sleep, and less sleep promotes

disease and premature aging. Adequate sleep is also necessary to pre-

vent overeating. There is no substitute for adequate sleep.

The second issue is that eating more frequently and eating more

food suppresses caffeine-withdrawal headaches and other with-

drawal symptoms. When you are finally finished digesting the meal,

the body more effectively cleans house; at this time people experi-

ence a drive to eat more to suppress caffeine-withdrawal symptoms.

You are prodded to eat again, eating more food than you would if

you were not a caffeine addict.

You will never be in touch with your body's true hunger signals

while you are addicted to stimulants. For some the problem is that

giving up coffee is more difficult than the dietary restrictions. I still

would suggest that my recommendation be carefully adhered to

without caffeinated beverages for the first six weeks. After that time,

when the addiction to caffeine is no longer present, you can decide if

you really can't give up that one cup. Keep in mind that it takes four

to five days for the caffeine-withdrawal headaches to resolve once

you stop drinking coffee. If the symptoms are too severe, try reduc-

ing the coffee slowly, by about half a cup every three days.

If a little coffee would make it possible for you to remain true to

my dietary recommendations, I would not have a strong objection.

Losing weight is a more important goal for your overall health. It is

just that higher amounts of caffeine do not make it easier to control

your appetite and food cravings, they make it harder. It would be

much better if you gave this plan a true test. See how well you feel

and how much weight you can lose in six weeks. Maybe by then you

will have lost your craving for mind-altering substances.