Yes, I’ll admit it: I am a naturopath, and I am a coffee drinker. Never did touch the stuff until university, with the strategically placed Tim Horton’s located dangerously adjacent to the library that I spent many late nights in during my undergrad. My drink was the classic large double-double, and I would pound several of these back to keep me fuelled and alert while cramming for my biochemistry exams. That comfortingly hot sugar and cream soup was addictive and kept me going.
Both my tastebuds and health awareness have progressed since those formative years. Little did I know that those days would catch up to me and my body would start to become dependent on coffee, depleting me of my energy reserves, and be a culprit in my digestive challenges. I eventually weaned off the cream to milk and then to black, and then cut out the sugar and paired down to a more reasonable medium coffee and limited myself to one per day. Roll up the rim really made it hard to let go of Timmy’s.
Over time, I discovered true quality coffees, using carefully sourced, freshly roasted beans, their oils releasing delicious fragrances and complex flavours. With incredible third-wave coffee shops (Dark Horse, Bulldog, Manic, Sam James, Balzac’s, Communal Mule, Ideal) popping up in every neighbourhood all over Toronto over the last few years, it makes it all too easy for me to find a delicious espresso or soy (or the rare rice milk) latte wherever I am. My friend, Mike, the connoisseur of food that Aileen mentioned in the last post, has also become the go-to guy for any questions about the subtleties of coffee and coffee preparation…even recently started his own "coffee somelier blog" in which he rates and carefully describes the tastes of only the best coffees available today: http://coffeestork.com/.
I have carefully observed how my body responds to caffeine over the years. I notice that my tolerance to caffeine has changed, and I notice that I can become easily addicted to caffeine with a regular daily dose. I have gone lengthy periods cold-turkeying my coffee intake, and noticed a levelling in my energies and moods. I easily get withdrawal headaches if I neglect my dose for the day. The difficulty is listening to my body and determining whether I am wanting the taste of coffee, or confusing this with my body looking for another “hit” of caffeine. This is the tipping point for me.
My moderated balanced solution is this…when I am drinking coffee regularly, I will only have decaf (only swiss-water decaf…the process that does not use nasty chemicals such as methylene chloride to extract the caffeine), and every few days treat myself to a regular coffee. This keeps me physically and mentally in check and allows me to not be completely deprived of my love of coffee.
Dr. Trotter,
ReplyDeleteI noticed that the better looking and juicier raisins and other dried fruit have sulfites or sulphates listed as an ingredient? I've been told that it is bad for you to eat sulfites. Why is it bad for me? How serious is it if I eat sulfates in the raisins that I add to my morning yogurt and muesli?
You'll know me as Mr. Liberry
Mr.Liberry,
ReplyDeleteSulfites can aggravate hypersensitivity conditions such as asthma, allergies and eczema, or trigger headaches/migraines.
You can find sulfite-free dried fruit at health foods stores...although they do not look as pretty (eg. brown vs. bright orange apricots), they are safer for you. Wines also contain sulfites as a preservative.
Stick to either sulfite-free dried fruit or fresh/frozen fruit in your breakfast, if you can.