Switch From Coffee to Green Tea???

Nutrition
1

So I keep telling myself that I should switch from my morning Dunkin’ Donuts coffee to green tea but I just keep putting it off.

I know how awesome green tea is for you but just how bad is my medium coffee with sugar and extra cream?

It’s usually the only bad thing I put in my body in a day and it’s only one coffee.

Can it be that bad for me? Is the amount of saturated fat in the cream coupled with the insulin spike from the sugar as bad as I think? Plus according to JB the morning is the worst time to eat fat.

Hmmm…maybe I just convinced myself.

I would appreciate any comments and friendly smacks upside the head here.

-Dave

2

I think you’re going a little overboard.
There are a lot bigger things i’d be worried about walking into Dunkin Donuts than my coffee.

Have your morning coffee with cream and sugar for god’s sake. If you’re really concerned, have it with skim milk and splenda. (i actually like splenda better than sugar)

I do think you’re being a bit paranoid though.
What you are eating, drinking and doing for the rest of the day is going to have a lot bigger impact on your body than one cup of coffee.

Now, if you are having 5 cups of coffee a day with cream and sugar…problem.

3

[quote]sven33 wrote:

Now, if you are having 5 cups of coffee a day with cream and sugar…problem.[/quote]

agreed

4

moderation my friend …

i now (generally) do with coffee what i do with carbs …

no coffee late in the day … if i want something at that point, i get green tea

5

Coffee is allegedly loaded with antioxidants.

One cup is good for you. Ten cups are bad.

I hate coffee and green tea.

I drink plain old black tea, which also has lots of antioxidants although a bit less than green tea.

6

[quote]Dan Fouts wrote:
moderation my friend …

i now (generally) do with coffee what i do with carbs …

no coffee late in the day … if i want something at that point, i get green tea[/quote]

I do the same thing now after starting to have some sleep problems.

I wouldnt worry about one cup of coffee with cream and sugar. Try telling them to only put in 1 sugar and see if you dont mind that, if you’re worried about it.

7

I dropped coffee cold turkey 6 weeks ago after realizing that my favorite stimulant was why I was dragging through the days. Had some serious withdrawal symptoms for about a week. Now I only use green tea and Spike for caffeine. BTW: supposedly coffee with sugar increases cortisol levels 3 or 4 fold for like 18 hours…

8

The “moderation” tag is a bit too simplistic to apply wholesale - we seem to be saying this when it comes to nearly everything.

IMO, If you want to live an “optimal life” you might consider that coffee can be VERY stressful on the body, even one cup per day. Between the said cortisol effects, coffee requires plenty of buffering thus it can contribute to an acidic pH in your body, it kills of tons of essential flora in the gut, and it is addictive (decaf too).

I think it goes on a person to person basis, as with most things - ask yourself this: how healthy are you and how well do you eat? If you are eating holistically with minimal processed crap, eating tons of veggies, drinking plenty of water, etc, then I believe you can afford to moderately consume sub-optimal foods/beverages at times. But, if you are having any fatigue, headaches, adrenal burn-out, cancer/risk of cancer, osteoporosis, then I think coffee is out of the questions for you. These conditions are mutli-factoral of course, but coffee and caffeine can certainly exacerbate these issues.

TopSirloin

9

What does coffee have to do with holistic eating?

Coffee is a natural substance that has both positive and negative effects.

I’ll bet that if somebody bothered to do a study, drinking 10 cups of green tea a day would have a negative effect on sleep patterns, cortisol production etc.

Moderation is exactly the key.

10

to echo everyone else, one cup is fine, especially if you are drinking it in the morning.

I find that one espresso in the morning sets me up for the rest of the day but if I have it after noon then all the caffeine does is make me irritable rather than energised. So I stick to a morning coffee and herbal or green tea at any other time.

11

Have your cake and eat it too.

Lose the cream if your worried drink the darn coffee and have tea later. The theanine has a calming effect that supposedly counteracts the caffiene ( most recent LEF magazine article great read)

I have posted several studies on the positives of coffee as have other including LL I beleive.

12

[quote]Zap Branigan wrote:
What does coffee have to do with holistic eating?

Coffee is a natural substance that has both positive and negative effects.

I’ll bet that if somebody bothered to do a study, drinking 10 cups of green tea a day would have a negative effect on sleep patterns, cortisol production etc.

Moderation is exactly the key.[/quote]

You are correct - coffee could be considered holistic as it is natural (but only truly natural if its organically grown). I was actually making the point of how holistic one’s entire lifestyle was. The more holistic - optimal is a better word here - the less havoc a substance like coffee might reek on their system.

Cup for cup, green tea is just far superior, plus it does indeed give you a caffeine fix if need be. And again you are correct in that even too much green tea may not be optimal as it can elevate floride to unsafe levels, thanks to acid rain. 50 years ago this would probably not be an issue.

Once again, the word moderation is relative, which is why I don’t think you can slap that on anything that is discussed. A “moderate” amount of mercury in tuna may be fine for some people but that same amount may cause brain damage in others. Same with aspartame, alcohol, etc, etc. Moderation is tied to the individual’s situation - some can get by with a daily cup of joe, others should avoid it. In other words, “everything in moderation” doesn’t address the potential issues with the substance.

Original poster: if you don’t mind posting, what is your general health like? What kind of diet do you eat?

TS

13

[quote]Phill wrote:
Have your cake and eat it too.

Lose the cream if your worried drink the darn coffee and have tea later. The theanine has a calming effect that supposedly counteracts the caffiene ( most recent LEF magazine article great read)

I have posted several studies on the positives of coffee as have other including LL I beleive.

[/quote]

I could find just as many studies that confirm negative side effects as you can find positives ones on coffee. At some point you have to weigh-in the facts and decide how to procede considering your own personal situation.

TS

14

[quote]davidtower wrote:
It’s usually the only bad thing I put in my body in a day and it’s only one coffee.
-Dave[/quote]

If you say this is the only “bad” thing you put in your mouth, please share with us a brief list of the “good” things you do eat/drink.

And, unless you are using 1/2 cup of cream, a tablespoon or two is not enough fat to make much difference.

TS

15

[quote]Zap Branigan wrote:
Coffee is allegedly loaded with antioxidants.

One cup is good for you. Ten cups are bad.

I hate coffee and green tea.

I drink plain old black tea, which also has lots of antioxidants although a bit less than green tea.[/quote]

Try white tea – it tastes better and supposedly has superior anti-oxidants.

16

[quote]TopSirloin wrote:
Zap Branigan wrote:
What does coffee have to do with holistic eating?

Coffee is a natural substance that has both positive and negative effects.

I’ll bet that if somebody bothered to do a study, drinking 10 cups of green tea a day would have a negative effect on sleep patterns, cortisol production etc.

Moderation is exactly the key.

You are correct - coffee could be considered holistic as it is natural (but only truly natural if its organically grown). I was actually making the point of how holistic one’s entire lifestyle was. The more holistic - optimal is a better word here - the less havoc a substance like coffee might reek on their system.

Cup for cup, green tea is just far superior, plus it does indeed give you a caffeine fix if need be. And again you are correct in that even too much green tea may not be optimal as it can elevate floride to unsafe levels, thanks to acid rain. 50 years ago this would probably not be an issue.

Once again, the word moderation is relative, which is why I don’t think you can slap that on anything that is discussed. A “moderate” amount of mercury in tuna may be fine for some people but that same amount may cause brain damage in others. Same with aspartame, alcohol, etc, etc. Moderation is tied to the individual’s situation - some can get by with a daily cup of joe, others should avoid it. In other words, “everything in moderation” doesn’t address the potential issues with the substance.

Original poster: if you don’t mind posting, what is your general health like? What kind of diet do you eat?

TS[/quote]

I try to eat very clean (turkey,outmeal,veggies,yogurt,etc) and currently trying to up my calories to around 3000 to 3500 per day

5’10" 160 lbs 8-9 % bf (yes I know I need to eat more…I’m trying)

I started 9 months ago at 185 around 20% bf

3 Day a week full body workouts with some cardio thrown in (rowing,running)

I know I don’t need to worry about one cup of creamy delicious coffee but I just figured I might see what making the switch would do.

17

Tea is good - I try to have one cup a day.

Coffee is also not too bad, and I usually have a couple cups a week…but I resist becoming an ‘every morning’ drinker.

Whatever you’re putting into your system, try to get plenty of water on top of it. That’s really your key to health.

CR

18

[quote]davidtower wrote:
I try to eat very clean (turkey,outmeal,veggies,yogurt,etc) and currently trying to up my calories to around 3000 to 3500 per day

5’10" 160 lbs 8-9 % bf (yes I know I need to eat more…I’m trying)

I started 9 months ago at 185 around 20% bf

3 Day a week full body workouts with some cardio thrown in (rowing,running)

I know I don’t need to worry about one cup of creamy delicious coffee but I just figured I might see what making the switch would do.

[/quote]

Sounds pretty decent, although I don’t know how much of what.

How many veggies are you getting a day (cups)? How much water do you drink per day (ounces)? How many protein grams from whole food and how many from supplmentation do you get per day? Do you feel yourself having a daily fatigue pattern or headaches more than once per month? Any IBS/GI issues? Do you get hypoglycemia easily?

If you where a client of mine, these are the questions I would ask to see if coffee might have a negative impact on your health.

TS

19

Davidtower,

BTW, nice job on the body transformation! Seems like you are doing something right - keep up the good work!

TS

20

As a scientist who works in the pharmaceutical/biotech industry I have assayed coffee and tea for their levels of caffeine and antioxidants using HPLC and chemiluminescence and in my findings black coffee, when compared to green and black tea, has exceedingly higher levels of antioxidants with a broader chemical profile.