Exploring coffee alternatives
Reduce your consumption of the addictive brew with tasty herbal substitutes.
January/February 2002
By Rachel Albert-Matesz
What would you do for a cup of coffee? According to food historian Martin Elkort, author of The Secret Life of Food (Putnam, 1991), “Sultan Selim I of Persia had his doctors hanged when they had the temerity to suggest he give up his daily cup.” You probably wouldn’t go so far, though you may feel like Joseph Cotten—-from the Hitchcock movie Shadow of a Doubt—-whose famous line was, “I can’t face the world in the morning. I must have coffee before I can speak.” If so, you’re not alone.
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Half of all American adults start their mornings with at least one cup of coffee, down from 74.7 percent in 1962. How many people does this amount to? “Today, nearly 100 million American adults drink three or more cups of coffee each day,” says researcher and clinical nutritionist Stephen Cherniske, author of Caffeine Blues (Warner, 1998), a look at America’s number-one addiction.
Cherniske catalogs evidence linking the cumulative adverse effects of caffeine (particularly coffee) consumption to a host of health problems: asthma, anxiety, panic attacks, depression, anemia, calcium loss, osteoporosis, PMS, fibrocystic breast disease, fertility and conception disorders, complications of pregnancy and childbirth, diabetes, glaucoma, digestive disorders, ulcers, irritable bowel syndrome, tension headaches, migraines, high blood pressure, heart disease, and certain cancers.
Caffeine dependence
Do you suffer from caffeine dependence syndrome? If you experience three out of the four following symptoms, then it’s likely that the answer is yes, say researchers at John’s Hopkins University in Baltimore:
• Withdrawal symptoms, such as headaches, depression, and fatigue
• Continued consumption of caffeine despite physical problems
• Unsuccessful attempts to cut back on or eliminate caffeine consumption
• Tolerance (you need or can tolerate increasingly large intakes)
What can you do? Well, you have a few choices. You can keep doing what you’re doing, or you can taper down, dilute your coffee, switch to decaf, or banish the beany brew altogether.
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