Dec 12, 2020 07:00:00

What are the 'advantages/disadvantages of coffee' that coffee addicts learned after quitting coffee?

While research shows that people who drink a lot of coffee

tend to live longer , it is also said that drinking too much coffee is not a good idea, as there are harmful effects such as excessive caffeine intake . Oliver Calbayan, a writer who used to be a big coffee drinker and used to drink 2 to 3 liters of coffee every day, has published the changes that happened to his body after quitting coffee for a year.

What Happened When I Quit Drinking Coffee For One Year | by Oliver G. Calubayan | In Fitness And In Health | Nov, 2020 | Medium
https://medium.com/in-fitness-and-in-health/what-happened-when-i-quit-drinking-coffee-for-one-year-bc7a84675987

◆Why I started drinking coffee and why I stopped drinking coffee
Calbayan, a self-confessed 'fitness fanatic,' became a huge coffee fan after learning that the caffeine in coffee can boost athletic performance and inhibit fat accumulation. That's the trigger.

At first, Mr. Calbayan only drank 500ml of black coffee before starting training, but after realizing that drinking coffee made it easier to fast for weight loss, he started reaching for coffee more often. Gradually, I started drinking 2 to 3 liters of coffee a day.

One day in January 2019, something strange happened to Mr. Calbayan's body. That day, Calbayan, who was about to start his daily training routine after drinking his two morning coffees, felt exhausted even though he had slept for seven hours, and felt as if he had played basketball for two hours straight. He said that he noticed that his body was in pain.

After drinking another cup of coffee and finally warming up for his training, Calbayan suddenly felt sleepy and collapsed onto the sofa for an hour's nap. If you take a nap even though you've already had three cups of coffee, it means that the stimulant effect of caffeine is no longer effective. What's more, Calbayan began to notice that he became irritable when he didn't drink coffee.

By this time, Calbayan, who was sometimes drinking up to 4 liters of coffee a day, decided to quit drinking coffee.

◆How to quit coffee and its effects
Calbayan started by gradually cutting down on coffee, and at the urging of his family who were worried about not getting enough vegetables, he started drinking green smoothies made with fruits and vegetables instead of coffee. Mr. Calbayan said that the first smoothie he drank tasted the best, but on the fourth day he began to feel the effect, ``I didn't need coffee first thing in the morning,'' and reduced the amount of coffee he drank to two cups a day. is completed.

After that, Mr. Calbayan steadily weaned himself off coffee, reaching the point where he was only able to drink one cup of coffee a day after two weeks, and after three weeks he was finally able to go through a day without drinking a single cup of coffee. Now it looks like this. In this way, Mr. Calbayan, who finally succeeded in spending a year without drinking a single cup of coffee, summarizes the following six changes that occurred after quitting coffee.

1. Productivity improved
Mr. Calbayan says that whether he slept for 5 hours or 9 hours, he couldn't help but feel tired and sluggish when he woke up, but since he stopped drinking coffee, he can wake up refreshed after only 6 hours of sleep. It is said that it has become like this. Thanks to this, I am now able to maintain a fulfilling daily routine of waking up at 5:30 or 6 a.m., reading, exercising, making breakfast, etc., and then waking up my child at 7:30 a.m.

Also, since there was no time for coffee breaks, his concentration while writing articles improved. Speaking about the time when he was working as a writer while drinking coffee, Calbayan said, ``I used to drink coffee to fight the foggy feeling on my head, but now that I think about it, I can't help but drink coffee. 'Drinking too much may have been the cause of this condition.'

2. My bowel movements have become worse
Calbayan has seen the benefits as well as the downsides of giving up coffee. Perhaps because caffeine no longer has the effect of ``activating intestinal function,'' his bowel movements every morning no longer go smoothly.

Regarding this, Mr. Calbayan said, ``I am careful not to overeat, and I often do fasting to lose weight.If I eat a lot the day before, I don't have to worry about bowel movements, but I do limit my calories. This may be a difficult problem for those who do.'

3. My teeth are clean and my bad breath is gone.
This is not what Mr. Calbayan actually felt, but what was pointed out to him by Mr. Calbayan's wife. Tannins contained in coffee can cause yellowing of teeth, and coffee can also cause bad breath , so Kalbayan believes that quitting coffee may have helped eliminate tooth stains and bad breath. Analyzing.

Four. I feel better
As mentioned above, Mr. Calbayan, who used to drink many liters of coffee a day, began to feel anxious, depressed, and irritated when he couldn't drink coffee when he wanted to. However, by quitting drinking coffee, his mood became calmer and he no longer had to worry about getting irritated when he couldn't find coffee.

Five. Training performance is affected
In the first place, Mr. Calbayan started drinking coffee because of its ability to help burn fat and increase endurance. Therefore, these effects were lost when I stopped drinking coffee. In order to get the effects of caffeine without drinking coffee, Mr. Calbayan tried drinking tea before training, but it didn't seem to have the same effect as coffee.

6. My waist has increased
Eight months after he stopped drinking coffee, Mr. Calbayan said he began to feel that his pants were tight. So Mr. Calbayan measured his waist and found that his waist had increased by 1 inch (about 2.5 cm) compared to before.

Of the photos below, the one on the left is Mr. Calbayan in April 2018, when he was drinking coffee, and the one on the right is Mr. Calbayan in November 2019, about 10 months after he stopped drinking coffee. It's true that my torn abdominal muscles have turned into a chubby tummy.

Regarding this, Calbayan said, ``Green smoothies were a great idea for cutting down on caffeine, but they obviously have more calories than black coffee, so I had to include them in my calorie count to avoid gaining weight.'' Also, drinking coffee when I felt peckish in the evening suppressed my appetite, which helped me lose weight, but as a result of stopping drinking coffee, I ended up consuming more calories.'' states.

◆Summary
As a result of comprehensively considering the ``advantages and disadvantages of quitting coffee'' as described above, Mr. Calbayan started drinking coffee again. However, instead of drinking coffee randomly like I used to, I started drinking coffee with the following conditions.

- Drink coffee only in the morning to avoid disrupting your sleep cycle.
・I only drink coffee before training or when I have to concentrate and write for two hours.
-When drinking coffee, use only one heaped spoonful of ground coffee.

Regarding his experience of quitting coffee, Calbayan said, ``As a result of an actual experiment in quitting coffee, it was found that drinking coffee has a positive effect on weight.However, drinking too much coffee is not ideal. I can't say anything, so I learned that it's important to find a healthy balance.'