I really hope you’re doing well on this 30-Day Fat Loss Program! It’s been a while since you started this way of eating and living, and I hope you’re seeing some improvements in your overall health.

Even if you aren’t seeing much fat loss yet, definitely check in with yourself about what changes you are seeing. Even small victories (better skin? less heartburn? better sleep?) are worthy of celebration.

Today we’re going to do some real talk.

Raise your hand if you just love coffee. Or caffeine in any form, which includes:

  • coffee
  • decaf coffee
  • green, black, or white tea
  • “iced tea” from a bottle or restaurant
  • kombucha
  • maté
  • Coke (or any soda with caffeine in it)
  • energy drinks (Redbull, Monster, etc.)
  • caffeinated sports drinks
  • caffeinated gels
  • 5-hour energy (or something similar)
  • caffeine pills
  • yerba mate
  • matcha tea
  • Here’s a list of caffeine sources and their caffeine levels  

Well… even if you’re doing everything “right” on this program so far, I’m going to ask even more of you right now.  

Over the next couple weeks, I challenge you to give up caffeine.

Don’t stop reading yet please! I know that’s a really big deal! I was a full-on Mountain Dew addict, pounding about 48 ounces of that stuff every day. That is, until I realized it was making me jittery, anxious, an insomniac, and tired.

But coffee is supposed to wake you up, right? How was it making me tired?? Unfortunately, the same way it might be making you tired. And sick. And fat :(  

Here’s why.

Caffeine is a stimulant drug, and when you consume it, your body releases cortisol and adrenaline from your adrenal glands. Another “stimulant” that would make you release those hormones might be a murderer chasing you. Or a car accident, or any other distressor.

So while it might wake you up, it’s turning UP parts of your body while turning DOWN other parts. Because it makes your body think that you need to fight or flee, it’s making your body think that you’re in grave danger. It tells your heart to pump faster, your muscles to work harder, and your senses to be more alert.

It downregulates your digestion, your immune system, your hormonal system, and your ability to truly be calm and relaxed.

That’s why you might be jittery, anxious, unable to sleep, and/or have digestive issues. 

Here are 3 more reasons a constant coffee drip to your blood stream stresses me out:

1. When you stress your adrenals out like that every day, it can have an effect on your thyroid, and your thyroid affects weight loss, among many other things.

2. When you drink caffeine, your body releases cortisol (like I said), and that cortisol tells your liver to release glucose into your bloodstream. That’s why it’s an appetite suppressant–because your body thinks you’ve eaten something with sugar in it.

But shortly after that blood sugar spike, you have a blood sugar low, which is why you “crash”, get really tired, get sugar cravings–or a craving for more coffee–an hour or 2 after your cup o’ Joe. So every time you drink caffeine, you may as well be giving yourself a dose of pure sugar because they both have that effect on you.

3. Most grocery-strore or fast-food brand coffee actually has gluten in it. Yes, it has GLUTEN IN IT. Unless it’s from Starbucks, or unless it says “gluten free” on the label, it likely has gluten in it because it was processed in a plant that also processes gluten. I was told that by Datis Kharrazian, who did his own lab research on that topic. So if you have a gluten intolerance at all, you have a conventional coffee intolerance, as well. 

In summary…

  • The more coffee you drink, the more sugar cravings you’ll have and the less real food you’ll want to eat, and the more you’ll feel like you’re walking through oatmeal at around 3pm every day. 
  • The more sugar you eat, the more fat you gain. 
  • The more cortisol you have rushing through your blood stream, the more belly fat you gain. 
  • Then the caffeine keeps you up at night, creating even more cortisol. 
  • The low-level of anxiety from being on a stimulant all the time makes you stressed, which also creates more cortisol in your system.

It’s a bad, vicious cycle.

Everyone is different.

Having said all of that, I must say that everyone is different. You might be one of those people who can drink a pot or 2 of black coffee happily until your 104th birthday, and that’s awesome! Congrats. 

But you may be really sensitive to all forms of caffeine (even the stuff in chocolate), and feel MUCH better without it.

My challenge to you this month is to find out where you fall on the caffeine spectrum. While you’re making these other healthy changes in your diet with me this month, let’s really see how good you can feel and take the caffeine out, too.

If you’re saying, “But I can’t function without caffeine – I’m not like other people,” then you are precisely the person who needs to give it up.

At least for a while. Give yourself the opportunity to see how it’s affecting you, if it is at all. Try it for the rest of this program (and beyond if you like the way you feel). If you don’t like it at the end of this program, try the caffeine again and see how it makes you feel. That’s always the true test – taking something powerful like that out of your diet and then putting it back in to see its true effect.  

Remember, with your new balanced, healthy diet providing you with balanced blood sugar, you don’t need coffee to keep you awake anymore. Your food will do that for you. 

So the challenge, again, is:

Commit to giving it up today. Drink less of it tomorrow. The next day, drink even less, and 3 days from now, say goodbye. Or just go cold turkey right now – whatever fits your personality better. Just get it out of your life so you can see if it’s hurting you.

You may have headaches and feel tired for a few days – I’m not gonna lie. If you need a substitute for that hot beverage ritual, go get an herbal, caffeine-free coffee substitute from the tea section of your grocery store or online. Or drink herbal tea or hot water with lemon in it in the morning instead. 

Take a look again at that list above and see what you need to stop consuming. Drink lots of water, get lots of sleep, take it easy on the working out, and be nice to yourself while you’re going through the withdrawal period. At the end of the program, you can decide what your relationship with caffeine should be.  

I know it’s hard, but I believe in you and I wish you the best with this!

Yours,

Neely 

neelyquinn.com

 

P.S.

Don’t forget about your downloads! They’ll really help you understand this diet more thoroughly, as well as make it easier and more do-able for you.

—>>>DOWNLOADS<<<—

——> Food Guide for Fat Loss (PDF)

——> What Is Paleo? (PDF)

——> Meal Planning and Recipes Guide (PDF)