Some people have managed to lose 10 pounds in 6 weeks by avoiding caffeine but if you cut out sugar and other refined, sugary or fatty foods as well you might lose 10 pounds in 7 days. This is because caffeine is a very acidic food. The more acidic your body is the more likely it is to retain a great deal of weight.
One of the most acidic of substances is caffeine. Of course all of the foods that we absolutely love contain caffeine. This includes colas, dark chocolate and energy drinks. When we stop drinking coffee or other caffeinated we get the typical symptoms of withdrawal which include irritability, drowsiness, fatigue, headache, and anxiety. However if you can live through the withdrawal you will experience a weight loss miracle.
The side effects of withdrawal are short-lived, and don’t happen at all for many. Some people do not experience them at all. Nonetheless, caffeine withdrawal is considered serious enough that caffeine addiction was proposed as a substance-abuse problem to the American Psychiatric Association. The duration of withdrawal is estimated to be two to nine days for most people. By the end of the first week of the cleanse, you should certainly be over the peak part of the withdrawal and also see a drastic drop in pounds.
Why do we need to quit caffeine? It is hard to believe but it is just no good for you.
Caffeine further exhausts the body by stimulating our adrenal glands to produce adrenaline. Adrenaline is part of the “fight-or-flight response which is a biological reaction to stress. During this response, your body also produces higher levels of the hormone Cortisol—the “stress hormone.”
Cortisol is considered a stress hormone not because it is inherently bad for you; in fact, at normal levels it helps with glucose metabolism, regulating blood pressure, lowering inflammation, and raising immunity. Substances like caffeine, can all too easily keep our Cortisol levels artificially high. That in turn can cause problem like lowered thyroid function, cognitive problems, decreased bone density and muscle tissue, higher blood pressure, lowered immunity, and an overall inflammatory reaction in the body.
Also if you have a belly roll around your middle you can probably blame that on cortisol overload as well.
To completely avoid caffeine, you will also want to avoid foods that are coffee flavored, such as ice cream and yogurt.These foods are verboten if you are trying to “go alkaline” anyway, but now you have even more reason to steer clear of them.
If you really can’t stand the withdrawal you can yourself off coffee. Begin by cutting your regular coffee with decaffeinated coffee. You can create a mix of two-thirds coffee to one-third decaf for the first week. For week two, drop your coffee down to one-third real coffee to two-thirds decaf and this will help minimize your intake of this acidic substance. Over a period of a few weeks you should see yourself becoming slimmer; especially if you were drinking your coffee as a “double double.”
