skinny bitch book comments on coffee

August 2, 2009

Here are a few condensed comments on why the authors believe coffee is bad. Caffeine causes headaches, digestive problems, irritation of the stomach and bladder,

peptic ulcers, diarrhea, constipation, fatigue, anxiety and depression. It raises stress hormone levels and inhibits important enzyme systems. But they also say decaf coffee is no better. Coffee in general is very acidic. They also say coffee gives a person bad breath. Then they go on to say coffee beans are grown using pesticides.

Plus most people add sugar, creams and artificial sweetners.

Some of this may be true, but I am not willing to give up my coffee completely. I do drink shade grown, organic and only two cups in the morning, thats it.

I did try to quit coffee and I did for 7 months. But I thought about it EVERY MINUTE of EVERY DAY. YES< I am addicted.

People who don't drink coffee wouldn't understand why! I didn't start drinking coffee till later in life, and before that I never understood why people drank it.

I do know some people who drink gross tasting, cheap coffee all day, yuck.

Has anyone else read the book "Skinny Bitch"? I have had time to read only the first few chapters so far.

August 2, 2009

I liked reading the skinny bitch books, but wasn't overly impressed with them. The coffee is a good example- they give a lot of good reasons why coffee isn't good for us, but then you flip back to the recipe section, and they are not exactly the healthiest vegan foods out there! It kind of makes sense, though, since their target audience is non-vegans, but I have had no desire to make any of their recipes.

On Sun, Aug 2, 2009 at 11:13 AM, Christine <damselfly wrote:

Here are a few condensed comments on why the authors believe coffee is bad. Caffeine causes headaches, digestive problems, irritation of the stomach and bladder,

peptic ulcers, diarrhea, constipation, fatigue, anxiety and depression. It raises stress hormone levels and inhibits important enzyme systems. But they also say decaf coffee is no better. Coffee in general is very acidic. They also say coffee gives a person bad breath. Then they go on to say coffee beans are grown using pesticides.

Plus most people add sugar, creams and artificial sweetners.

Some of this may be true, but I am not willing to give up my coffee completely. I do drink shade grown, organic and only two cups in the morning, thats it.

I did try to quit coffee and I did for 7 months. But I thought about it EVERY MINUTE of EVERY DAY. YES< I am addicted.

People who don't drink coffee wouldn't understand why! I didn't start drinking coffee till later in life, and before that I never understood why people drank it.

I do know some people who drink gross tasting, cheap coffee all day, yuck.

Has anyone else read the book " Skinny Bitch " ? I have had time to read only the first few chapters so far.

August 4, 2009

>>>> Here are a few condensed comments on why the authors believe

coffee is bad. Caffeine causes headaches, digestive problems, irritation

of the stomach and bladder, peptic ulcers, diarrhea, constipation,

fatigue, anxiety and depression. <<<<

My concern with Skinny Bitch is that the authors don't have any

education or background in nutrition or medicine, and they don't appear

to give a rigorous evaluation to the information they use. They're

widely criticized for giving invalid scientific advice.

I think that if coffee actually did cause all these problems, it would

be documented by major research institutions. That isn't the case.

Before I took any of this litany too seriously, I'd want to look at

their sources. Where did they come up with this? Is there a reference

list in their books showing what research they relied upon?

So, if you like coffee, don't worry so much about Skinny Bitch. Go with

Harvard. All evidence suggests that it causes no harm in moderation and

has many health benefits.

Cheers,

Trish

August 4, 2009

I don't have time to look up research at present, but - coffee has caffeine in

it. Caffeine is not particularly good for you as it makes your adrenals think

that there is a fight or flight situation - which is why coffee gives you a wake

up kick. A situation that makes the adrenals behave this way is stressful to

the body, and therefore the body would be better off without the item that

caused it, i.e. the coffee.

I'm not saying that coffee is the worst thing in the world for people to

consume, but I also think that nobody can say that it is healthy.

Jo

, bantrymoon <bantrymoon wrote:

>

> >>>> Here are a few condensed comments on why the authors believe

> coffee is bad. Caffeine causes headaches, digestive problems, irritation

> of the stomach and bladder, peptic ulcers, diarrhea, constipation,

> fatigue, anxiety and depression. <<<<

>

> My concern with Skinny Bitch is that the authors don't have any

> education or background in nutrition or medicine, and they don't appear

> to give a rigorous evaluation to the information they use. They're

> widely criticized for giving invalid scientific advice.

>

> I think that if coffee actually did cause all these problems, it would

> be documented by major research institutions. That isn't the case.

> Before I took any of this litany too seriously, I'd want to look at

> their sources. Where did they come up with this? Is there a reference

> list in their books showing what research they relied upon?

>

> So, if you like coffee, don't worry so much about Skinny Bitch. Go with

> Harvard. All evidence suggests that it causes no harm in moderation and

> has many health benefits.

>

> Cheers,

>

> Trish

>

August 4, 2009

I took a lot of the nutritional information I read in Skinny Bitch

with a grain of salt as I do many things until I have a chance to do

more research on my own. I do still drink coffee on rare occasions

and rather than dairy cream, I use a soy creamer. That said, though I

was already planning on going vegetarian (I was going to add on meat-

free day per week every month. eg: no meat on Mon in Jan, none on

Mon and Wed in Feb and so on). After reading that book, I decided

right then that I was done with animal products. I cut out anything

the required the immediate death of an animal right away. I took a

slower approach to cutting out all animal products and still struggle

from time to time, but I can always easily remind myself WHY I choose

not to eat anything from an animal. So the SB book is good for that.

I think it opens some people's eyes. I didn't read anything in there

that I didn't already know about the inhumane treatment of animals,

but the testimonials from slaughterhouse workers really hit me and

opened my eyes all the way. I can still start crying if I think about

it too hard (and that's what has kept me on the right path when

something has been somewhat tempting - though the meat thing was easy

to stop. It was dairy for me that was hard).

Missie Harhold

and Gracie the Ibizan Hound

and Jeanie the Greyhound

greyhounddog

" Life is as dear to a mute creature as it is to a man. Just as one

wants happiness and fears pain, just as one wants to live and not to

die, so do other creatures. "

-Dalai Lama of Tibet, His Holiness, The XIV

August 4, 2009

Skinny Bitch is geared towards a young audience. It's not the type of book I

would quote in a heated intellectual debate. But it has its' place.

Coffee can remain as one of my last vices. Though we should all try to buy fair

trade coffee.

August 4, 2009

>>>> I don't have time to look up research at present, but - coffee has

caffeine in it. Caffeine is not particularly good for you as it makes

your adrenals think that there is a fight or flight situation - which is

why coffee gives you a wake up kick. A situation that makes the adrenals

behave this way is stressful to the body, and therefore the body would

be better off without the item that caused it, i.e. the coffee.

I'm not saying that coffee is the worst thing in the world for people to

consume, but I also think that nobody can say that it is healthy. <<<<

Here's one of those situations where we may have to agree to disagree. :-)

The sources I've been reading about caffeine give many positive health

effects. Generally, sites (such as the Mayo Clinic) advise moderation.

With moderate use, evidence points to benefits ranging from reduced

rates of Parkinson's disease to reduced rates of heart disease in the

elderly.

So, I'm going to argue with you here -- it can, indeed, be healthy, and

major research institutions such as the Mayo Clinic and Harvard Medical

School back that up.

That said, all the sites I've been reading state that individuals differ

in their tolerance for caffeine, so it would be accurate to say that it

may not be healthy for everyone. I just think this is one of those

substances that has become a boogeyman, but in my opinion it's been

unfairly targeted. I just wanted to be sure all sides are presented in a

debate like this so no one gets the impression that vegans have to live

a life of deprivation.

That said, each person just has to choose which sources or advice

they're most comfortable with. I doubt it's harmful to avoid caffeine. I

just don't think it's necessary. If it's used moderately by people who

tolerate it, I don't see a problem.

Cheers,

Trish

August 4, 2009

Hi TrishJust to put in a brief thought on this... I just had a quick look at the Mayo Clinic and Harvard studies you mention. Both are flawed in one major way...What the studies have done is taken people who drink coffee, and people who don't, and then compared rates of certain diseases in them... what they have completely failed to do is look at what else those individuals are doing with their lives. One criticism of the Harvard paper that I came across highlighted that the benefits the Harvard study claimed were related to coffee consumption could more accurately be ascribed to the smoking habits of the individuals who took part in the study, since a significantly higher number of coffee-drinkers in that study were non-smokers, compared to the non-coffee drinkers.

Might be worth looking a bit deeper into the studies from all sides if you're interested in the subject (personally, can't say I find it that exciting) :-)BBPeter2009/8/4 bantrymoon <bantrymoon