Best Decision I made for Digestive Probs
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| Fri, 03-25-2005 - 9:51am |
Hi. I am usually on the pet boards, but thought I would drop into a few other boards and saw this board of which I can definitely relate to. I thought I would throw out my two cents and offer up the best decision I ever made in helping my digestive system - NO CAFFEINE. I am sure there are lots of you out there who already know the havoc caffeine can cause, but for those of you that still have the death grip on your coffee cup like I did for quite some time I thought this might be helpful.
I could give you all my background and problems I have had, but I would rather tell you the benefits no caffeine has given me. I am now off of a daily medication (since January) that I took everyday for the past two years and have fairly limited problems even though life has been more stressful recently than in a long time. I loved my coffee dearly and drank it all day long before the digestive problems started (which were not related to my coffee habits). It took several attempts to stay away from coffee in general since I thought that I could do decaf until realizing all coffee was too harsh. I now only drink herbal tea and have found this to be helpful in many ways. First, I don't have the harshness of coffee giving me problems nor the caffeine speeding up things in my system, for example, extra acid in my stomach or spastic colons. Additionally, b/c I was not on the ups and downs of caffeine my eating habits began to become more reliable. I know usually get a little hungry mid-morning so I eat a banana vs. I used to not get hungry due to the caffeine supressing my appetite so I would end up with a empty acidic stomach. I don't get the lows in the afternoon where I crave sugary carb sweets as much so I don't put the processed sugar that causes me problems in my stomach. I could go on, but I won't - just a few examples.
This may seem an odd thing to get on a soapbox about, but I could just rave about all the benefits it has had more me. Mentally I am much more even toned in my moods. I know when my body is tired and needs rest and can't ignore that by yet another cup of coffee. The rest I have to force myself to get keeps me less stressed which is important to a sensitive digestive system.
I do have chocolate which has caffeine in it, but I maintain a pretty low fat healthy diet so the occasional indulgence isn't enough to set it off. Even if I thought I could go back to coffee, which I still crave all the time, I wouldn't b/c it has been too beneficial not to have it.
I couldn't always control the mood my stomach felt like being in or what would trigger it, but this was one little thing I could control and felt great about the addictive habit I was able to overcome which turned out to be the BEST decision I ever made about my digestive health.
Best wishes

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