How Do You Like Your Coffee?

If you are a typical American, then chances are good that you have a healthy (or maybe not-so-healthy) "addiction" to coffee.  Furthermore, if this rings true for you, I have wonderful news for you: coffee is good for you!

According to Ray Peat, Ph.D., coffee drinkers have a lower incidence of thyroid disease, cancer, and other diseases than non-coffee drinkers.  Coffee has been used medicinally throughout history, protecting the liver from alcohol, prescription medications, and other toxins, while also protecting the body against radiation, chemical carcinogens, and viruses. Additionally, coffee contains magnesium, a very important mineral for the thyroid gland and overall health.  Magnesium is a natural tranquilizer, and it reduces high blood pressure and assists in stabilizing blood sugar in the body.  With that said, it is not uncommon to see the general population today consuming the wrong type of coffee at the wrong time.

Here are some tips on how to get the most metabolic bang for your cup:

1) Put 1 teaspoon of coconut oil in your coffee.

• Coconut oil is a medium-chain fatty acid, which means it tends to burn immediately as fuel, rather than store as fat on the body.
• Coconut oil is also a natural anti-viral, anti-fungal, anti-bacterial, and anti-microbial fat that boosts energy, supports thyroid function, insulin secretion, bone health, immunity, and digestion, and helps protect the body from breast, colon, and other cancers (Dr. Bruce Fife). 

2) Never drink coffee on an empty stomach, as it will cause a spike in adrenaline and other stress hormones, like cortisol.

• Increasing stress in the body can lead to weight gain, wrinkles, and other hormonal chaos. 
• It's best to consume it after a meal or snack containing an optimal protein (i.e., white fish, shellfish, grass-fed organic beef, venison, gelatin, bone broth, organic (local and insect-fed) eggs, etc.), carb (i.e., tropical fruits and/or root vegetables), and a fat (i.e., organic heavy cream, grass-fed butter, or coconut oil). (*Note: The protein, carb, and fat examples are not a comprehensive list of optimal food options).

3) Choose a quality roast and water. 

• Pick a coffee that does not have artificial flavorings or perfumes (i.e., Folgers and other plain roasts or Organic roast coffee is acceptable).
• It's best to brew at home with quality, filtered, mineral water (i.e., Evian, FIJI, etc.).

So go enjoy your cup of metabolic euphoria, guilt-free and by the cup! 

A word of caution though; be careful if you drink and drive.... You just might end up being nice to people on the road today.
 

Are Your Nutrition Beliefs Really Yours?

Do you know from where your ideas about nutrition have stemmed?  Are they your original, instinctual thoughts/tastes or are they what your culture, media, government, and "experts" tell you in order to perpetuate an industry?

Industrialists have campaigned to convince the public that their by-products, from cotton-seed oil to shrimp shells, are “health foods.”  In several parts of the world, desperately poor people sometimes eat clay, and even clay has been promoted as a health food.  Almost anything becomes “food,” when people are under economic and social pressure.  If these things aren’t acutely (or noticeably) toxic, they can become part of our “normal” diet.

Our instincts give us a few clues about our nutritional needs, such as thirst, the hunger for salt, the pleasantness of sweet things, and the unpleasantness of certain odors or very acrid or bitter tastes.  But...habits and customs become the dominant forces in diet. 

"Professional dietitians" and other "experts" primarily function as enforcers of cultural prejudice.

The following are a few examples:
1) The manufacturers of pureed vegetables for babies used to put large amounts of salt, sugar, and monosodium glutamate (things that we crave and/or imitate that we need) into their products, because the added chemicals served as instinctual signals that made the material somewhat acceptable to the babies (this is manipulating the chemicals in your brain to convince you that the food you are ingesting is good).  There was no scientific basis for providing these vegetables to babies in a form that they would accept, but it was a profitable practice that was compatible with the social pressure against prolonged breast feeding (which is a healthful human action that was made to be looked down upon, culturally).

2) Because of the depression, when many people couldn't afford enough food, in 1933 the USDA published food guides for four economic levels.  Since then, beans and other legumes have been included in the food groups, and the USDA continues its analysis of food costs, using cheap foods as the basis for food stamp allotments.  After about 20 years of being promoted as thrift foods, they started creeping into many dieticians' definition of a healthful diet.

3) Poor people, especially in the spring when other foods were scarce, have sometimes subsisted on foliage such as collard and poke greens, usually made more palatable by cooking them with flavorings, such as a little bacon grease and lots of salt.  Eventually, "famine foods" can be accepted as dietary staples.  When people try to live primarily on foliage, as in famines, they soon suffer from a great variety of diseases.  Various leaves (green, above-ground leafy vegetables) contain anti-metabolic substances that prevent the assimilation of the nutrients (slow down/damage your metabolism), and only very specifically adapted digestive systems (or technologies) can overcome those toxic effects.

Credit: Ray Peat, Ph.D.

So before you go reprimanding a child for not wanting broccoli or other culturally-acclaimed "health food", that child may just be trusting his/her gut.

Listen to your body.  You may learn something.

Not All Salts Are Created Equal

There's a huge difference between refined white table salt and unrefined white sea salt.

Refined white table salt:

• Often contain anti-caking agents, some of which are aluminum-based and linked to heavy metal toxicity and Alzheimer's disease.
• Other additives, such as dextrose (a sugar), are used in iodized salt (salt with iodine added) to keep the salt from turning purple.
• Sodium silico-aluminate, also added to processed table salt, is associated with kidney problems and mineral malabsorption.
• Furthermore, sodium acetate is added to table salt, which causes elevated blood pressure, kidney disturbances, and water retention.
   

Unrefined white sea salt (white Celtic Sea Salt or Morton Canning & Pickling Salt):

• Aids in balancing blood sugar levels.
• Clears the lungs of mucus and phlegm, which helps those with asthma and cystic fibrosis
• It is a strong antihistamine, which helps with bites, stings, lowering adrenaline and stress, & more
• Helps to prevent muscle cramps (including women's cycles)
• Alleviates headaches, dizziness, and light-headedness upon standing
• Makes bones firm
• Helps absorb nutrients in the intestines
• Extracts excess acidity from the cells of the body, particularly in brain cells
• It is very hydrating to the body

Consider this to be your formal invitation to add a pinch (about 1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon) of unrefined white sea salt to each liter of water you drink.  This will help maintain electrolyte and energy levels, while also helping your body perform vital functions. 

Oh--and you might as well just throw away that iodized refined white table salt while you're at it (hint: iodine is a thyroid inhibitor).  Your body will thank you.