in today's video we're going to be talking about a topic that people get pretty defensive over coffee
and the benefits of quitting it the caffeine in coffee is a stimulant drug
and like other stimulant drugs you can become reliant on and even addicted to it and it's
interesting how we normalize caffeine addiction while other forms of addiction are seen as taboo
but coffee does have some benefits as well so the question becomes do the pros outweigh
the cons in today's video we are going to talk about the benefits of quitting coffee
my experience after giving it up for 30 days and whether or not i think it's worth it
hey guys welcome back to my channel if you're new here my name is kait i'm a health coach and
i post videos on a high fat nutrient dense way of eating if you like this video please
give it a thumbs up feel free to share and make sure to subscribe and make sure to follow me on
instagram twitter and facebook where i share new posts every single day today's topic is
one that people are pretty divisive on some people will defend their daily cup of coffee
as if it were their own child while others don't see how it is any different from other addictive
drugs and i understand both sides so in this video i'm going to try to be as objective as possible
feel free to share your own opinion and experience in the comment section down below but just know
that what i am talking about in this video is from my experience and my research we're going to start
off today talking about my history with coffee then we will get into the benefits of coffee
and the benefits of quitting it so i was never a coffee drinker growing up i
never drank coffee in my teens or even my early 20s i just didn't care for the taste and i've
always been a morning person i've always had no trouble waking up and being energized so i didn't
really need the caffeine effect of coffee but yeah when it came to the taste unless it was a triple
triple from tim hortons only my canadian followers will get that i was not a fan of the taste and
then in my mid-20s i moved to australia and oh my god the coffee culture here is so different
in canada and the states most coffee is drip coffee you get a black coffee and then you add
milk and sugar in australia it is all espresso so a shot of coffee is poured and then the milk is
froth and poured in a specific way depending on what type of coffee you want a latte flat white
cappuccino macchiato piccolo etc so coffee here in general is a lot higher quality because people
are so particular about it people will spend anywhere from four to six dollars on a coffee
and drink multiple a day anyways that was a bit of a tangent but when i first moved to australia
i still wasn't drinking coffee still wasn't much of a fan until i got a job as a barista and then
i pretty much had to drink coffee long story short working that job i started to appreciate it a lot
more i started to like the bitter flavor a lot more most days i was having just one coffee a day
and i figured that that wasn't enough for me to become reliant on it or addicted to it
drinking it this way i figured it wasn't a problem and i think it was in august and i talked about
this in one of my what i eat in a day videos but i ran out of coffee beans and i figured okay
that's cool i'll just go a couple of days i'll buy beans when i go grocery shopping next well it
turned out to be sort of a big deal at which point i realized i was tired and unproductive because i
hadn't had caffeine those few days and that made me reconsider my stance because previously i've
said on my channel lots of times that i only have one coffee a day i don't rely on it for energy
it's not a problem for me but i quickly realized that what i was experiencing was withdrawal
symptoms and at this point i figured okay well i've already went three days without caffeine
no better time to give it up than now so in my previous video where i spoke about this i think
i had went one week maybe two weeks without caffeine and i talked about it a little bit
but today's video is going to be an update but before i get into the benefits i experienced from
giving up coffee i want to talk a little bit more about the pros and the cons in general the pros
of coffee now the reason people start drinking coffee in the first place is not arbitrary the
benefits are actually pretty significant of course the most obvious benefit is that it provides you
with a boost of energy the caffeine in coffee blocks a neurotransmitter called adenosine
which when not blocked is what signals the brain that it's time to go to bed this results in
other transmitters such as dopamine increasing it also increases the release of adrenaline via the
sympathetic nervous system which makes you more alert beyond that it has also been shown to boost
memory and focus this has been shown in several randomized studies where participants were given
either caffeinated coffee or decaf coffee and then asked to perform various tests those are
probably the biggest reasons people drink coffee the boost in energy and the boost in performance
there's also been some data showing that people who drink more coffee are to reduce disease risk
but this is all just correlational and it doesn't actually prove causation the cons of coffee now
let's get into the cons caffeine increases the release of the stress hormone cortisol the levels
of cortisol after caffeine consumption are similar to those experienced during an acute stressor
but this seems to be more significant in people who don't drink coffee then people who consume it
for those who drink it regularly the cortisol response is less drastic another big issue with
coffee is that it is hard on your gut the caffeine molecule on its own is considered
a stomach irritant it causes your digestive system to work faster because it wants to get
the caffeine out as quickly as possible which can cause a laxative effect coffee is also very acidic
which can affect the lining of your stomach and your intestines some people who suffer from ibs
report coffee as a trigger and then of course the big issue here is that it is addictive caffeine
blocks adenosine receptors and as a result of this over time your brain cells might start to produce
more to compensate this requires you to consume more caffeine to achieve the same fix and suppress
your tiredness cutting caffeine out cold turkey results in a lot of free receptors for adenosine
to bind to which is part of the reason why we experience withdrawal and this is exactly what i
was going through symptoms of caffeine withdrawal include fatigue headaches trouble concentrating
it can worsen your mood and it can increase irritability and some people might even
experience tremors and these symptoms can persist for anywhere from a couple of days
to over a week and this is what really made me want to cut out coffee i didn't want to be
consuming something that i was so reliant on that i couldn't even go a couple of days without it
but now let's get into my experience i already spoke a little bit about the side effects i
experienced when i gave up coffee but i wanted to elaborate on them a little bit more before i get
into the benefits i would say it took about three days of withdrawal before i started to feel better
and those three days i could not get anything done my head was all over the place i was sitting at my
desk staring at my computer couldn't get anything done i had a mild headache it wasn't severe but it
was just there and it was annoying and i just felt exhausted overall now on about day four
things changed i started to feel better i didn't have a headache i had more energy i was getting
work done i could focus but here's the thing beyond the withdrawal period the lasted for a few
days i didn't really feel any different with or without it as i mentioned in my previous video i
ended up switching to decaf because i still wanted to enjoy my bulletproof coffee and get some extra
fat into my diet through it but it wasn't like when i was drinking coffee i was having energy
crashes in the afternoon or trouble focusing or anything like that and the same thing when
i took it out i still felt the same throughout the whole day and this has left me kind of on the
fence when it comes to coffee since the initial just over 30 days that i gave up coffee entirely
i have had the odd cup of caffeinated coffee here and there and honestly i don't even notice a huge
difference when i drink caffeinated or not i don't have any increased energy that i notice at least
or any of the other benefits when it comes to memory and focus so here are my final thoughts i
am not 100 anti-coffee but i also do not think it is necessary for energy and performance but then
again i also do not want to have to be reliant on a substance like this the way i see it is
like this anything that i cannot go more than one day without is probably going to catch up with me
at some time or another if you are someone who can go one or two days without coffee that's great
but if you can't or if you are someone who drinks multiple cups a day it might be time to reconsider
anyways guys that is all i have for you today let me know in the comment section down below what
your experience has been with coffee if you've quit coffee if you've started drinking coffee
do you notice any benefits going with or without it when you guys comment on my videos it really
helps to boost engagement youtube sends the video out to more people so anything you comment down
below i really appreciate it and plus i just love seeing what you guys have to say and
i love chatting with you in the comment section so thank you once again for watching
if you enjoyed this video you might like my video on the pros and the cons of using targeted
carbohydrates in your ketogenic diet you can check out that video here if you want to catch up on my
most recent upload you can find it right here and if you're interested in my keto diet and carnivore
diet coaching programs you can find them here thank you again guys i will see you next time bye