Lifestyle and Habits

It better be! Coffee and tea have xanthine alkaloids like caffeine and theobromine and those have some psychoactive effects. That’s why we drink them! It’s a legal drug.

Drinking caffeine in the morning will jumpstart your process of lipolysis, which is when your body releases free fatty acids into your bloodstream. This occurs when your body is breaking down your fat stores to convert it into energy. In other words, caffeine boosts your metabolism slightly and helps you burn fat. Also you know caffeine is a stimulant. It increases alertness and wards off drowsiness temporarily, which means that you can perform certain tasks for longer, and this isn’t just limited to mental tasks. This includes physical tasks as well, such as running or lifting weights. This means a little shot of caffeine can give you the energy you need to give 100% during your workout. And giving 100% in the gym means you’ll get the results you want more quickly.

In general caffeine is pretty harmless, unless you mix it with alcohol. If you take those energy drinks that very high in caffeine, there is the risk of an arrhythmia occurring so be careful. Coffee and tea don’t ever bring you up to that level. So as long as your drink doesn’t have loads of calories like sugar, cream etc, then feel free to drink up!

If you don’t regularly drink in a lot of caffeine, then a couple hundred milligrams (roughly two cups of coffee) will likely produce noticeable effects. You may want to start with 100 milligrams to see how it goes, then up your intake to 200 milligrams. You can then increase the dose by 50 milligrams if you’re still not feeling any effects.

Too much caffeine is harmful to your health. It makes your heart race, makes you feel jittery and gives you a whole host of other horrible things like nausea. If you don’t normally have caffeine, then just start with a small amount to see how your body reacts. And even if you’re used to it, be sure that you don’t overdose.

Be careful not to become addicted. Caffeine is a drug, specifically a stimulant. As such, it has significant effects on certain systems in your body. And if you stop taking it after using it for a while, you’ll quickly feel the withdrawal effects (such as headaches and dizziness). Make sure you monitor how much you use to be sure you don’t get addicted or develop a high tolerance. Limit yourself.

Personally I love naturally flavoured cups of green tea as it leaves me with a peaceful feeling without compromising my motivation or mental activity.

Try drinking green tea after a meal as it aids in your digestion. It’s been used for thousand of years in Asia as a digestive.

It also can provide 10-40 mg of polyphenols, and has more antioxidants activity than a cup of broccoli, spinach, carrots, or strawberries.

Good question. Many experts can’t really decide either way yet. Everyone wants to know about sweeteners and diet drinks and no one really knows yet. Lack of studies due to lack of funding.

Out of the few studies that have been done, there aren’t any that indicate any long-term consequences from drinking diet drinks. Diet Soda (defined as calorie free carbonated beverages sweetened with aspartame, sucralose, acesulfame-potassium, or other non-caloric or minimally caloric sweeteners) is not yet shown to be harmful to your health, well-being, or body composition.

There is no evidence that diet soda inhibits fat loss, or that it even spikes insulin levels to levels that would be detrimental to health.

Bottom line is diet sodas are not natural and they are processed with artificial chemicals. The other issue it could possibly feed your “sweet tooth” and your cravings for sweet foods. Therefore they should be consumed in moderation. Personally I might have one or two a week at a social event. Mainly I stick to water. If you want to drink them, give them a go and see how they affect you.

Gluten and lactose are one of the most complicated issues in our diet today, but it doesn’t need to be.

Gluten is a protein composed of gliadin and glutenin and can be found in wheat, rye, barley, and several foods, medicines, and supplements. Even carbs that are naturally gluten-free, such as oats, may contain some gluten due to cross-contamination of crops (think of an oat crop near a wheat crop, wind blowing, and wheat making its way over to the oat section).

There is something called gluten allergy. It’s a disease called celiac disease. Statistically, 1 in every 132 people in the world has this disease. Out of those people, only 12% know they have it. So there are people out there that have an allergy to gluten and don’t know. The problem is a lot of people today believe they have celiac disease when they don’t have the condition at all. If they get tested, their results come back negative, but they still feel like they react to gluten.

Lactose is composed of the sugars glucose and galactose, which are connected by what’s known as a beta-1,4-glycosidic bond. Some people have insufficient stores of the enzyme lactase in their digestive tracts, which prevents them from being able to break the chemical bond between glucose and galactose to digest them. This results in a condition known as lactose intolerance, the uncomfortable feeling many people get in their stomachs 30 – 120 minutes after consuming dairy. Symptoms may include nausea, cramps, bloating, gas, and diarrhea.

Gluten and lactose do affect some people and doesn’t for others. If you think you have an intolerance then get yourself tested and checked properly. An intolerance or sensitivity is very vague, and you generally have to rely on symptoms as a diagnosis (symptoms may vary dramatically) and then try a gluten/lactose-free diet and see if you feel better, then go back on it (slowly) and see if you feel worse.

Gluten or lactose-free diets are currently a big “Fad Diet” in the industry. Remember that removing these can:

• Make your diet more difficult to maintain
• Reduce the amount of critical essential nutrients available to you in your diet. (Foods containing gluten or lactose also contain a lot of healthy nutrients that we all need for health)
• Decrease your healthy gut bacteria and increase your unhealthy gut bacteria (if you are otherwise healthy and not intolerant)
• Gluten/lactose-free foods are expensive and not as tasty.

Gluten or lactose-free diets should only be for people who are officially allergic to it. You have a 1/132 (0.8%) chance of getting celiac disease. If you do have an intolerance to any foods, you are in no way limiting your potential. The only thing that could limit you is your mind, so accept the obstacle and manage it like any other problem in life. I’m here to help. Read the next item below.

If you are officially gluten sensitive, then here are some recommended items to help you on your way. There are also some recipes available.

Lactase supplements

If you are officially lactose sensitive, try a couple of lactase enzyme supplements right before consuming dairy to see if it helps ensure that all the nutrients wind up in your muscles, not the toilet. Lactase enzymes can effectively increase lactose digestion and even subjects who are highly lactose intolerant may be able to consume dairy products if they take enzyme supplements. If you do choose a lactase enzyme supplement, look for a product standardised for Food Chemical Codex (FCC) lactase units. Each person’s ability to digest lactose varies, so you have to experiment to find out how much supplemental lactase your body needs.

• Moderately lactose intolerant –  Start by taking 2,500–5,000 FCC units when consuming dairy-based protein supplements or foods.
• More sensitive – Start with 10,000–20,000 FCC units.

If your lactase supplement is in capsule form, make sure you take it at least 15 minutes before consuming dairy so your stomach has time to break down the capsule. Lactase powders or chewable supplements can be ingested at the same time as dairy.

Food Ideas