Coffee Has it's Time and Place in an Ayurvedic Lifestyle
Health & Wellness | Posted By Jenny Griffith
Have you ever had a love-hate relationship with coffee? Sometimes it gets you high and motivated. Sometimes it takes you down panic road and speeds up your cool and collected vibe. Sometimes it drains you, leaving you with a mid-day crash and you feel like you need more to get back to that energetic level. Sound familiar?
I put cardamom pods in my coffee because it helps in reducing its acid and neutralizing the stimulating effects of caffeine (plus, it tastes good!)
Coffee and I have a great relationship right now. In the past coffee and I have not had a great relationship. In the beginning of the year coffee would send me into a panic attack or heart palpitations. Now I can drink a cup a day and I'm not dependent on it. I feel its magical medicinal benefits and it leaves me feeling great throughout the rest of the day. Coffee is medicinal and we have to treat it that way. We must not drink coffee because were exhausted and we need a pick-me up. We must wake up alert and ready to enjoy that cup of joe and brings us concentration.
Coffee, tea and chocolate are deeply embedded in our culture and carry a wide range of social and environmental hazards as well as their impact on individual health. Overcoming caffeine addiction may seem to take the fun out of life, yet, when not part of a daily addictive pattern, these substances can be used wisely and appropriately. Once a person experiences the calmer and clearer state of mind that comes from a lifestyle that is not based on stimulants, they soon realise how much happier, healthier and more genuinely productive they feel. Fortunately, Ayurveda offers us beverages and treats that meet the same need for a taste of sweetness or a moment of relaxation with a cup of tea, while balancing our doshas and rejuvenating body and mind.
Coffee Based on Your Dosha...
A stimulant, astringent and euphoriant, coffee provokes all three doshas. Highly addictive, it is a digestive irritant and adrenal stimulant. Coffee is implicated in the etiology of gastric ulcers, irritable bowel syndrome, chronic constipation, adrenal exhaustion, chronic fatigue, insomnia, panic disorder and fibrocystic breast disease. In chronic constipation, coffee acts by over stimulating the gastro-colic reflex. Once over-stimulated, the reflex loses its normalability to be initiated by a morning glass of water and the individual becomes dependent upon coffee to pass stool.
Vata or vata-pitta individuals run on adrenal energy, a tendency coffee serves to exacerbate. Getting energy from coffee is exactly like getting money from a credit card. Coffee pulls on the reserve energy of the kidneys and adrenals, putting the body deeper into biological debt. The more exhausted the person becomes, the more desperately they turn to coffee as a stimulant. The first step with a vata coffee addict is to help them understand that rest is the best medicine for exhaustion.
Brahmi tea is the best coffee substitute for vata, calming anxiety, panic disorder and insomnia as well as helping to heal incipient peptic ulcer. A glass of Triphala tea upon awakening in the morning may help to restore the integrity of the gastro-colic reflex, tone the colon and overcome chronic constipation.
Pitta coffee drinkers become increasingly driven and irritable, with a tendency to hypertension, peptic ulcers and excess tejas. One pitta-provoked engineer described his job as a supervisor as "being the guy who wanders around with a coffee mug poking his nose into things." As a result, he was suffering with peptic ulcers. As Dr. Lad often says, the American diet is deficient in the bitter taste. The bitterness of coffee is part of its lure for pitta. A good morning coffee substitute for pitta is "coriander coffee". Coriander seeds are roasted, ground and made into a beverage. The roasting provides a coffee-like bitterness while the coriander seeds are pitta-calming, digestant and soothing to the urinary system.
Kapha's sluggishness makes her or him an easy target for coffee addiction. A cup of coffee and a sugary donut is a typical way for kapha to seek morning energy. Coffee affects kapha with depression, lethargy, obesity and increased tendency to fibrocystic breast disease. Ginger tea, made from organic ginger root powder is the best morning beverage alternative for kapha, providing a natural stimulation to the system. Exercise, such as sun salutations or a morning walk, will stimulate the circulation more effectively and safely than coffee.
How to get off caffeine... IF YOU ARE DRINKING MORE THAN ONE CUP A DAY.
Coffee is a physically addictive substance that should not be stopped cold turkey. Water or decaffeinated coffee can be used to dilute the normal quota of coffee.
First Week: Add one quarter part de-caffinated coffee or water in your regular cup of coffee
Second Week: One half decaf or water in your regular cup
Third: Three quarter parts decaf or water in your regular cup.
Coffee can be safely withdrawn within a month with this method.
My Fav Coffee Spot in North County is LOFTY COFFEE.... GET THE TURKISH LATTE!
Sources:
https://lifespa.com/coffee-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ayurvedic-perspective/
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