The Great Coffee Experiment: Caffeine Tested, The Live Series And Daily Logs

[ShirtTieFitness]

Hello to all in the Ray Peat Community!

I really hope this will be of benefit to you all; I think it can be of great help to anybody here interested in Coffee/Caffeine. Especially those who have negative effects or are considering upping their dose!

Just a Quick Intro - How Did I Get Here?
Having spoken to a few of my early readers, I was pointed in the direction of Ray Peat regarding Coffee/Caffeine. Particularly his fantastic research on the subject, which I have now consumed. Having read up further around the web and ran a few searches, I stumbled across a couple of threads on this very forum so decided that it would be a good idea to sign up and start a new thread.

Coincidentally, my dietary philosophy matches up quite closely with Ray's advice, so even more reason for this to be suitable here.

The link you will need: The Great Coffee Experiment; Caffeine Put To The Test - The Live Series.

Below is a short overview I have written as to how it came about and what you can expect. How it can be of assistance.

Like any study, a synopsis of the aim and objective is provided.

What is the Great Coffee Experiment?

There are plenty of resources out there on Coffee. The pros, the cons, giving it up, what to do and what to expect. There is however, from my research, little if not any that looks at a specific individuals immediate and longer-term response to Caffeine.

Moreover, there is little out there that documents the daily experiences of an individual. More commonly, anecdotal comments on blogs, or references to studies are all that can be found.

Therefore, I am going to run an experiment on Coffee in two distinct phases and write and document my results, experiences and observations. Phase 1 (Month of December) in where I continue my consumption, followed by Phase 2 (January 2017) where all consumption is ceased

The aim is quite simple:

To be subjective, to look into my biofeedback and reaction to caffeine.

My motif is twofold:

To ascertain whether I have a hardcore dependency, a more serious addiction, or both.

To ascertain whether my health and or life, is better on or off caffeine.

What is to follow is a journal, a resource for others to witness the effect the bean can have on an individual during the two phases. It can be used for cross reference with any of my loyal readers, to provoke thought or change in your life, or for your simple curiosity.

The second phase will be the real challenge; no caffeine is going to be purposely consumed during this period. That means Tea/Cocoa is also going to be ditched. Once the withdrawal symptoms have passed, and I hope this to be quick and painless, the real insight will hopefully be obtained.

I have decided to utilize two phases, so that you can gain an insight into my daily habits and the variables at hand. By fully understanding my position at present, you can cipher the results for yourselves and truly grasp at the changes that are going to occur.

It would be great if you followed along. I’d like participation from the readers. I’d like you to get involved and ask questions along the way. To suggest, or help to streamline the experiment. I’d like you to share this series and get the word out. I’d like to help others in a similar situation like my own that relapse and may be experiencing more negatives than positives.

You may just learn that coffee may not be for you either.

Or you may learn that kicking it to the side is not required or unnecessary torture.

What You Can Expect

Part One: December – Continued Caffeine Consumption ranging from 1-5 cups a day
Part Two: Dry January; Complete Abstinence

I will be releasing 4 posts, at weekly intervals. Each weekly post will include a daily log. This will save monotony and having to check back every day.

These logs will look to show the status of important parameters for health: my mood, cognition, digestion, fitness, sleep habits, libido etc. I will also document any other information that I think will be of benefit.

Thanks for taking the time to read this post. Let the odds forever be in my favour!

www.shirtandtiefitness.com/great-coffee-experiment/

 

[InChristAlone]

After my caffeine withdrawal cold turkey, I'd suggest you take at least a couple weeks to wean off of it. Abrupt withdrawal can really screw with the nervous system. And you won't know if your life is better off caffeine for a good month or two as the body now has to adapt to the lower energy levels.

 

[dbh25]

Thanks for posting, I'll be checking in on your results. At 1-5 cups, is that 8 ounces/cup? 1-5 cups seems like a pretty wide range, are you consuming based on what you're craving that day?

 

[ShirtTieFitness]

Thanks for the advice Janelle.
The withdrawal is definitely part of the experiment and how this changes over the course of phase 2. It would also be interesting to see how other compounds may assist me during this time.
Additionally, I think my neurotransmitters can respond and 'reset' a bit if you will.

Also thank you dbh. I hope you can take something away from it.
Yes each cup will be 8 ounces .
The range is a way to further experiment; but in a nutshell I will drink around 5 cups on days I train and 1-2 on my off 'rest' days.
The cups are used as a rough measure of Caffeine. So essentially I am testing 100-400 mg of Caffeine. on average. But this will range as sometimes I will use a French Press, other times not and so on and so forth, I will keep track of this in each daily log.

 

[dbh25]

I've used this website, as caffeine content varies in espresso, brewed, french press, brand of coffee, etc. Good luck!
Caffeine in Brewed Coffee
Type______________Caffeine per 8 fl. oz.
Drip or Filter________ 115-175mg with an average of 145mg
French press________ 80-135mg with an average of 107.5mg

 

[ShirtTieFitness]

Great, thanks for your help dbh. This is a very valuable resource which I will use. Will keep you posted.

 

[Jsaute21]

@Janelle525 makes a very good point. I have been consuming 400 MG-600 MG a day for a good month or month and a half. I decided to take a day off tuesday, this week. In the past, my body is extremely adaptable and capable of functioning at a high level even when used to using a stimulant or something similar for some time. However, this tuesday was the slowest i had ever felt mentally. There is a science to weaning off, and depending on your profession, i don't recommend going cold turkey because it will affect productivity levels.

I guess my question just is, why do people make the coffee thing so complicated? Either you like it and crave it or you don't. I think people think of it as this vice or a crutch that they feel guilty about. It is nutrient filled, and can be a tremendous asset in my opinion to ones diet. If you don't like the way you feel on it, drop it. But true coffee lovers don't go back and forth. Just my 2 c.

 

[sladerunner69]

1-5 cups each day??

I think to get anything accurate enough to form a synopsis on, you should have an intake more consistent than that. How about drinking exactly 5 cups each day?

 

[ShirtTieFitness]

thanks @Jsaute21 Interesting that you noticed it so dramatically on the first day and how 400mg of coffee for a month was enough to create some kind of dependency. Also worth noting how it was the cognition that you noticed had the most profound effect. So I assume you jumped straight back to your 400mg 'dose'?


Like you say it all depends on your profession, as my website suggest I am an office worker so do feel like my productivity will decline. I have great productivity at the moment whilst drinking coffee, and writing is a real pleasure. Not expecting this to continue I must say.


Coffee is complicated you are right, but its primarily because its effect varies between individuals and there there are numerous studies on both sides of the fence. Not to mention the social and cultural stigmas etc. There are people who swear by it, and also who swear that giving up coffee for good literally turned their lives around.... It makes sense, like anything in this world, genetics play a huge role.


But this also feeds into my objective; do I have a dependency or a flat-out addiction - this makes the whole "just drop it" statement difficult to follow.


@sladerunner69. Having thought about your comment, I actually think this would make sense too. Going forward I will consume 400mg each day. I will updates the post and notes accordingly

 

[Jsaute21]

@ShirtTieFitness noted and we agree on all accounts. My advice would be if it works for you, why over think it? It sounds like you are doing great with it. The experiment is interesting but sometimes the worst thing we can do is be over analytical and make changes, particularly when they don't need to be made.

 

[ShirtTieFitness]

Fair points Jsaute21, but if you read the opening post you will see that I have my suspicions if I am really "doing great with it".
Ive been having some health issues that correlate strongly to the time in which I started and continue to drink coffee.
Fully aware that correlation does not imply causation, but this is a significant part of the experiment as previously noted.

 

[charlie]

Ive been having some health issues that correlate strongly to the time in which I started and continue to drink coffee.

Possibly nutritional deficiencies showing up?

 

[Peater Piper]

I guess my question just is, why do people make the coffee thing so complicated? Either you like it and crave it or you don't. I think people think of it as this vice or a crutch that they feel guilty about. It is nutrient filled, and can be a tremendous asset in my opinion to ones diet. If you don't like the way you feel on it, drop it. But true coffee lovers don't go back and forth. Just my 2 c.

I think it's possible, if you've been downing coffee out of habit for years, to no longer have a baseline to decide if you like how coffee makes you feel. I've read accounts of coffee/caffeine addicts that ditched it for several months and decided they're much better off without it. There's other accounts of people that didn't feel any better off without and it went back to the caffeine. You really need at least a month of no caffeine to get back to a baseline level. I personally don't feel much different with or without coffee, except coffee helps manage a chronic headache, so it's a pretty each decision to keep consuming it even if I don't always have a taste for it at this point, plus I think it played a role in dropping my A1C.

 

[Jsaute21]

I will say that coffee at times affects my sex drive. Though I think that may be because when I used to consume purely muscle meats and PUFAs and stared coffee, it made me feel weird. Now that I am improving my health I don't think that is an issue at all. I forget who said it on here but caffeine is a revealer. It brings to life underlying health or mental issues. For instance, there are healthy people that have anxiety due to a life event and developing a coping mechanism, etc. bottom line is I think inability to tolerate caffeine reveals either a poor metabolism or an underlying form of anxiety.