Caffeine is a stimulant, picking you up when feel like your energy levels have been depleted. Instead of addressing the root cause of your low energy levels, people just keep feeding their bodies more and more caffeine to climb out of lethargy. The thing about habitual caffeine consumption is that it only leads to an increased intake to yield that same feeling of energy that you originally felt from a half-cup of coffee, for instance.
Every so often, it is beneficial to reset your caffeine tolerance. By this, we mean that those who started out feeling an ultra boost at one cup a day now need three or four cups to feel that same jolt. Consuming caffeine in excess can be dangerous because you end up relying on it to function. Similar to requiring drugs to feel a certain way or aid with sleep, the body becomes dependent on caffeine. According to researchers, caffeine has been deemed the most commonly used psychoactive substance in the world. Increasing your caffeine intake can lead to adrenal fatigue, impaired sleep, exhaustion, and lack of productivity.
For a lot of people, the idea of not consuming a cup of coffee in the morning seems like an absolute nightmare. The primary purpose of rebooting the body during a cleanse is to make life easier on the liver. When you drink a caffeinated beverage, the liver must metabolize it to safely remove caffeine’s compounds from the body. The more caffeine you drink, the harder your body has to work, possibly reducing its ability to function properly. THIS IS WHY WE DON’T ALLOW CAFFEINE DURING THE CLEANSE! That and it’s also a vice that isn’t necessary for daily function, especially when the body receives natural energy from the herbs and raw foods diet.
Is Coffee Healthy?
The long-standing debate is whether or not coffee is healthy. In large amounts, coffee can induce tremors, cause anxiety or insomnia, increase heart rate, and reduce the amount of calcium in the body. Organic coffee that you drink black, without sugars or creamers, can be acceptable to drink on occasion. Caffeine shots and energy drinks are terrible for you, end of story. Coffee does have some anti-inflammatory properties that may ease migraine symptoms and lower the risk of Parkinson’s disease motor deficits. These anti-inflammatory properties can work if you drink one cup or less per day.
How To Come Off Caffeine Before Your Cleanse
Prior to beginning your cleanse, it is wise to wean yourself off caffeine so that your system isn’t thrown into shock. This especially applies to those of you who drink caffeine like it is life’s blood. Plan out your caffeine reduction period about one week before your cleanse starts. For the first couple days, we advise cutting your caffeine consumption in half. You should consume no more than one cup of coffee during the third and fourth day. For the remaining days before your cleanse, switch to green tea or decaf coffee.
If you don’t decide to decrease your caffeine consumption prior to starting your cleanse, that’s fine as well. Those who drink a lot of caffeine need to realize that quitting caffeine cold turkey can induce headaches, withdrawal symptoms, mood swings, or flu-like symptoms. Everyone is wired differently, meaning that those symptoms can happen to any caffeine consumer, no matter how much or how little they drink. The headaches often accompany those who are not staying sufficiently hydrated, so drink a lot of water throughout the day, especially during the first couple days of the cleanse.
Establish A Sleep Schedule
The average person uses caffeine as a wake up tool, but people often feel tired because they don’t get the amount of sleep they need. One of the benefits of cleansing, to which most people can attest, is improved sleep. To the best of your abilities, try to go to bed and wake up at consistent times every day. You can vary those times on your days off, but only by an hour or two at the most. The goal is to get a consistent seven or eight hours per night.
Should I Drink Caffeine After My Cleanse?
This will obviously be a personal decision because you have experienced how you feel with and without caffeine in your system. What we can say is that you should consume no more than a half-cup of coffee per day in the several days following your cleanse. Exceeding this amount can result in vomiting, severe headaches, or stomach pain. If you decide to continue drinking coffee post-cleanse, avoid added sugars, syrups, artificial sweeteners, dairy products, and soy products. Stevia, raw agave syrup, or monk fruit sweetener are some of the best options to sweeten coffee.
Some of you may find that drinking water or freshly made smoothies/juices may provide you the energy that you need when you finish cleansing. That cup of Joe may be a distant memory that you don’t feel you need to revisit. That’s perfectly acceptable, healthy even. Each person will handle post-cleanse caffeine intake differently, and it is up to them to consume it wisely and not abuse it. Caffeine is a drug, one of the most popular and delicious ones in existence, so consume it responsibly in order to maintain healthy sleep, energy, stress levels, and adrenal health.
