The Project: Kuwait

How Much is Too Much! Dr.Vera and Meg Discuss: The Effects of Caffeine on Your Body, Carbohydrates, and Sleep!

December 08, 2019 The Project Kuwait Season 1 Episode 98
The Project: Kuwait
How Much is Too Much! Dr.Vera and Meg Discuss: The Effects of Caffeine on Your Body, Carbohydrates, and Sleep!
Show Notes Transcript

Theo Project brought. Wait, what you learn? Thank you for joining us again today. We wanted to talk a little bit more about some of the hormonal changes that we we kind of briefed in the last episode. But the reason why I wanted to have you back on to talk a little bit more about that and a little bit more on the sleep and caffeine issues related to food choices. Some of it comes from personal experience living in Kuwait. There was a point where I was drinking about 10 cups of coffee a day. Yeah, I was like, you know, start up in the morning. You make yourself a pot of coffee than all day. You're in meetings. The social life and entertainment is all around, you know, cafes and coffee shops. And the boring knew it. I was at a point where caffeine was just, you know, hardly even making an impact. I felt, you know, for know what it's supposed to dio And then just how it also kind of leads to some poor food choices. When you when you struggled to sleep, you know, you rely on the caffeine and just what that does Yeah, it's just kind of a lifestyle thing that I don't know if it's because of the caffeine that people are up later, but the late night are very common for a lot of people. They run on like, 4 to 5 hours asleep around holiday times that it gets pretty typical just because there's a lot of family obligations, lot of social obligations. But I think the mentality, especially with a lot of younger clients that I've had in two wait, is that they think that, like, you know, 4 to 5 hours of sleep is okay and enough and then just you know, all these caffeine options that they have, you know, for a social life or you just daily fuel, I think, to kind of help combat. That is just seems trend. So I just want to touch on that a little bit a ll this and more. Today's what are your thoughts on it?
spk_1
Those were a lot of thoughts, So
spk_0
let's start with backtracking off of the first episode and a little bit more unlike the we talked about hormonal changes in neurological changes that happened. So what specifically is happening there?
spk_1
Okay, in the last episode for people who might be remembering what we talked about. I was asked to come and speak about the addictive nature of some food, specifically sugar and flowers and, uh, how even when people want to control the amount because they know they're gaining weight or they've got diabetes, they find that they really struggle with food choices, like picking the really super sugary fatty foods over the more healthy choices, and that some of that has been engineered to be that way like it's. It works very well for the food companies to make. You have those kind of choices because you'll eat more than you normally would, and you'll eat the more expensive concoctions that are offered and part of this. It's premised on the biology of our appetite and our satiation like what satisfies us like when somebody says I'm struggling with food, please, whoever's listening, it is by no means a problem with your willpower. It's got to do with the fact that either you I have a vulnerability to specific food so that you get caught quicker than somebody else like somebody's Met might start smoking cigarettes finds that there are smoker before somebody else. You think you know, recreational? Have a cigarette here and there. I don't know if that's an issue in Kuwait, but it certainly is a big issue. What issue?
spk_0
Definitely. Yeah, Yeah, when I first got out there, they're smoking allowed, like in the malls, in the hospitals and everything. Still, I think that's just been in the last few years where they they started to decrease that. Yeah, well, first open from the fitness facilities, we had people passing out in the warm up because they just physically, you know, there's just so it was so hard for them, you know, breathing and eve

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spk_0:   0:00
Theo Project brought. Wait, what you learn? Thank you for joining us again today. We wanted to talk a little bit more about some of the hormonal changes that we we kind of briefed in the last episode. But the reason why I wanted to have you back on to talk a little bit more about that and a little bit more on the sleep and caffeine issues related to food choices. Some of it comes from personal experience living in Kuwait. There was a point where I was drinking about 10 cups of coffee a day. Yeah, I was like, you know, start up in the morning. You make yourself a pot of coffee than all day. You're in meetings. The social life and entertainment is all around, you know, cafes and coffee shops. And the boring knew it. I was at a point where caffeine was just, you know, hardly even making an impact. I felt, you know, for know what it's supposed to dio And then just how it also kind of leads to some poor food choices. When you when you struggled to sleep, you know, you rely on the caffeine and just what that does Yeah, it's just kind of a lifestyle thing that I don't know if it's because of the caffeine that people are up later, but the late night are very common for a lot of people. They run on like, 4 to 5 hours asleep around holiday times that it gets pretty typical just because there's a lot of family obligations, lot of social obligations. But I think the mentality, especially with a lot of younger clients that I've had in two wait, is that they think that, like, you know, 4 to 5 hours of sleep is okay and enough and then just you know, all these caffeine options that they have, you know, for a social life or you just daily fuel, I think, to kind of help combat. That is just seems trend. So I just want to touch on that a little bit a ll this and more. Today's what are your thoughts on it?

spk_1:   1:38
Those were a lot of thoughts, So

spk_0:   1:42
let's start with backtracking off of the first episode and a little bit more unlike the we talked about hormonal changes in neurological changes that happened. So what specifically is happening there?

spk_1:   1:50
Okay, in the last episode for people who might be remembering what we talked about. I was asked to come and speak about the addictive nature of some food, specifically sugar and flowers and, uh, how even when people want to control the amount because they know they're gaining weight or they've got diabetes, they find that they really struggle with food choices, like picking the really super sugary fatty foods over the more healthy choices, and that some of that has been engineered to be that way like it's. It works very well for the food companies to make. You have those kind of choices because you'll eat more than you normally would, and you'll eat the more expensive concoctions that are offered and part of this. It's premised on the biology of our appetite and our satiation like what satisfies us like when somebody says I'm struggling with food, please, whoever's listening, it is by no means a problem with your willpower. It's got to do with the fact that either you I have a vulnerability to specific food so that you get caught quicker than somebody else like somebody's Met might start smoking cigarettes finds that there are smoker before somebody else. You think you know, recreational? Have a cigarette here and there. I don't know if that's an issue in Kuwait, but it certainly is a big issue. What issue?

spk_0:   3:11
Definitely. Yeah, Yeah, when I first got out there, they're smoking allowed, like in the malls, in the hospitals and everything. Still, I think that's just been in the last few years where they they started to decrease that. Yeah, well, first open from the fitness facilities, we had people passing out in the warm up because they just physically, you know, there's just so it was so hard for them, you know, breathing and everything.

spk_1:   3:32
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And some people are more prone to more quick Thio respond to the effects, just like some people are more quickly can wait. Some people are quick to respond to the effects of the addictiveness, but it is a body thing. It's a physiological reason that this is happening. And even on the point of view of I'm gonna talk about the addictive natures of food. Even if we don't look at the addictive nature is just the amount of sugar and flour. And, uh, you know what we call the glycemic index. How quickly carbohydrates bring down into sugar so that breads and passed on those kinds of things become sugar more quickly than vegetables like cauliflower and lettuce and Brussels sprouts. If they become, bring them more quickly than they have. Ah, stronger effect on the body and so on the body part it tested. Use the insulin. So you know the insulin spikes when you're eating a lot of flour and you're eating a lot of sugar. It actually dampens a bit if you add fat to it. But if you got the sugar into it, that damn consent. But it's still there. That was

spk_0:   4:34
really important to understand, because carbs get demonized a lot. But understand that there's a big spectrum of your martyr. Options are options that are gonna give better information to your body,

spk_1:   4:45
like Christina thing. When people talk about carbs, what they really mean when they're demonizing it is they mean the super simple, refined carbs like, because carbs like I'm cauliflower and vegetables, basically and even grains are complex and they take a while to break down. And that gives the body a chance to, uh, manage this this Big Sugar load this big energy load of sugar, and if the body has a chance to deal it, it's like it's like a raging fire. And if the body can handle, it has the time, and it doesn't have to handle it for too long. You can manage it, you know, through the insulin. But if it's too much, it just Burton essentially burns out what we call the insulin receptors, and the person becomes insulin resistance. And so now you've got all this fuel in the form of a shoot sugar, and you can't do anything with it. He'd become diabetic. I mean, that's That's the sort of layman's definition of diabetes is that you have, ah, sugar in the blood that can't get into the cells because you've essentially scorched the receptors, you know. And now we have diabetes and the whole obesity that's associated with diabetes. Please. Listeners appreciate that. We used to believe, at least in America, that fat, major eating fat major facts. But in fact, it's true that and refined sugar, not Russell, spoke. Sugar was right. That, and so for those people who want to eat Platt based, If they're eating complex carbs, it's fine to eat cards that really is. That's what we're talking about her this simple and the only refined carbs. But anyway, when you've got all those refined sugar in the blood that can't get into the cells, that means that I'm going to be tired. It means I'm gonna be fatigue. It means I'm gonna want more sugar because I want fuel s Oh, there's that aspect of diabetes. And then there's the other aspect, which is what's happening to all that sugar and then the blood vessels. Well, it's damaging the body that all of the things that happened with diabetes, But it also gets started to what we call visceral fat or the obesity that's around the belly. And it's the type of obesity that we worry about his skyrocketing across the world that's causing what we call metabolic syndrome. I don't want to get to medical here, but these are all the conditions, like high blood pressure and high cholesterol and diabetes and heart disease and death. Eventually, all because of this excess fuel that we weren't able to absorb, and it's basically damaged her body. So that's the effect of refined sugar on the body It also hasn't affected the brain. Got all the sugar in the brain in the vessels of the brain, although there's not actually a consensus on this yet. There are enough people talking in the field about how you know all this. Excess sugar and the brain could even cause a condition like Parkinson's and Alzheimer's. So that's, Ah, another physical effect of sugar in the brain. But in the, uh, the part that I was asked to speak about when I came a few weeks ago was to talk about the addictive nature of foods. And it also changes that hole neurology in the brain, our motivational neurology, the things that we do to, you know, do things because essentially it makes me feel good to do things. And, uh, I eat particular foods. I mean, you're eating normally. Brussels sprouts and beets and carrots are delicious. If they're prepared in a nice way, they were absolutely delicious. Yeah, bring out the sugar in them like that kind of stuff. That kind of sugar is fine and fruits. Oh, good. And it's absolutely delicious. And that's because it wires up in our neurochemistry in Thea, what we call the limbic system nucleus. The comments is the particular part of the brain that's effective, and it releases bottom line. It released a lot of me, you know, for me, that's good. But the amount of dopamine that I get from roasted carrots is nice. It's nice. It's just good. I like it. We had a good meal, but I am not a carrot drink with a lot of, well, my life. Probably more like, uh, just some kind of refined sugar taking the sugar out of the carrot or out of the beat or out of the sugar cane. Now it's just the sugar itself. That's far too much for my brain. And it essentially, I'm just gonna be a simplistic Your state blasts the dopamine receptors there, too, and so that's

spk_0:   9:04
something to be aware of when, like things that are disguised as healthy, like you're thinking like, yeah, this juices, it's carrots. It's got to be good for me. But it's

spk_1:   9:13
yeah, what one of the things when you get more like when you start to read more and more about this, uh, most of us in the field, you know, we pull our hair out when we see fruit juices and my drinks and pops. I mean, it's all sugar. It's just all sugar on. None of it is good. And, you know, people always say, designed me dark. Determine you can't eat sugar. Are you any fruit? And of course you can eat food. But you the fruit in the fruit? No, you're was the extracted stuff taken out. It's assistant. We know we're gonna be talking about caffeine, but I mean, if we ate the tapping beans, are we from where it came from? It probably wouldn't be as damaging as it Is this the fact that we've taken the stuff out? Yeah, bloated it into our body that can't handle that much. It's causing all this damage, devastation, neurological devastation and in the brain that's called addiction. And in the body that's called various conditions like diabetes and heart disease.

spk_0:   10:08
Right? Right. You spoke a little bit about I say it caught my attention when you said the Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, Do you guys know exactly like what that link is? I know like sugar and definitely has an effect on it. But, like is, are there other lifestyle factors that make that more susceptible and somebody, or is that still too new in the area to know?

spk_1:   10:27
The only thing is like there's an association with the, uh the fact that you have higher amounts of blood sugar on and the sort of typical findings that you see with those conditions like with Alzheimer's. You have these on your a February tangles, and it just seems that the more amount of sugar that there is in the blood of the person, the more likely there to have those tangles which are associated with Alzheimer's. But there are so many other ways that people have so many other associations that people had, like, just not reading very much, not even being not very socially engaged. I know it's not my direct authorization, but it's and

spk_0:   11:05
sometimes that can you go hand in hand the social engagement and like feeling, you know, making the poor food choices, maybe feeling a little alone and down on yourself and then straying away from those things. I can see where that's all connected.

spk_1:   11:16
Absolutely, absolutely Socso. We're still trying to figure out the tangle of that, but you know, we see it also has Alzheimer's, our party partisans with the, uh, the deficiency of dolphin meat production. And again, it just seems to be like, Why is it that when you have this race of diabetes and these conditions that there's an increase? But, you know, we can't say it's causation alert this point,

spk_0:   11:40
right? Right? Yeah. So people are so knowing that there is a food cos they're aware that people want to make some healthier choices. So great opportunity for them. Thio, make those healthy options right. The juices. Ah, yeah, ours and all that kind of stuff. So and a lot of people turn to that for convenience. So I guess, Like, what are some tips or advice that you have for We like looking for the disguise,

spk_1:   12:04
you know, you think here is somebody's trying to, you know, how can you make a profit on this? Like, really the bottom line is we just need to get more real food and less processed food. But there's no money in real food except right farmers. And basically just try to avoid processed in like the simplest answer here is don't eat processed food and, uh, if you have to eat it very minimally and and If you think that you have to ask yourself the question, why do I have to? So if it's because you're really poor, I mean, you know, sugary choice is a lot like cereal is a lot cheaper than anything you know, mobile and blueberries and yogurt for breakfast, you know, I mean, it's you have you have to have a certain amount of a level of income to eat well, and then, if you're really busy because you want to maintain that income if you've got the extra income, I let's see hire somebody to cook the real Phillip free because it requires a lot of chopping and preparing and and all that sort of stuff on. If I don't have time to do that, I will hire somebody to do that for me or I'll go to the store and I'll buy the stuff that pre chopped and pre prepared, not freaking heard food, but the the pre prepared vegetables that I will then grocer Michael waiver, whatever myself. But the simple solution is if you can afford it, avoid processed food versus food is cheap and it's very compelling. You just see it as this is Ah product that is benefiting the food industry, not you. Now here it is, the more likely it's benefiting you because you're getting closer to your own natural metabolism. And the way that you bought is meant to eat.

spk_0:   13:39
That's really key. And that's what's different in Kuwait is a lot of people actually do have that luxury toe where they do have somebody preparing the food for them. But I think it comes down to a little bit more communication and maybe some education there of like this. This is what we want to stick to. Our this is this is what's best.

spk_1:   13:54
So if that's the case, then you have the trust of making a roasted vegetable dish versus a bread and pasta and, uh, full of syrupy food dish. And the person who's used to having that second option will be going on. Who wants the roasted vegetables? When I could have this and I'm paying the person to make this, why not? Just to know that after it only really, honestly takes three or four weeks of not eating that stuff to actually really appreciate the first option, and then you've got somebody to do that you won't even notice the time changed that. You know how much time it took her to prepare that stuff? You just noticed that you're not eating the heavier foods anymore. You don't want them anymore and no one. Behold, six months later, your sugars air better and your cholesterol is better and your weight is down. It actually goes down like it's it's possible on the good news is, is that as long as you keep eating that first option which you now love this is the message of hope. Here you will love this food, that weight that you're losing because you switched over to the 1st 1 is actually going to stay off. It's not gonna come back and bounce back, you know,

spk_0:   15:01
right? Since I had a client, the kind of want to, you know, start dabbling in this wasn't really sure where to go and French fries or like a staple it like every meal. I mean that in the homes and being prepared, you know, in home. And they're, you know, fresh fries, waken, say, but they're still, you know, fried. But starting making that transition over to like, you know, baked potato. And then slowly, you know, no fries are being served, and it kind of took the rest of the family a little bit of time. And I think that's where a lot of people struggled to is. Maybe one person is into it and the rest of the family is not. And then those temptations air kind of there. And there's that that little trouble of how do I get everybody on board with us?

spk_1:   15:36
But what can I tell you? I know I'm speaking to you. The converted for people who are less Yeah, you know, a French fry. Yes, it's delicious. But once you get the taste of that out of your mouth, which is about three or four weeks, a crispy cauliflower with some oil and onion or something is up or even the justice. Good, like that's delicious, it's wet. And I remember of any french fries. So you're actually moving into a much more cook hate like heaven for cooks, more options that are just delightful and subtle and delicious. You know, one of the things that's definitely in the American press is like you're gonna be deprived of these foods. I don't get to eat my shakes and french fries. But you're actually opening up to a whole new realm of food that actually will taste so much better,

spk_0:   16:24
right? Right. Getting creative? Yeah,

spk_1:   16:27
not a This is a message. If you eat real food again, it's a message of because you're online with your hormones and your online with your the way your body is meant to bay. So you're gonna be back to the weight that you should be. And you're gonna be back to having the food tastes that are healthy for you because that's how we're built. Right? Were manipulated out of it because it's the external environment, like the person you're smoking cigarettes. You know, you smoke eventually, so just so that you don't feel bad because you're you're in withdrawal and you getting sicker and sicker and sicker when you quit. Get past the withdrawal. It's like you get to reclaim the ability to breathe the game like you say, no longer happens and better and know that

spk_0:   17:10
I take a little bit of your freedom back. I think, take some of the power away from things.

spk_1:   17:16
One of the things that you said earlier on was some of the lifestyle stuff that you yourself, Liv, And I guess I'm other people around you, like not being not sleeping enough. I mean, lack of sleep will promote some of these behaviors. I know we're gonna talk about coffee shortly and even cigarettes. It promotes these negative behaviors because lack of sleep is a game, not something the body does well with. And I personally feel they're fine on for fine. Art is asleep, but they're compensating by these props of cigarette and of caffeine. But they're not actually find they're on props that are helping them keep them awake was asking and sicker. And ultimately, they can't enjoy good food because they're already kind of sick. And they need the extra clinch the extra wallop of refined food again as a prophet. Keep going

spk_0:   18:13
in order to get through that. Yeah, like an ideal number of sleep or what exactly I guess is happening. We know that the lack of sleep is not good for us, But do you know, like what? What? What do you mean, not giving the body a chance to process or do like after a certain amount of time or within a certain amount of

spk_1:   18:29
time. Okay, so So, um, the ideal amount of sleep really depends on the person, but I mean, people will throw around the number of 7 to 8 hours of sleep. Some people need nine and some people can get away with seven. I think anything under seven. You create what we call a sleep debt. And you know, if you're doing six, maybe seven hours a night, you might be able to catch up on the weekend. If you could sleep in, you might be able to catch up on what we call your sleep That, but if you're doing under that, you becoming chronically sleep deprived and sleep deprivation is in an extreme form is actually a form of torture, like it's actually physically very stressful. So if you're at four hours of sleep a night, er five, that's not torture. But it is stress. And what is going to do is it's gonna make you want to eat more sugar because you need to boost up. The stress itself is doing all sorts of damage. I mean, stress is meant to be this immediate health when there's danger, but over the long term, it just erodes the person's out. It's like somebody's running all the time. They're eventually gonna hurt their

spk_0:   19:34
thing about stress eating. People get confused. I was like a stress itself, an amazing feature that we we do need access to. It's what's kept us alive, just adaptable. But the load that you get under

spk_1:   19:45
people yes, Middleton and it's a superb writer like it makes you gain weight because the body is thinking, Wow, I'm under a lot of stress. I better start saving my fuel for all the stress exactly. And you get the heart disease, like the amount of adrenaline coursing through. Is it great in the short term? But it's not to be there for that long. It's all protection. Yeah, and then there's another chemical that's sort of like the chronic stress Formal, which is called cortisol and cortisol again in medicine is like, This is amazing drug that saves people's lives. You get port is all like you injected in the knee or you, if you've got a super bad rash, it'll make the rash. I mean, it's an immune suppressing that can save your life, but if you're basically when you're not sleeping, is like you're taking a low dose amount of a stress hormone called prednisone er cortisol, which is suppressing your immune system. Which means that you're gonna get colds more often. You potentially could get cancer more quickly. All sorts of things. Osteoporosis, all sorts of things that you don't want to be taking a cortisol, a friend, his own long term. And cortisol is the body's version of prednisone, basically. And if you continue to do that over a long term, you're gonna tax the body and basically age yourself much more quickly. So best thing to do is sleep well so that you don't put yourself into that state.

spk_0:   21:09
Yeah, I think we're people you talk about like the sleep debt. And I know something for myself, too, when I felt the best is not letting myself get through that through the week and then, you know, trying to catch up on the weekends. Because then I would find it's just like you kind of waste your whole day for you. No downtime murdered, maybe to go do the things that you do enjoy. So just trying to keep that routine like daily and even through the weekends, like try to keep yourself on that. That schedule, I think where people feel so sluggish on a Monday is because they've, you know, maybe stayed up later on the weekends and sleeping in longer, and then it's really hard to switch back into into that that Sunday Monday vibe. Yeah,

spk_1:   21:42
If I go now, I don't want to talk a little bit about some of the brain stuff for sleep. The other two things we know that are really important person. Besides, physical health is emotional health, like a stone. The ability, you know, you hear the term I'm gonna I'm gonna sleep on, and I'm upset, but I'm gonna sleep on it. You wake up the next morning and you feel a little bit better, because what's happened? This isn't the brain has, while you were sleeping kind of me calibrated some of the negative emotions, you know, student forces of dreaming, and through the process of cleaning up debris of random thoughts here and there that somehow mood gets better in the morning. So if you're chronically not sleeping, but probably chronically grumpy, right, you just

spk_0:   22:25
you're not giving your body a chance. Toe Exactly. Said, like filter

spk_1:   22:29
celebrate back to your natural disposition, which might be won't be anyway. But

spk_0:   22:33
not anymore, right? Right.

spk_1:   22:35
And then the other really important thing is is if a bet you anything that a chronic first he's not sleeping well, has got a bad memory because I'm sleep is really important for memory consolidation.

spk_0:   22:46
Alzheimer's. I think that's a big Linkous. Well,

spk_1:   22:48
yeah, yeah, yeah. So if you find that you just have a really bad short term memory, you're probably not sleeping enough because there's actually ah, harm another hormone, a protein that's required to make memories more memorable like long term memory. And if you're not sleeping enough, letting that process solidify.

spk_0:   23:09
Yep, I think there was a book I can't remember now who wrote it? And I know we talked a little bit about, like I think Teddy Roosevelt was also part of, You know what? She was talking about it, but basically it was like at one point bragging about you know, how much work she could get done today on only like three or four hours of sleep. And I think with all the people that were mentioned that had this kind of lifestyle, all of them had developed Alzheimer's in their old age, Really? And so it's just Ah, I have to find the name of the book I'll have to put in the show notes. But it's just it is. It's really interesting.

spk_1:   23:36
Thio Yeah, before that, you know, Is it worth it to be a burst of excitement early on? And then you cut this, Nelson. It's a slow, steady

spk_0:   23:45
same, huh? Yeah. So how about the caffeine? We want to get in tow into the coffee fix?

spk_1:   23:53
Yes. So you had said in your earlier opening comments. You drink 10 cups of coffee coffee a day, and it's interesting you can get again Caffeine. You know, it comes from tea leaves. It comes from coffee beans. It comes from chocolate. Does this sort of like the three sources? And if you were to keep it within its context, it probably wouldn't be that damaging. But again, you take this chemical out of its context, and then the alert affect the pleasant of because it does have a mood altering effect that make you happy. Happier anyway, But you take that out and then you can, uh it causes the same kind of damage The frying of receptors and overtaxing the system like all the other stuff that we talked about and with caffeine, I think probably like we can see that, like 123 cups a day, maybe. Okay, especially if it's early in the morning. By the way, although the peak effective copies within the first hour to after you've had a coffee and then you reach for another coffee you you probably did was trying to maintain because you're using it as a boost to keep your up up with the super level that you were living at. But the actual effect of it, the long term psychodynamic or psycho kinetic effects of alcohol for me of a caffeine is anywhere from 4 to 7 hours. So if you've had a coffee at three in the afternoon because you're still working and so fiver, what? All right, you're still feeling the impact of that caffeine at 10 and 11 o'clock at night just and it sounds like you're saying people are going out for coffee shops, then,

spk_0:   25:30
yeah, Oh, my gosh, like 10 o'clock at night. It's like a nightclub outside of some kind of jobs. I mean, there's lions and it's like a fashion show. It's Ah, it's a big social seeinya,

spk_1:   25:39
decaf coffee. Part of that sports are considered.

spk_0:   25:43
Can it kind of looked down upon thing? Yeah,

spk_1:   25:45
he staring. You get away with locate. Least I'm having something. Has less caffeine,

spk_0:   25:49
right? Right. It's totally celebrated, like and I think just culture in general. And I even see it here in the States of you know, where coffee is really celebrated of, like, you know, don't talk to me until I've had my coffee. Or but first coffee, you know, and this it really just blows it up over there. It's just gonna talk. This is why this is I wanted to bring these things up because we just had a talk with, um, the American University in Kuwait with the students there. And Maddie had asked a question of you know, that student life, you know, kind of going through college and and was like, You know, how many of you are sleeping, you know, under six hours a night and, you know, drinking a lot of coffee and every single hand in the room went up. So it's like, you know, it's ah, it's a problem and I think at that age, too. You think we're just young enough to kind of get through it and that when school is over, then that will be over and you don't even know maybe how good we're supposed to feel. You

spk_1:   26:38
know, that's the bottom line. You just hit it right there. You don't even know how good you're supposed to feel or how good you actually could feel right doing all that stuff because it's like, Oh, my God, I know. When I stopped eating sugar, it was like I couldn't believe how much energy I had this I didn't have the burst of energy every time I put something in my mouth. But I had just general energy living every day like it's like I felt 10 years younger, but because I had nothing that would hold in time. So rival mode new. Who knows how good you might actually feel, But nearly all that coffee. So if you think about 123 is being okay for what the body can handle, it might have something for you because you're more susceptible. If a person is more anxious by disposition, probably three is too much. Maybe wanted is the mobile or they should go just with tea or something. But anyway, about tennis considered Now we're getting into the sick like we're going to get sick. Not necessarily now. But, you know, you're moving into the realm of this is gonna give me hard, dizzy or contribute to heart disease, contribute to obesity, contribute to restaurants, all sorts of other issues. So I guess the magic number sweet spot would be probably, uh, you know, to try to stop that 12 in the like noon, have your one or two cups and then switch over to something else, like tea, which is at least half the amount of caffeine or tea shop when I was like 1/10 the amount. But the kinds of things that can happen and you know it's like this is part of the who knew is like it does increase the stress level. And so your central nerve, your adrenaline is up and therefore your cortisol is up, but you're used to it. It artificially enhanced his mood effects. Still command. It also affects serotonin was which is the social nor a chemical. Dopamine is a happy. It's exciting. I'm having a big time. And the serotonin it is. You know, I'm feeling connected and not

spk_0:   28:36
right. I've never heard anybody break those two down like that. I like that differentiation between because I think we just assumed that both of, like, happy hormones. But it's kind of like, you know, internal not touching on the social side of it. That is important

spk_1:   28:47
the way that I like to distinguish those two. Because I talked about him a lot with it. Yeah, because essentially, addiction is just taking about an enhancing at Super Big. But I talk about doping. These three I want I want to buy. I want to I want to talk. I wanted I want to do stuff. I'm excited and looking forward to the desire hormone I watch. And Sir John and Lizzie I have I'm good. Jill,

spk_0:   29:09
I like that. I like that a lot. Yeah.

spk_1:   29:11
What a great place to have both schism and China. He would touch your most of them. Uh, yeah. And plus, it gives you, like I said, a boost of adrenaline. And then overall, that the court is all so it has a mood of altering effect, for sure, and But, you know, you mentioned as so many people who drink coffee, including myself, mentioned me up in the morning. You need that coffee before you can do anything? Because you're I don't say that. You think I'm gonna go to the need of it. You become dependent on it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Addiction's a little bit more than dependence is when you start doing behaviors, feed the dependence,

spk_0:   29:47
right, getting behaviors right. So, looking for it now, that's that's an amazing, amazing breakdown. I think the I don't for me making that switch. I knew drinking 10 cups today was not good, obviously. And it took me a while to even realize because it's like I said, You have that one in the morning and then you're at meetings and it's just there, and you kind of don't even think about it after a while. And everybody else is doing it. So it is very social in that way. Yes, but I think it just it was once I got out of that work environment as well and started working, you know, just kind of for myself. But I was pouring a cup in the morning in my stomach just kind of flipped your way. And it was just like this big signal of like, No, I think that was the best. I was just like my stomach just said no. It was like no more. And so I switched to green tea, which I don't particularly enjoy it first. But the biggest thing that I found if I drink a cup of water with lemon and salt, thinks in the morning that, like, I did not have a need for my coffee anymore because it helps with the digestion, which people sometimes rely on coffee to help them with their digestion as well. Um, but it also kind of gave a little burst of energy. It helps kick start, you know, some major systems. So I don't know. Do you have any insight on the Citrus and pink salt combination on?

spk_1:   30:56
But I like that idea. I like the idea of just Citrus water, like like an orange or a little bit of lemon or something on dhe. Salt is a great idea because especially you drinking a lot of water to keep the electrolytes up. I don't give a lay insults, if that's what if that's what you get? Yes. Yeah, I got idea. Yeah. Thing that I think is if we can make socially acceptable water like you have the coffee all the time. It's like the coffee and the doughnuts. So there, all the time, right. You will eat that stuff, but I don't have it there. And we have. But I'm a real fan of carbonated water. Have a little bit of carbonated water. Tastes like the treat justice. But it has that same feeling. And what a great thing. Tohave instead of coffee when you're having your meetings in your gatherings.

spk_0:   31:42
Yep, yep. Leroy, I just had this talk with someone else. Do. They're like, I hate plain water. And I was like, Well, put some, you know, fruit in it, or make little fruit cubes and those in there and flavor it up. There's a lot of ways to get creative with it. Uh, help curb that. So yeah. Yeah. Amazing. Well, thank you so much. Is there anything else on the caffeine or anything that you you wanted to touch on for the listeners?

spk_1:   32:02
No, I don't think so. I don't think so. But, I mean, maybe just if somebody is thinking I'd like to stop again. It's it's terrorism. Withdraw all of these things because they do give us like they're bursts outside of our norm. And so they respond by wow, I like this and then you become dependent on it. And then when you stop, you're gonna withdrawal. And and just to know that when you stop, that's not life forever. That's just like for the next, I don't know, seven days like, Well, just a snapshot. Caffeine is like The withdrawal is probably at its worst on day two or three, and then Friday seven. It's done right. Similarly, was smoking cigarettes like, you know, three weeks. Four weeks later, it's done, you know, maybe takes a few more months to get used to all the social things around it. Similarly, with alcoholics, all of these things, they devastate society across the world are actually because I work in addictions. I see this. We have monthlong programs because a month is enough for the actual withdraw from after that, it's living life without that in on society where everyone else is doing it. That's the ticket on how to quit, and that's gonna be the same with the caffeine and the sugar. But if we can build small communities like, you know, I would imagine like this podcast is trying to do people who are educated and knowing and committed more building more, more options of places, right? Oh, orjust mindsets that it's not weird to not drink coffee or not in sugar, just like Oh, yeah, you're one of those people. It's like the way we see vegetarians in America. Now it's become very acceptable, but still slightly different. But they're acceptable. And actually coming now, the whole plant based movement more of a norm for options, too.

spk_0:   33:44
It was just gonna say, like building a system of support. I think it's a most morning. That's exactly what you know. This was about to I think it's stuff that we've struggled with at one point or another and just not kind of feeling like we were alone in that. But nobody isn't so if you build that little system of support and you can start to create that social environment that is actually

spk_1:   34:01
and then eventually will become the new norm.

spk_0:   34:04
Yeah, I love it. Thank you so much for coming back here. Uh, thank you. All right. We'll see you next time. Thanks for listening to this episode. If you enjoyed it, please head overto iTunes to subscribe rate and leave a review. You can also find us on Instagram at the project Kuwait. Thank you. And join us next time.