Marina Kushner - The Truth about Coffee

F OREWORD

We currently live in a society where the coffee shop is our center for worship, and our cup of coffee has become our ultimate thirst. We fool ourselves into thinking that the only bad part of coffee is the caffeine, and we go on drinking decaf. But the evidence is striking-coffee is indeed a drug and a dangerous one.

The book you are about to read is a must for every coffee drinker and for every person who knows a coffee drinker. The facts are well laid out, and the information is presented in a very clear fashion. Coffee is dangerous and should be avoided because it causes health problems. Not only will the coffee cause havoc to your brain chemicals, but will throw your adrenal hormones into havoc.

In my organic medicine practice, I am consistently hearing patients tell me that they need their morning cup of coffee to get them going. They tell me that without their coffee, they would not be able to think clearly or have the energy to get through the day. Just like trying to get patients to stop smoking, I have to use amino acids to help my patients kick the coffee habit. But once they stop drinking their cup of java, their appetite comes back and for the first time they are able to feel energy without artificially feeling jittery.

A patient of mine recently came to see me with the complaints of migraine headaches. These headaches were becoming more and more frequent and were very disturbing for him. The first test I ran on him was a Food Sensitivity Test and that showed that his number one Food Intolerance was Coffee. He stopped drinking his one-half cup per day, and his migraines headaches disappeared.

I think we are beginning to wake up to this new reality. Just recently, Starbucks had to close several hundred stores. We have begun the search for our next magical elixir. Coffee is indeed a flavorful after dinner drink, but as the writer of this book clearly shows, comes with a cost. Coffee is notorious for making fibrocystic breast disease worse and for causing gastrointestinal upset, but coffee also is addicting and plays with our minds. We feel that we need our coffee just to open our eyes, to enjoy, while we wait for a friend to arrive, or to just pass the time we spend with ourselves. Coffee has become what cigarettes used to bea way to pass the time.

I am confident that you will find this book a delight to read and share with others. And while there are numerous sources for you to learn about all of the different types of coffee you can drink, this is the first book of its kind to provide such a concise and comprehensive look at the truth about coffee.

After reading this book, the next time you go out to the coffee shop or grocery store or restaurant, you will begin to see coffee in a new and better light. You will no longer see coffee as just a tasty morning drink or as an after dinner delight. No, from now on, you will see coffee as the drug that it clearly is.

Craig Koniver, M.D.

Chapter One
Kicking the Coffee Habit

Millions of people are addicted to coffee, putting themselves at risk for dozens of diseases, some of which may be fatal. They need their cup of coffee just as smokers need their cigarettes. The symptoms of caffeine withdrawal can be just as painful and even longer lasting than those experienced by the most chronic alcoholics. And, just like the other junkies, dependence strips coffee addicts of their freedom. They give up their minds, bodies, and sometimes even their lives to their debilitating drug of choice: coffee.

Likewise, it could be argued that some drugs might produce more obvious diseases both mental and physical than coffee addiction does. However, coffee is the number one enemy of public's health. More people are addicted to coffee than to any other drug. No other addiction is as prevalent as coffee addiction, yet we profess to know so little about it. Lastly, there is no other addiction that has been the object of so few discussions. This spirited polemic may serve as an important one.