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Saturday, July 17, 2010

Caffeine

Ever since High School, I have literally been addicted to caffeine.
For several reasons, I recently decided to quit.
It has been over a month now and I am so proud of myself!
My MIL shared some information with me that sent me to Wikipedia:
I was freaked out by what I found.
Why didn't they teach us this in high school!?!?

Look at that!! It looks like crack!!

Fact #1
"Caffeine is found in varying quantities in the beans, leaves, and fruit of some plants, where it acts as a natural pesticide that paralyzes and kills certain insects feeding on the plants."
Yup, Caffeine is a pesticide!! I have been addicted to pesticide!!

Fact #2
"Caffeine is the world's most widely consumed psychoactive substance, but, unlike many other psychoactive substances, it is legal.."
Psychoactive substance? That just doesn't sound good.

Fact #3
"Withdrawal symptoms — possibly including headache, irritability, an inability to concentrate, drowsiness, insomnia and pain in the stomach, upper body, and joints" 
I can testify that those really DO happen.. and it sucks.
Fact #4
In large amounts, and especially over extended periods of time, caffeine can lead to a condition known as caffeinism. Caffeinism usually combines caffeine dependency with a wide range of unpleasant physical and mental conditions including nervousness, irritability, anxiety, tremulousness, muscle twitching (hyperreflexia), insomnia, headaches, respiratory alkalosis, and heart palpitations. Furthermore, because caffeine increases the production of stomach acid, high usage over time can lead to peptic ulcers, erosive esophagitis, and gastroesophageal reflux disease.
 I don't need to see that list twice. That's enough for me. I am NEVER going back.

3 comments:

Calista said...

Since this is an old post you may not read this comment, but I had to add to the caffeine bad list - it is one of the substances that crosses the placenta and gets to the baby. Fetuses aren't programed or developed enough to handle the jittery effects of caffeine, and it can lead to miscarriages early on, and is just generally bad for the baby during pregnancy.

So way to kick it before you are thinking about getting pregnant! And way to kick it in general :)

Calista said...

Oh, and Mt. Dew kills sperm. I don't know if all caffienated beverages kill sperm, but for sure Mt. Dew does. Another thing to remember for the future when you're thinking of babies.

I'm just on a baby kick right now - sorry if this is overload :)

Amanda said...

Yup I have heard that too. It's one of the reasons that I decided to quit drinking it. I knew it would take me a while to get over it, so I figured I should try now. I'm happy to say I have been caffeine-free for about 2 months now!!