Coffee and Cravings

[Guest]

Someone mentioned in chat the other day - and I am so sorry, but i dont remember who it was now - something very interesting that I thought I would raise as a discussion point. Basically, the jist of what was said, was that "caffeine/coffee increases people's urges to drink" (who ever said this can correct me if I misunderstood what was said). I just wonder if anyone has any thoughts on this. Personally, I have found that when I have coffee, it makes me hyper, and I have tended to associate being hyper with craving alcohol (you know, that whole - ooh, I am excited etc. so I crave drinks). Although the topa is helping....I wonder what people thinK?
Love and hugs
Jen

[Guest]

Coffee and Cravings

Hi Jen. Caffeine goes up and alcohol goes down. They both affect the brain's transmitters...etc...but, please go to this link and read a VERY good post on caffeine and the brain...

Basically, it is a toxin like alcohol is a toxin and you can get caught up in the up and down of self-medication. It is a known fact that many AA participants and meetings are packed with coffee with cream and LOTS of sugar, as well as cigarettes, which the tobacco is cured with sugar. Toxin, addictions, habits...and so hard to break free from all of them. I wish I could just put myself back into the womb for 9 months to clean me out sometimes...(Mom was mormon so none of that, except maybe sugar, getting through that cord)

www.brainconnection.com/t...a/caffeine

Here's a quick excerpt from www.brainconnection.com

At least part of the reason for the proliferation of the use of caffeine?then and now?is the practically ubiquitous presence of plants containing it. Caffeine comes from an alkaloid family of generally poisonous nitrogen-containing compounds that includes the likes of strychnine, nicotine, morphine, mescaline, and emetine (the deadly ingredient in hemlock): a veritable who's who of nasty narcotics and poisons. Unlike the other compounds in this family, though, which are mostly associated with just one plant, caffeine occurs naturally in an extraordinary variety of plants?more than 100, in fact?including those as dissimilar as some lilacs and cacti.

In modern times, caffeine has handily maintained its prominence in daily life. After the consumption of water, beverages containing caffeine are the most popular on the planet?even more popular than alcohol. The United States, for example, averages 168 mg of caffeine per person every day, or about a cup and a half of coffee for each of its 275 million inhabitants each and every day. Which, as it turns out, is nothing compared to the 414 mg per day?or four cups a day per person?for the inhabitants of the Netherlands.