Coffee and Caffeine

As you can see from my previous posts, I am reading What to Eat by Marion Nestle for my Quarter 2 IRP. The most relevant sections to my life might have to be the subsection titled "Coffee and Caffeine". On a normal school day, I usually have one cup of coffee in the morning. Some days, I'll have a RedBull during lunch or after school. Other days, I might make a second cup of coffee when I get home from school. The main reason I consume this much caffeine is to keep myself awake while I finish up my homework or stay awake during class. From time to time I'll skip my morning coffee and my friends can usually tell and they'll ask, "Did you have your coffee this morning?".

I have recently made the realization that I need to break my habit of constant caffeine intake. As I read through Nestle's book, she says "The more caffeine you drink, the more you become accustomed to it, and the harder it is to give up" (Nestle 437).  I can definitely second this statement; as I have tried to ween myself off of caffeine, I have been getting headaches and am constantly tired. It is definitely not an easy task. But as I try, I am using this as an opportunity to further analyze my bad habits regarding caffeine that will hopefully soon by a thing of the past.

As I read through Nestle's writing on her research on coffee and caffeine, I find some very shocking statistics:

1. 30 million people in America buy a coffee from a coffee stand or shop everyday (Nestle 438).
2. Coffee raises the risk of heart disease, heart  burn, cancer, infertility, osteoporosis, ulcers, and more (Nestle 438).
3. It is scientifically proven that their in a chemical in coffee, that's not related to caffeine, that makes a person feel good when they drink it (Nestle 439).

These statistics are just a few of the points that Nestle made within this chapter of her book. The author took time to compare and contrast the pros and cons of daily caffeine intake on a person's physical and mental health. Overall, the authors main point of this section of the book was that although their are some positives when it comes to drinking a lot of coffee, it is better to only drink it occasionally in order to preserve your physical and mental health.

Question: Do you drink caffeine? How often? Do you prefer coffee or energy drinks?

Works Cited: Nestle, Marion. What to Eat. New York: North Point, 2006. Print.