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Are Caffeine and I Breaking Up?

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Over the years I’ve heard a lot of pros and cons of coffee. Some people believe that caffeine is helpful to overall health and wellness. Other people think it can severely hinder efforts to lose weight and get healthy from the inside out.

I did some research on the topic to see if I could convince myself one way or the other about whether or not to cut caffeine from my daily routine. But guess what—I’m still just as confused as ever! Instead of making an argument for either side, I’m just going to share some pros and cons with you and so you can decide if caffeine has a place in your life.

P.S. I’m totally drinking a soy latte right now…so take that as you will.

Why You Should Drink Caffeine

There seem to be a lot of medical and weight loss articles boasting about the positive effects of caffeine on the body. In an article on Authority Nutrition, Aline Petre, MS, RD wrote that caffeine can improve brain function and blocks signals to molecules like adenosine, which can negatively affect the way you feel. Some people even say that caffeine helps them think clearly and stay focused throughout the day.

In this same article, Petre also argues that caffeine can help increase a person’s metabolism, which helps the body burn more calories in a day. It can also prevent quick muscle fatigue so you can go harder in the gym. This is why most pre-workout supplements contain caffeine.

As far as health benefits, many experts agree that a certain amount of caffeine can improve body function while lowering the risk for certain diseases. Sara Altshul of The Huffington Post points out that some studies have shown that caffeine could lower the risk for skin cancer, stroke, and heart conditions.

Why You Should Think About that Next Cup of Joe

Before you head on a rampage to your local coffee shop and order the biggest, most sugar-filled drink on the menu, take note that too much caffeine can have really adverse effects on your whole body.

First of all, adding a lot of sugar and creamer to a drink will throw your blood sugar for a loop. Ideally, your blood sugar is supposed to stay pretty neutral throughout the day. If you go too long without eating, your blood sugar takes a dive. If you eat too many carbs or too much sugar, it soars. These drastic changes are not good for your body, which is designed to survive in an environment that does not have grocery stores and fast food joints standing on every corner. Once your blood sugar is out of whack, your body devotes a lot of time and energy to stabilizing it, which can throw off other parts of your system. A grande caramel macchiato has 33 grams of sugar in it. Men are supposed to have 37.5 grams of sugar and women are supposed to have 25 grams in an entire day! I know this is not directly related to caffeine, but most people I know choose a flavored coffee drink over a cup of straight black java.

Alisa Vitti is a functional nutritionist and women’s hormone expert who cured her PCOS naturally with food. She believes that caffeine in any form is detrimental to women, especially those who already have hormonal issues. Men can metabolize caffeine faster than women and their bodies get rid of fluids faster than ours do. Since the female body is designed to grow another human being, we have some safety measures that affect other parts of our lives. We hold onto fluids longer and do not metabolize them quickly. This gives caffeine the chance to affect our sleep cycles, wreak havoc on our adrenal system, and really mess with our hormones. Vitti does not think women should have caffeine in any form, but women with PCOS should definitely stay away from it.

Too much caffeine also increases the risk for insomnia and irritability. It might upset your stomach or noticeably increase your heart rate. It might also interact badly with certain medications. Let your doctor know if you are a big coffee drinker before taking any prescriptions.

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The Choice is Yours

Some people metabolize caffeine better than others and do not experience any negative effects from it. Other people (like me) can’t have more than one cup a day without feeling jittery. If you do not feel like you can live without your daily caffeine fix, I’m definitely not telling you to ditch your morning brew. If you do drink caffeine, though, the Mayo Clinic recommends that you have no more than 400 milligrams (4 cups of brewed coffee) per day.

I personally have never been a big coffee drinker and I can easily go a day without it. Since it seems to have such a big impact on me, I might try to switch to herbal tea for a few weeks to see what happens. I’ll keep you guys posted!

What I’ve Learned About PCOS

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PCOS is a jerk. On top of that, it is mysterious and sneaky. I’ve known that I have PCOS for the last 8 years and I have spent A LOT of time researching it. Here are some of the things I’ve learned about this rude disorder from my own experience with it:

It’s Different in Everyone- Remember how you’d learn a grammar rule in English class and just when you had it down, your teacher said, “but here are the exceptions to this rule?” Yeah, that’s kind of what PCOS is like. Since it is a hormonal disorder and everyone’s hormonal makeup is unique, there is no one rule that defines
PCOS and how it affects people. As it stands, there are not many people even talking about PCOS. Unfortunately, a lot of the ones who talk about it do tend to think of it as a blanket disorder that can be lumped into one box. It is not. Some girls have facial hair…I do not. Some girls have thinning hair…I do not. Some girls get regular periods..I do not. Pay attention to your unique symptoms so you can find the right way to treat them.
Birth Control Does Not Cure PCOS-If you have PCOS and have been to a doctor, they probably tried to put you on birth control. While it might force a period and cover up some other symptoms like bad acne, it does not actually cure PCOS. As soon as you stop taking it, your symptoms will probably come back. Some people feel more comfortable taking the pill and that’s fine. In my PCOS journey, though, I found that birth control caused more trouble than it was worth.
It Doesn’t Define You-I have spent so much time hiding my PCOS. It made me feel ashamed and embarrassed. It made me feel like I was less than. I wouldn’t even bring it up because I didn’t want people to judge me about it. But guess what? It’s not my fault. I didn’t do anything to get PCOS. But it is definitely up to me to decide how I handle it. And I’ve decided that I’m tired of hiding it.
Eating Right and Exercising Does Help…Even If The Results are Slow-I have spent years killing myself with hardcore workouts. In fact, a nutritionist once told me that I work out at an athlete level. Unfortunately, the way I look does not reflect that. Believe me, I understand how frustrating it is to try to lose weight when you have PCOS. The second I stop exercising I start to gain weight. The PCOS weight loss struggle is full of disappointment. But that doesn’t mean it’s not worth it to keep doing your best. Eating right and exercising does help.
It Is So Important to Do Your Own Research-In my experience, a lot of doctors try to treat the effects of PCOS and not really the causes. Even if these treatments work temporarily, they very rarely have long-term success. If you do not feel like Metformin is the right course of action for you and your PCOS, do some research to find the right alternative therapy for your needs. I am definitely not saying you should avoid the doctor or even that you should disregard their medical advice. I’m just saying that it is important for you to spend some time researching so you understand what is happening with your body.

Finding the “Why”

The other day a friend asked me how I stay motivated to work out. Even though I have been exercising pretty regularly since I was 14 (I’m now 32), I had to stop to really think about the answer. The truth was, in all the years of popping in workout DVDs, doing dead lifts at the gym, or sweating my way around a track, I had never once asked myself that question. But knowing why you work out is almost as important as actually doing it.

At first I said, “I just make it a part of my routine and it’s easy to keep doing it.”

“No,” my friend said with a shake of her head. “That’s not what keeps you motivated. I’ve started and stopped working out so many times over the years, but you have always been really consistent with it. What’s your secret?”

I looked around the dimly-lit restaurant and wondered what the people around us would think if they could overhear this conversation. My friend has four children, but she is slimmer now than she was before she started having kids. I am much more on the curvy side and I found myself scrunching up a bit as if to hide my body as I thought about my real answer.

“Well, I guess part of it is that working out gives me the chance to turn my brain off for a while. I overthink everything. Literally everything. And I can kind of escape that when I work out,” I started.

My friend nodded and took a sip of her drink.

“But I don’t think that’s it,” I added. She turned her blue eyes back to me, ready to hear the next part of my answer. “I think that a big part of it is that I don’t want people to look at me and automatically think that I don’t ever work out. Inside I feel athletic and strong. I know I don’t necessarily look that way, though, so working out is my way to prove it to the world?” It comes out like a question because it’s not really something I’ve ever admitted out loud.

I, like many women in my age bracket, suffer from polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). This complicated name basically means that my hormones are out of whack and that my body does not process insulin the right way. Because of this, my periods have never been regular, I sometimes suffer from cystic acne, and, the hardest side effect for me, it is incredibly hard to lose weight and very easy to gain it.

Compared to some women who have PCOS, I know I have a very mild case. I do not have excessive facial hair and the hair on the top of my head is far from thinning. I do not have diabetes and I do not weigh anything close to 300 pounds. But I also know that my PCOS isn’t as severe as it could be because I spend so much time exercising.

One of the only times I noticed a significant decrease in my weight was when I went to school in Boston. At the time, I lived a mile away from the train, which meant I automatically walked two miles if I went anywhere during the day. Although I didn’t have a step counter back then, I’d estimate that I usually walked closer to seven or eight miles by the time I returned home for the day. A few times a week, I also ran a mile and a half in addition to the miles I walked. To top it all off, I did two Jillian Michaels’ workouts in one day. Although no Jillian workout is easy, my daily routine consisted of two of the most advanced DVDs.

That is an unsustainable amount of exercise to have to do just to see some results. To be fair, I was not really modifying my diet at all, but most people start to see weight-loss results if they just walk more than they normally do. Even with that level of physical activity, I wouldn’t have considered myself “thin.”

Throughout the past few years, I have studied a lot about nutrition. I’m still trying to find the right balance between what I eat and how much I work out. I have made a big effort to cut out certain foods that are bad for PCOS. Like dairy, which I just discovered

I’m allergic to anyway.

The more I thought about why I work out, the more I realized that the answer has many layers. In addition to everything I have already mentioned, working out also makes me feel strong. This strength is not all physical, however. In fact, much of it is mental. When I can successfully complete a workout with crazy moves like burpees, scissor jumps, military-style pushups, and jump lunges, it makes me feel like I can complete other tasks in my daily life. I notice if I skip a few workouts, my confidence starts to slip in other areas.

So, why do I work out? I do it because it’s a part of me and it makes the other parts of me better. I do it because I don’t want PCOS to dictate my life. I do it because, as crazy as it sounds, I find it fun. But mostly, I do it because I believe that I deserve more.

Getting in some steps with my dog Madigan