Fasting and Caffeine Addiction

There are more coffee drug addicts in the US than drug addicts of any other kind. Charles F. Withal. 

Caffeine is the Christian drug of choice. Its nutty aroma fills every church. Cigarettes and alcohol are not permitted but a two-hundred-gallon pot of this black, adrenal-stimulant will attract hundreds of Christians with their drug paraphernalia, usually Styrofoam cups.

Caffeine is highly addictive. Quitting coffee can cause withdrawal symptoms such as headaches, sleepiness and irritability. The acidic nature of coffee can lead to stomach ulcers. When the excess acid enters the bloodstream, it increases calcium loss in urine. Both coffee and tea have no nutritional value. Tannin, the substance that makes teacups brown and coats teapots, is used for tanning leather. Imagine the stomach after twenty years of tea drinking.

Coca-Cola put cocaine in their drink at the turn of the century. It sold extremely well. Some consumers succumbed to the addictive quality of cocaine and started to drink undiluted Cola syrup. When cocaine was banned for use in soft drinks, the bottlers switched to caffeine. The top selling soft drinks are loaded with caffeine: Coca-Cola, 34 mg, Mountain Dew, 55 mg, and TAB, 46.8 mg. Similarly, instant coffee contains 65-100 mg. per cup.

On those warm summer days, young children, with half the adult weight and three times their sensitivity, can drink large amounts of caffeinated pop. One can of cola for them is equivalent to 3 cups of instant coffee for an adult. Caffeine, combined with sugar, salt, and a diet high in synthetic food, creates one unmanageable youngster.

Caffeine can be found in cold remedies, diet pills, wake-up pills, chocolate and painkillers. Over the counter and prescription pain killers will add to your caffeine quota: Excedrin, 65 mg; Midol, 32 mg; Anacin, 32 mg; Darvon Compound, 32 mg; and Fiorinal, 32 mg. Instead of healing the cold, caffeine slows down the elimination of mucus and destroys vitamin C.

In a survey, the four top reasons for people quitting coffee were: central nervous system disorders, 39%; gastrointestinal problems, 37%; to break the addiction, 19%; and fibrocystic breast tumors, 15%.

Caffeine is able to penetrate deep into vital tissue. Evidence shows that it may be linked to male infertility and also birth defects by passing through the placenta. Drinking coffee during breast-feeding will cause caffeine to be present in mothers' milk.

Caffeine has a powerful effect on coronary arteries and the pulmonary and systemic vessels, causing a greater flow of blood to the heart muscle, but decreasing the flow of blood to the brain by constricting cerebral blood vessels. Caffeine can cause abnormally fast, abnormally slow and irregular heartbeats. It also wreaks havoc on blood pressure, commonly producing hypertension. Coffee has been linked to heart disease, pancreas and bladder cancer and hypoglycemia.

Caffeine is a central nervous system stimulant, providing that familiar kick on which we have come to depend. As with all stimulants, there is a price to be paid. If you run the body on overdrive for an extended period of time by artificially stimulating the adrenals, expect breakdown to occur.