Why is caffeine excluded from the Reversal diet?

Caffeine is excluded on the Reversal diet for the reasons described in chapter 2 of the book, Dean Ornish’s Program for Reversing Heart Disease. Although we sometimes believe that caffeine gives us energy, it only borrows energy from the future.

When you drink a cup of coffee, the caffeine chemically stimulates your sympathetic nervous system. As a result, your level of adrenaline and other stress hormones quickly begins to rise.

You don't get something for nothing, unfortunately, and so later in the day your energy level begins to fall even lower than it was when you started.

There is a good cure for that low feeling - another cup of coffee. And this is one reason why stimulants are so addictive.

This cycle of addiction is seen in much more exaggerated ways with other stimulants, including nicotine, cocaine, and amphetamines, and in its most extreme forms when cocaine ("crack") or methamphetamine ("speed" or "ice") are smoked or injected. The highs are much higher, and the lows are much lower. Again, there is a temporary remedy for the low feeling: another cigarette. Or another line of cocaine. Or a shot of speed. This is the cycle of addiction that makes it so hard for people to stop.

Find out more about this book: Dr. Dean Ornish's Program for Reversing Heart Disease: The Only System Scie...

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