So, coffee is probably the third most common nutrition question that we get here on a regular basis after sugar and carbohydrates. So I wanted to make a video and get a bit deeper into the topic. So, if you are dealing with infertility and failed IVF and recurrent miscarriages as a fertility practitioner, I will suggest that you consider completely cutting out caffeine not because it’s easy to do, but that’s going to get you the best outcome. If you can’t completely cut it out, at least consider just cutting back on the amount of caffeine. So, I’ve had a lot of patients who are trying to negotiate with me on this topic and ask me, Hey! what about just half a cup or just one cup a day and I think that’s a reasonable personal choice that you can make on your own. I believe in the 80-20 percent rule, if you can stay and eat clean 80 percent of the time what you put into your body. The twenty percent might just be what keeps you sane and make your journey more sustainable for the long term.
Remember, you are running a marathon and not a sprint. So, when I talk about caffeine what I’m talking about are foods and drinks that contain caffeine including cocoa, beans as in chocolate, chocolate ice cream or cake or anything chocolate flavored. Coffee, of course soda energy drinks and tea that come from the tea plant, Camellia Sinensis such as black and green tea, oolong tea, yerba Mate, etc. So, this does not include non-caffeinated herbal tea such as ginger tea and fruity teas. Caffeine is super super popular especially, where I live here in Seattle. Thanks to Starbucks
at every corner. About 9% of Americans consume daily caffeine. It’s the most commonly consumed psychoactive substance, which is a substance that alters perception or mood. So, it does this by a changing brain function, quite crazy Right! It also kicks up adrenaline and other stress hormones which can trigger you into fight or flight, which basically gives your body the signal that you may be being chased by a bear. So, this artificial stimulation is going to tax your kidneys and your adrenals.
Especially, if you’re already tired and sluggish all the time and while it may increase your energy temporarily, it’s like drawing money from an empty bank account to take a temporary satisfaction. But at the end of the day your fertility may be worse off. So, when your body’s and fighter flight it will activate physical functions that will allow you to survive and run effectively from a bear which in turn will reduce your body’s parasympathetic nervous system and by that, I mean your body’s rest and digest and the rest and digest includes regeneration of the body. Healing, you know pretty healing blood to your sex organs to regenerate.
So, a lot of people who drink caffeine such as coffee and soda and energy drinks for instance, they drink it sweets with either sugar or high fructose corn syrup or artificial sweeteners, which all can be harming to your health and make yourself aged faster including the cells that make up your fertility organs. So, according to some studies caffeine also has shown to reduce blood flow to the sex organs directly in men and reduce sperm counts as well as sperm quality and while it’s not obvious with lower amounts like one cup of coffee the correlation between caffeine and infertility becomes clearer with higher amounts of caffeine. Studies have also shown that women who drink at least one can of soda per day, have a 25% lower probability to conceive and men who drink just one can of soda per day have a 33% lower probability to conceive. Why it’s actually more impacted in men, I’m not sure. These results also may be impacted by the fact that people who drink sugary soda are also more likely to eat less healthy and exercise less.
So, if you are struggling with infertility and have trouble quitting caffeine, I would recommend tapering down slowly or just cutting back. You know or replacing it with decaf and some other drink that you enjoy. I myself enjoy sparkling water with some orange and lemon slices every morning, a selection of herbal teas including mint teas which is also good for the digestive system as well as digestive teas that you can find at your local health food store. If you decide that you want to drink caffeinated drinks that’s okay, I’m not here to judge I’m here to help you. But I would recommend going for the slightly improved version like Zevia soda instead of regular soda which is sweetened with stevia and does not impact your body as much as well as your blood sugar levels as much. You can also try going half decaf or only do black coffee that you may sweeten with stevia instead of regular sugar. You can also try the bulletproof version of coffee or tea and while, it still has caffeine it at least doesn’t have a lot of dairy and sugar and other toxins. You can just google a bulletproof tea, bulletproof coffee and you will find a bunch of delicious recipes.
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