Coffee and sugar in a performance context

One of the most common things you will hear people in the health industry preach is that Sugar and coffee is bad for your health.

Both established health professionals, and the more alternative health conscious folks alike, will argue that cutting down as much as possible on those substances is the way to go. That we must live a clean and pure life, and that sugar and caffeine is both addictive, stresses your body, and that it is your dopamine, that is driving your lack of self control, when you ingest your favourite single estate light roasted unprocessed kenya beens.

Some health conscious people will go as far as to claim that iIf you consume a lot of coffee and sugar you are trying to compensate for something else.

That you are trying to blunt your feelings, and avoid taking responsibility of your emotional state, by drugging yourself with the poisonous substances.

But here is a question you could ask them next time they preach.

Why ? Why is it bad for us ? Their response will either satisfy your intellect, or it will leave you with vague clarity and reason.

The reason for the claims can be a result of lack of understanding the more complex connections within our physiology, or it can be a result of a simplistic way of thinking where we isolate different compounds, and dont put them into a broader context. Where food is either bad or good for us.

If you have a high demanding job, and you work in a high performance culture, you will experience periods of high stress. That is a fact.

That will place a bigger load on your nutrient and energy needs. Stress just burn more resources faster.

When we reach for that piece of cake or the 6th cup of coffee in the afternoon, it is not because our will power has evaporated and our spine has turned itself into butter.

It is a process called self regulation. Your brain does not see the point in ingesting raw broccoli and chicken breast when the energy is needed here and now.

So being mindful of your overall nutrient needs is a good strategy. Getting enough calories is a priority. You need energy for the high perfomance output. But - sugar can be an excellent tool.

Sugar will help dampen the stress response.

Sugar will help replenish energy faster.

Sugar will calm your nervous system.

Sugar will help you replenish glycogen stores in your liver.

Sugar will provide instant energy for your brain.

Sugar can help you stop muscle breakdown from a lack of available energy.

In fact sugar will help your cells produce more energy for you when you sit up late at night cleaning your inbox.

Now there is obviously a difference in the types of sugars we ingest. Some will contain mostly energy while others will have a higer nutrient content. As always the picture is more complex in terms of when what is relevant. The argument here is not that you need sugar as your only carbohydrate source. It is that low carbing or sugar restriction is a misunderstood performance tool. High performance demands energy. Sometimes sugar is a reasonable source to replenish and refuel.

But what about caffeine ? That cant possibly be healthy. Well it seems that the benefits of using caffeine far exceeds the potential downsides.

Coffee is an powerful antioxidant and is anti inflammatory

Coffee helps LDL cholesterol resistant to oxidation

Coffee increases the livers detoxification abilities

Coffee helps reduce blood pressure

Caffeine increases muscle contraction and muscular endurance

Coffee can lower the risk of chronic liver disease

Caffeine improves glucose absorption

This is just a few of the positive effects that coffee possesses. Claiming that those are bad for you or a sign that you are trying to escape your inner anxiety is - just kind of ridiculous.

I have always loved the quote of Tony Blauer that states: "The clarity with which we define something determines its usefulness".

Clarity of things will in the end be necessary for any argumentation.