Jason Shon Bennett

In October Hardy's and Lifestream hosted Jason Shon Bennett at the 'Look good, feel great' events throughout New Zealand.  Jason Shon Bennett is one of New Zealand's most knowledgable natural health researchers and presenters.  With over 25 years experience he has transformed the health of thousands of people through providing education on diet and lifestyle choices.

After giving a sobering update on the health status of the New Zealand population, Jason outlined some fantastic diet and lifestyle tips that will not only make you look and feel great but will also dramatically increase your chances of living a long healthy life free of drugs and disease.

Over the next few months we will continue to add small pieces of information on topics covered in Jason's presentation. 

 

Why I recommend you give up coffee

The growth of coffee as a ‘daily fix’ has been a modern day success story.  Coffee is easily now the most popular drink in the world with over 400 billion cups consumed every year.  Between 80% and 90% of adults and children in the western world consume caffeine daily (adults through coffee and kids through soft drinks).  Caffeine alone is a dehydrating neurotoxic insecticide (same as morphine and cocaine).  You generally tend to drink coffee when you are tired or stressed (hence the expression “coffee stress head”), which is the very worst time you can intake caffeine as it removes nor-adrenaline.  Nor-adrenaline plays a critical role in your moods, your memory and your behaviour.  Caffeine also wipes out your B vitamin, zinc and iron stores (which help you deal with stress) and lowers thyroxine and lowers nor-adrenaline.  Then you get even more stressed and stress itself also depletes the body’s reserves of nor-adrenaline - a triple destructive whammy. 

Tired and stressed much?
So then you are tired and stressed with a B-vitamin and mineral deficiency.  When this happens your adrenal glands are called upon to produce quick energy.  Caffeine stimulates the adrenal glands to induce the breakdown and release of liver glycogen, releasing it as blood sugar, giving you an energy hit.  Your pancreas then responds by excreting higher levels of insulin than usual to try and bring back your blood sugar to normal levels.  Your adrenals then produce higher levels of cortisol and adrenalin because your body goes into survival mode.  They then get impaired or worn out, leaving you even more exhausted.  Adrenalin and cortisol are basically ‘worry about the consequences later’ hormones.  If they are at high levels continuously over a 24-hour period, they provoke internal damage.  The genes that control the narrowing of blood vessels are dependent on cortisol. 

A vicious cycle
Coffee stresses and over-stimulates the adrenal glands which stops long-term repair processes.  You then get addicted to the rush of caffeine as a replacement energy source as the body’s own adrenal glands are unable to help (can’t get out of bed in the mornings?).  Before long, you are completely addicted into a vicious acidic cycle.  Long-term coffee use usually causes overworked adrenals, an exhausted pancreas, disturbed blood sugar, unbalanced hormonal levels and a seriously overtaxed nervous system. This is why too much coffee or caffeine causes your hands to shake. 

We know coffee raises blood pressure
The bottom line?  Continuous long-term coffee drinking → over-stimulates cortisol production → adjusts the way your genes express themselves → blood vessels stay narrowed → raises blood pressure → heart attack, heart failure, cardiovascular disease and stroke.  Around 40% of New Zealander deaths every year are from cardiovascular disease.  The biggest precursor to this highly preventable death rate is hypertension (high blood pressure).  Coffee food intolerances in the UK doubled between 2003-2007 alone; reactions include itchy skin, depression, migraine headaches, IBS, fatigue and joint pains.  You can start to see how the simplest changes (give up coffee) will make the biggest difference to your health and longevity.  Anyone interested in high level health should avoid coffee and sugar. 

To learn more about Jason Shon Bennett please visit www.jasonshonbennett.com