Here’s why that’s exactly the thing that you should give up.
We have all heard of an “adrenaline high” and some of us are even self-proclaimed adrenaline junkies. Why are we addicted to adrenaline and what does that have to do with what we eat or drink?
Adrenaline is a hormone that is sent out when your body needs to get ready to “fight or flight”. When your body is getting ready to run, either away from or toward the perceived problem a whole bunch of reactions occur preparing your body for the event. One of those reactions is to send out hormones that trigger the pleasure centers in the brain, so that you don’t perceive pain in that moment of fighting or running. That doesn’t mean you’ll have pain after the event is over with…
When you eat or drink something that your body perceives as the enemy, the exact same reaction occurs as if it were a tiger. The body gets ready to fight that enemy, it might just all be happening internally. One of the things that occurs is that your blood pressure goes up, which you can measure by checking to see if your pulse is racing. Sugar, Cocaine or Tiger, your body reacts the same way, and your pleasure, non-pain centers, are triggered. The problem is that our bodies were not made to go into “fight or flight” mode constantly, this was supposed to be an emergency situation. So when you trigger this continually your organs start to get tired, they wear down and stop functioning appropriately. Signs of disease start showing up.
Dr. Arthur Coca noticed that pulse increases when something is ingested that a person is sensitive to – “allergic” is what he describes in his book “The Pulse Test”.
Following on Dr. Coca’s theory, here’s one easy thing you can do at home to see if you are reacting to
Close up of a stopwatch
something you are eating or drinking – the pulse test. Take your pulse for a minute – no cheating by counting for 15 seconds and then extrapolating for the remaining of the time – actually count your pulse for 60 seconds. Then place something in your mouth and take your pulse again for one minute while keeping that food item in your mouth. Your nervous system will react letting your body know that an enemy is coming and raise your pulse. If it goes up by at least 6 beats, this could mean your body considers it an enemy. It’s not full proof, but it could be a tool.
In my quest to heal my gut over the last few months I started drinking Kombucha. For those of you that don’t know what that is – it is a fermented tea. Kombucha is produced by fermenting tea using a “symbiotic ‘colony’
of bacteria and yeast” (SCOBY). It contains some incredibly awesome probiotics, which help maintain the good gut flora we all need. I can write a whole blog post on what the gut flora is responsible for, but for the purposes of this discussion, just know you NEED good gut flora.
Kombucha is awesome for most individuals, except those individuals that have a yeast intolerance/sensitivity. The information seems to be mixed on whether Kombucha is good or bad for those individuals that suffer with Candida overgrowth in their gut. Candida is a form of yeast that can become overgrown in your gut causing several health issues. All I know is that I am prone to Candida and healing from this is one of the reasons I have been trying to help my gut.
I ignored all of the signs. I knew my blood pressure rose when I drank it and when I actually Coca pulse tested the Kombucha, it tested positive. But here’s where you have to admit that there’s a problem. I continued drinking it because – I Love It! It was likely triggering those pleasure spots in my brain just like an addiction. So for the past month I drank it every day. I have had two migraines, hives on my leg, acne on my face, my hair is falling out, my adrenals are weak causing lower back pain, and my gut is a mess again. Exactly the opposite of what I was trying to accomplish. I finally admitted it last week and stopped drinking it.
There truly is something to be said for admitting that this “thing” is a problem, because at this stage you now have a choice of what to do.
That choice is hard – this week in Austin I happened to be eating at a great grass-fed beef burger joint that had Kombucha on tap – it was the hardest thing not to order it!
But in my mind I was able to choose long term health and not short term pleasure.
Is there something you are eating or drinking that you should evaluate – and maybe get rid of out of your diet?