Time to get into the sticky weeds of Caffeine, Coffee and Anxiety. This week is part 2 of the episode from two weeks ago with Kate Brock of Kate’s Whole Life where we talked all about anxiety, generalized anxiety disorder vs. chronic stress, and Kate’s personal struggle with anxiety. Be sure to listen to Episode 33 if you haven’t already!

PS – don’t forget to check out our September Whole30 group at dcwhole30.com if you want to get in on the fun, support and accountability of doing a Whole30 led by TWO Whole30 coaches!

At the end of the previous episode, we started to talk about why Kate gave up caffeine to help manage her anxiety, since she was already in a permanent state of fight or flight and chronic stress, and what happened to her recently when she had a full caffeinated cup of coffee. Spoiler alert – it wasn’t great, and it totally reinforced why she had given up caffeine pretty much for good.

This episode we’re digging into a bunch of listener questions, talking about what we’ve learned about how caffeine affects the body, your hormones, your ability to cope with stress, and anxiety in our multiple experiments of giving it up.

IN THIS EPISODE, WE TALK ABOUT:

Kate’s disastrous coffee reintroduction
Why we cut out coffee for 60 days and how it impacted anxiety vs. stress
How decaf vs. caffeinated coffee can affect someone with anxiety
Amounts of caffeine and pesticides in decaf coffee – and why it’s so important to source coffee organically
Caffeine in coffee vs. kombucha, green tea, black tea, and matcha and how that can affect anxiety
How to transition from drinking multiple cups of coffee daily down to zero caffeine (without feeling like crap)
Coffee and constipation – and what to do if you rely on coffee to move your bowels daily
How coffee activates your fight or flight response
The impact of coffee on cortisol, blood sugar, hormones, and stress