Confessions of a Coffee Heathen

I have never been a big coffee fan. I had no problem giving it up when I joined the church. But caffeine! I loved my diet coke (and you are right, aspartame is horrible for me). I had the high pressure 12 hour a day job as well, and used it to get through my day.

BUT I have three kids, and I nurse for at least a year. My youngest is two months old. Caffeine isn’t an option when nursing a little baby, at least not for my babies. They get wide eyed and over tired and then everyone is miserable. So I have to cold turkey it. And get more sleep. And every time I have had to do this, I feel better. I do the same sort of things with sweets. It’s late at night, and I need to go to bed, and I’m tired, but instead I get myself a sugary snack for the energy boost. I really should just go to bed.

I’ve never been a fan of the whole ‘we have to do it to learn obedience’ train of thought. What happened to agency? Why would a Heavenly Father want us to learn to do what we are told mindlessly if the point of us being here was a plan of happiness that involved choice?

I wonder why the word of wisdom doesn’t mention getting sleep and exercise, or it’s not completely enforced to include eating meat sparingly? If those areas are open for broad interpretation, then I don’t see why you can’t have a cup of coffee.

I love coffee, the smell and the taste. But, I gave it up when I returned to the church. Green tea is probably better if you’re switching for health reasons.

Maybe soda is worse for you than coffee, so in that sense you’re making the right choice. But you do also have another choice. You can decide to stop being addicted to caffeine altogether. I did it not that long ago. I drink water now or soy milk. I feel so much better! My sleep is deeper and more restful, and I get about an hour more of it a day. I don’t know how to describe it, really, I just feel HEALTHIER…. saner, calmer, more hydrated, more rested. I highly recommend giving up caffeine.

Varying caffeine levels in your blood can also cause severe headaches, similar to migraines. Drinking coffee during the week and not on weekends can cause you to have intense weekend headaches that spoil the best days of your week. In addition, coffee causes a lot of digestive problems. I heard an enterologist once say he averaged one miracle cure a week of people with digestive difficulties by taking them off coffee.

You think it’s impossible to kick caffeine but it really isn’t at all. Remember, the WoW is “adapted to the capacity of the weak and the weakest of all saints, who are or can be called saints.” This is a promise that we can do it if we try. You can absolutely depend on that promise. Also, the struggle to give it up is highly beneficial in itself. There are great blessings that accrue from calling upon the Lord in our weakness to succor us.

So, while I support your switch to coffee as a way of improving your health and your pocketbook, I encourage you to make that the first step you take in your path to kicking the caffeine habit altogether. You’ll be so much better off!

My only advice is not to publish your experience in a popular calendar.

I struggle with what to drink.I need to lose pounds so I do alot of Summer hiking and other activities. i have to hydrate. I got off diet pepsi because everyone says it contributed to mt weight issues. So I switched to other fruit stuff. It either has too much sugar or aspartane and for some reason this version of aspartame gave me headaches. I do like vitamin water and g2 gatorade but after all the hastling I decided that diet pepsi was more convienient & cheaper and didn’t make me sick. I can drink it up to bedtime and still sleep. So what can I do? It fits & works. Yeah water makes me not hydrate so I lose ground and get light headed so good ol water isn’t the trick. Hot coffee is a lame anser to your health & spiritual issues/

I wish that coffe and tea weren’t part of the WofW. I would love to be able to drink those things. It is so hard for me to explain to nonmembers that I can’t drink coffee but please pass the cokes and the ding dongs. That is so obviously nonsensical that it makes the whole Wof W seem illogical. I know that they can’t list each thing that is bad for you and we are to use sense, but it is still strange that coffee will keep me out of the temple but coke won’t. That being said, I still would rather pass on them than lose my temple recommend.

Check out mate (pronounced mah-tay) sweetened with stevia. It’s delicious, all-natural, will get you going, and won’t stand in the way of your temple recommend. Although it does have diuretic properties and makes you pee a ton.

The reinterpretation of the WoW for modern folks like us has been done many times in General Conference. We have these dudes called as “prophets, seers, and revelators” who are tasked with that sort of thing. If you want to know how the Lord wants the church in general to understand it, go to them.

Individual circumstances need to be (wisely) taken into account as well. For example, it’s very GOOD for my family to eat meat, especially fish and poultry. (This has to do with neurochemical traits that run on both sides.) So we eat lots of meat. In that vein, do you think perhaps you’re self-medicating? Long after quitting caffeine, do you find some aspect of your life functionally impaired? If that’s the case, I’d strongly suggest you quit the coffee to 1) demonstrate solidarity with the “weakest” of the Saints, and 2) find a substitute that’s easier to dose consistently.

My take on exceptions to rules: it can be dangerous to always assume that you are an exception, but if you are, it’s critical to find out exactly how. That allows you to be as inwardly and outwardly obedient as you can. (Note that I’m not talking as a Pharisee, but as a die-hard de facto member of the Mormon grace movement.)

Regarding the caffeine boogeyman: it really can be nasty stuff, and is much worse than suger when ingested uncontrolled. Its main CNS function is as an adenosine antagonist. That means it binds to the same neuroreceptors as adenosine, but doesn’t have the same inhibitory effect. Adenosine is used as your brain’s “I’m too tired to think anymore” signal.

Blocking adenosine overstimulates neurons. They respond by exposing MORE adenosine receptors, making every last neuron in your head more sensitive to it. So if you overdo the caffeine (which is EASY), you’ll eventually find yourself unable to function without it in the same high doses. This is the basis of its physiological addiction, and also why withdrawal is so darned nasty.

RE 16,

I can second the part about Mate. However, it is an acquired taste and it might be a few weeks before you consider it “delicious.” But it does give you a gentle “get-up-and-go.” You might learn to like it without the sweetener (again, takes time) and you can find it available in different fruit flavors (usually citrus works best, orange, etc). You can get it online from Amigofoods.com.

I don’t know if it has changed, but my friend was on a mission in Uraguay in the late 70s and they were not allowed to drink mate – they were told it was worse than coffee as far as a stimulant.

I disagree with Hawkgrrrl, I think the Word of Wisdom as seen by Joseph Smith was a acquiescence to Sydney Rigden. I am pretty sure that after it was introduced it never caused him much thought after that. Uniting with the saints is a very big tent: a unique vocabulary, theology, underwear, devotion, a lack of coffee and alcohol, an excess of sugars and foods generally (diet Coke and Green Jello?) I find it disappointing that uniting with the Saints means abandoning use of reason.

I made it through University thanks to Herba Mate, Diet Pepsi, Apple Turnovers and Arush caffeinated beverage. By the last year, the only way I could stay up for work during the night and for Legal Accounting during the day was to start early in the morning and continue to consume. I still barely made it. My liver was in a very sorry state. When I finally decided to quit the stuff outright I was entirely shocked by the difference – mentally too. I am convinced that it was the sugar and the Artificial sweetener that has serious consequences.

Working now through long projects that demand a high degree of attention to detail with extremely serious consequences it I don’t do things right, and a nagging pressure to spend some time with my children during waking hours leaves me with the choice of letting my client’s go to jail through my negligence, ignoring my children or supplementing my diet to accommodate the demands of life. I know there are people that can go entirely without and do the same job. I don’t know any, but I am sure if I had more brains, or less need for sleep or less cool kids I could probably do it. I drink coffee on most week days.

The rules:

1. No more that 2 cups a day.
2. No soda, caffeinated or otherwise, period.
3. Fair trade beans from a local vendor.
4. A spiritual message on the mug (optional)

It is important to say that I speak as one who has no interest in attending the temple ever again; however, even if it was it would have to outweigh the importance of my family time and my work commitments.

I re-read my last post. I apologize for my tone. I should have been clear that I find it disappointing that uniting with the Saints sometimes means abandoning use of reason or faith. I don’t know that aspartame is bad for me, I believe it is, just like I believe coffee is a lesser evil than cola or sweets. It is reasonable to me, and the ‘fruits’ are evident in areas that are important to me.

Being part of the club / kingdom is not more important than my family or my health. I realize that for many people the choices are not as mutually exclusive, but I find it inescapable.

#26 – Thanks, Gerry, for the additional comment. I was going to ignore the first one completely, frankly, because I believe everyone needs to make up their own mind about this topic – but I appreciate that you realize it’s not mutually exclusive for all.

Personally, I think your first comment highlighted a much more critical issue, but you have to live the life you feel necessary. Again, thanks for the follow-up.

If I were in your shoes, I would not have any problem giving an enthusiastic ‘Yes!’ when asked if I kept the word of wisdom in a temple recommend interview.

RE 22,

Yeah, often the missionaries are not allowed to drink it. This is (I have been told) because it is a time issue (people will pass a gourd around and chat for a couple of hours) and a health issue (all drinking from the same bombilla/straw) as fas as passing communicable diseases.

In my mission in the US, Spanish speaking and in an area with a lot Uruguayan immigrants, it was a fun way to get to know people (they were surprised that an American liked the stuff). The members/missionaries who are natively from countries in central and south America that I knew drank it, so I don’t think that there is any official church ban. (Of course, local leaders sometimes have a scary amount of latitude in some of these issues.)

Often in foreign cultures, WOW application is confusing because the Church will rarely clarify. Similar to tithing, they make a statement and then allow individual members to interpret. For instance, while kava is banned by the BYU Hawaii honor code, the last time President Monson was in Samoa, he participated in a kava ceremony. I have also heard from missionaries who served in Mongolia that the church did not ban the local drink of (so gross!) fermented mare’s milk, which could vary in strength from very mild to quite alcoholic.

So, read D&C 89, follow the Spirit and your conscience. (And your palate. Mmmm. Tiramisu.)

However, I do believe there is merit in trying to keep both stimulants and depressants to a minimum in our bodies.

I think we should consider keeping stimulants (i.e., caffeine) to an optimal amount, rather than to a minimum. The article that I linked to in comment #23 above summarizes the health benefits of caffeine as follows:

“The evidence is very strong that regular coffee consumption reduces risk of Parkinson’s disease and for that, it’s directly related to caffeine,” DePaulis tells WebMD. “In fact, Parkinson’s drugs are now being developed that contain a derivative of caffeine based on this evidence.”

Caffeine is also what helps in treating asthma and headaches. Though not widely publicized, a single dose of pain reliever such as Anacin or Excedrin contains up to 120 milligrams — what’s in a hefty mug o’ Joe.

***

“What caffeine likely does is stimulate the brain and nervous system to do things differently,” he tells WebMD. “That may include signaling you to ignore fatigue or recruit extra units of muscle for intense athletic performance. Caffeine may even have a direct effect on muscles themselves, causing them to produce a stronger contraction. But what’s amazing about it is that unlike some performance-enhancing manipulation some athletes do that are specific for strength or sprinting or endurance, studies show that caffeine positively enhances all of these things.”

How does this brew affect growing minds and bodies? Very nicely, it seems, says DePaulis. Coffee, as you probably know, makes you more alert, which can boost concentration. But claims that it improves a child’s academic performance can be exaggerated. Coffee-drinking kids may do better on school tests because they’re more awake, but most task-to-task lab studies suggest that coffee doesn’t really improve mental performance, says DePaulis.

But it helps kids’ minds in another way. “There recently was a study from Brazil finding that children who drink coffee with milk each day are less likely to have depression than other children,” he tells WebMD. “In fact, no studies show that coffee in reasonable amounts is in any way harmful to children.”

And here’s a good reason why coffee might be preferable to other foods or drinks as a source of caffeine:

In other words, consume enough caffeine — whether it’s from coffee or another source — and you will likely run faster, last longer and be stronger. What’s enough? As little as one cup can offer some benefit, but the real impact comes from at least two mugs, says Graham. By comparison, it’d take at least eight glasses of cola to get the same effect, which isn’t exactly conducive for running a marathon.

Just something to think about.

INTERESTING BACKGROUND – THE TEMPERANCE MOVEMENT – LEADING TO THE WOW

According to Dean D. McBrien …. the Word of Wisdom was a remarkable distillation of the prevailing thought of frontier America in the early 1830′s. Each provision in the revelation, he claimed, pertained to an item which had formed the basis of widespread popular agitation in the early 1830′s:

“A survey of the situation existing at Kirtland when the revelation came forth is a sufficient explanation for it. The temperance wave had for some time been engulfing the West…. In 1826 Marcus Morton had founded the American Temperance Society…. In June, 1830, the Millenial Harbinger quoted … an article from the Philadelphia ‘Journal of Health,’… which article most strongly condemned the use of alcohol, tobacco, the eating intemperately of meats…. Temperance Societies were organized in great numbers during the early thirties, six thousand being formed in one year… On October 6, 1830, the Kirtland Temperance Society was organized with two hundred thirty nine members…. This society at Kirtland was a most active one…. it revolutionized the social customs of the neighborhood.”

McBrien then goes ahead to point out that the Temperance Society succeeded in eliminating a distillery in Kirtland on February 1, 1833, just twenty-seven days before the Latter-day Saint revelation counseling abstinence was announced, and that the distillery at Mentor, near Kirtland, was also closed at the same time (Brigham Young University Studies, Winter 1959, pp.39-40).

There are ways to use caffeine for medical conditions or otherwise that don’t include buying addictive products that line the pockets of conspiring men, just like there are way to get the health benefits of moderate wine consumption without actually drinking wine.

It’s so restrictive when the WofW gets discussed as a health law and the only alternative offered is consumption of addictive products sold for profit. That’s my biggest problem with discussions like this; legitimate alternatives almost never get discussed. That’s sad to me.

From a non-LDS perspective, I have worked with a Shaman group from time to time that is really big on two things: stopping all self-medication and learning to fast. What constituted fasting to them was initially pretty lightweight from an LDS perspective (nothing but fruits, juices & waters for one meal – I pretty much call that lunch). But they also developed the ability to do longer fasts (3 days or more), which I have never tried. On the self-medication thing, they eschewed it all: aspirin, alcohol, coffee and tea (except herbal tea). A lot of their work was on becoming more at one with your body. If you had a headache, you should learn to feel your headache instead of trying to dull your connection to your body. In many ways, their concepts resonate with the spiritual aspects of WoW, as do many Eastern religions.

I wonder about coffee. We’re told we don’t drink coffee because of the caffeine nor tea, for the same reason. So herbal tea is OK, right? But cola products are OK even though they have caffeine. Even the energy drinks (some of which have more caffeine than coffee, not to mention several other stimulants) are OK. But decaffeinated coffee is NOT OK, because…?

See, I’ve never understood if coffee is verboten because it’s hot (thus hot cocoa and herbal teas would also be taboo, right?) or because it has caffeine (thus cola products and energy drink would be bad but decaffeinated coffee is OK.)

The 19th-century justification (as we see in D&C 89) is that coffee and tea were “hot”–drinks served at high temperatures were supposedly bad for the body. I’m pretty sure the more modern (yet unofficial) caffeine rationale arose as an after-the-fact justification, since the “hot drinks” explanation isn’t particularly persuasive nowadays. However, the caffeine rationale is also problematic, as you point out. What about Cola? What about chocolate? What about headache medicine? If caffeine is the culprit, then why aren’t these other substances forbidden?

The problem is that the rationale for the WoW’s prohibitions are largely grounded in outdated notions of health. Therefore, it will be difficult to find a modern, scientific explanation that lines up well with the WoW’s peculiar mix of prohibitions and exclusions. Which is probably why the standard Sunday School rationale seems to have more to do with obedience than health these days.

As I mentioned before, I think this calls for another reassessment of the Word of Wisdom. We’ve done it several times before, why not do it again? In a modern context, the revelation’s prohibition on tea (a largely innocuous substance) seems highly arbitrary, especially in light of its silence on, say, regular exercise.

Ok, it is easy to look at those comments, think a snark, and miss the fact that it wasn’t that long ago that everything being said for coffee, and more, was said in favor of tobacco.

While science is necessarily tentative, I think the modern findings that favor coffee consumption are based on more sophisticated science than decades- or century-old pronouncements on tobacco were. Yes, we should take these “expert” recommendations with a grain of salt, but I think Mormons tend to be unnecessarily (and selectively) cynical when it comes to science.

There are ways to use caffeine for medical conditions or otherwise that don’t include buying addictive products that line the pockets of conspiring men, just like there are way to get the health benefits of moderate wine consumption without actually drinking wine.

Damn those conspiring tea manufacturers!

#43 – Great point. Whenever a discussion like this gets rolling, I think of washing in a dirty river to cleanse leprosy. Makes no sense whatsoever, but it worked.

I think Carl (45) is on the right track. However, I think it’s not fully nuanced, as he, and others, have said that obedience to the WoW is obedience to God. End of discussion.

I see it as obedience to God by way of obedience to one’s faith community, one’s tribe. Other disciples of Christ and their tribes can be quite right by God, and quite healthy, if the New Testament is trustworthy, and not observe the WoW. However, one can’t be quite right by the LDS community and not be outwardly obedient to it. May not be reasonable. May not be logical nor consistent. May not always be scientifically healthful or causatively linked. And, undoubtedly, observance to it will continue to liberalize (or not) in ways that will exasperate those who enjoy consistency from “God.”

The WoW is a way to show one’s outward loyalty to one’s tribe, if one’s tribe is LDS. All faith tribes have their rules of conformity, of holiness, no matter how much individual liberty they do or don’t embrace. If one’s tribe one wants to be a part of is being an active, temple-going Mormon, then one, by obedience to the WoW, is placing one’s community identity over one’s individual needs, and that, it would seem to be, is always a great and appropriate way to serve God. The prescriptions and proscriptions to the LDS version of “belonging” and “obedience to God” by way of the WoW are just that. But they are more than just that.

It’s a rewarding pursuit to finding what tribe you most authentically belong to, and want to belong to, and then living authentically to that. It’s an enigmatic yet exciting pursuit to finding out what pleases God and what please one’s tribe. Somethimes they are the same. Sometimes not. And sometimes they intermingle.

There are two issues here, the “health” issue and the “obedience” issue. Though the church likes to talk a lot about the former issue, I think the latter issue is the real issue. If health were the primary concern, then dozens of other substances would be listed, to say nothing of other health requirements. But this is more of a test of faith/obedience, more about loyalty to the church, more about appearances and cultural identifiers than we like to admit.

I won’t argue the “Health” issue. To me, it is fairly cut and dry. Though drinking coffee may have some minor health benefits, from a pure cost/benefit analysis we’d be way better off not drinking coffee.

“Obedience” is a thorny issue for me, I’ll admit. I have many concerns:

1.) I’m a firm believer that the “teach them correct principles and let them govern themselves” model is more effective at teaching us the underlying eternal principle than the “strict obedience” model.

2.) Obedience to specific things creates loopholes whereby people essentially commit the same infraction, without the guilt. It creats a false sense of “all is well in Zion.” For example, what principle is learned by those who abstain from coffee, but drink 88 ounces of Diet Coke or Monster every day? All one has demonstrated is an ability to obey the letter of the law, to find the loophole. So you take your caffeine cold and bubbly instead of hot with cream and sugar. Go ahead and compare the caffeine content between Diet Code and Coffee, but if you do, you are simply proving, not refuting, my point.

3.) Obedience creates the strong temptation for pharasaical judgement of those who don’t comply, or comply differently than the orthodox party line. I saw Brother Valoel at Starbucks! I saw Brother Thurston in line for an R-rated movie! I saw Sister Jones wearing a two-piece bikini! There is a reason the Pharasees and Saducees could not see the obvious truth in front of them — they were so blinded by their rules, their degrees, their clothing, their symbols and ceremonies. We make the same mistake ALL the time.

4.) Following a rule as a demonstration of one’s fidelity to an institution or person feels too much like idolatry. It esteems status and standing in the institution above personal conscience and integrity. And it creates those annoying little sayings like, “Are you going to let something as small as Coffee keep you out of Heaven?” Please.

So I have trouble with obedience to commandments when I see the hand of man, not the hand of God as I understand God. To me, the Word of Wisdom combines both elements of God/Divine and Man. The only way for it to make sense to me is to unpackage the two, and endeavor to follow the part I believe is Divine.

Ray, actually I do agree with you, but I do so seeing many LDS distinctives, like WoW, as matters of community holiness. So when the church excludes an (honest) coffee or tea drinker from temple participation it is not keeping that person away from salvation in God. But for the excluded member who thinks they are separated from God more so than their community, then it beckons to Matt’s point #4, and I don’t happen to see the correct principles and libertarian governance you do.

BTW, mugicha (dried wheat tea for those reading) is nasty stuff. Ash tray in a cup. If you like it, shouldn’t be too hard to steer you into pleasure even for a proper (and decaffeinated, if it’s your thing) bitter drink.

Ray #50 said, “The ‘correct principle’ is avoidance of addictive substances that conspiring men promote simply out of greed.”

I see what you are saying, but it seems a lot of drinks and/or foods besides Coffee, Tea, Tobacco, and Alcohol could fall under the “conspiring men” label.

Also, I feel uncomfortable with the “conspiring men… for greed” label anyway. Many LDS no doubt work for large conglomerates that have a hand in these industries (and other industries like gambling). I don’t consider Howard Schultz and the rest of the Starbucks brass “conspiring men,” but business men and women providing a product, a service, and careers for people… for a profit, not for greed. They are also big players when it comes to humanitarian work and philanthropy. In some respects, they are a model company.

Finally, too many people accuse church leaders of being “conspiring men”. Seems the label depends on your point of view.

JFQ said, “…though I don’t esteem the cost/benefit conclusion on coffee the same.”

Well, I was just considering the health ramifications, (of which there are multiple schools of thought). But I think there are other valid variables, besides “health,” to consider. Variables which impact hte cost/benefit conclusion.

We don’t eat and drink for purely health reasons. We eat and drink for social reasons as well, and while I’m sure to be poo-poo’d by everyone here, there are some real social benefits to coffee, tea, and alcohol. There is a reason certain early LDS leaders “hearts were made merry by the fruit of the vine.” Did it not create a role in fostering bonhomie amongst the early Saints. And I’ve heard more than one reputable Mormon Historian speculate that both the Kirtland “pentacostal” experience, and the all-night Nauvoo Temple endowment parties prior to setting off across the plains, were aided and abetted by “the fruit of the vine.”

Based on the language in the post, my question is does the author care more about driving traffic on his post and getting comments than on making healthy choices or obedience (no matter how you judge his current choice) or getting any sort of feedback that will influence his decision. I do not presume to know but I think it is a valid self-reflective question for the author and all of us who have taken the time to participate.

I dunno. maybe i just simplifly things waaayyy to much. The Lord revealed to His Church not to drink “hot drinks” and we were given the explanation that this meant no coffee, no tea. We were also told no drugs, smoking and no alcohol. It just seems pretty easy to understand. i mean, i can picture Jesus standing there and saying to us “What part of “no” did you NOT understand” !!