Can you still drink coffee if you’re dealing with adrenal fatigue?

This was a question I had myself, and when I asked my practitioner, I was answered with “You have fragile adrenals. Keep it to one cup a day.”

One cup? Seriously? If you’re a coffee drinker, my guess is that you’re probably not just a “one cup” drinker. Is that even possible? Sure, there are always extremes, like my husband who can drink an entire pot by himself. But one cup? That seems like some sort of sick joke.

OK, OK, I digress. But I’m assuming you’re here, reading this post, because you’re a fellow coffee addict like me. I wasn’t introduced to the glorious black beverage (and yes, I drink mine black most of the time), when I was in my 20’s. In college, it was the cool thing to do to swing by gas stations for their sugar-laden cappuccinos or to hit the library coffee shop for a Venti latte. There was only one problem though: While I loved the taste, my body couldn’t handle the caffeine. I vividly remember having to go back to my room and lie down for a couple hours to get my heart to slow down and my mind to stop racing. You would think I would learn, but I just kept going back to it. 

When I married my husband in my early 20’s, I backed off the coffee entirely. He liked Folgers and I couldn’t stand it, so I just went without. I felt better without it anyway. But one day, on a walk with my dog, I was listening to a podcast from Bulletproof radio and heard about this new concept of “clean coffee.” It intrigued me.

The guy hosting the podcast, the now popular Dave Asprey and creator of the Bulletproof brand, was talking about the difference between most coffee beans found in stores and his coffee beans. They were “mycotoxin and mold free,” which supposedly eliminated the issues of jitters and brain fog. 

Could it be true? Could there be a solution to my love for the taste of coffee without the side effects of feeling like a crazy person? I wanted to find out.

I ordered my first bag of Bulletproof coffee that day, and I’ve never looked back since. My husband and I buy the 5 lb. bags of both regular and decaf beans, we grind them ourselves, and we literally cannot consume coffee from a coffee shop. When we travel, our coffee grinder and beans go with us. 

In recent years, I’ve made the transition to Lifeboost Coffee. The company itself was started by a dear friend of ours and incorporates the same science (and the flavors are DELISH!) I do limit myself to just 2 cups of half caff per day (I combine the beans), but I can feel good knowing that I’m not consuming those mycotoxins and preservatives that exist in 90% or more of all other coffee beans. 

When I started to dig into some research, I discovered that it’s not, in fact, the caffeine that can impact the adrenals, but more likely, those mycotoxins. Check out this article by Lifeboost Coffee themselves.

I can tell you that if I walk into a Starbucks and ask for a half caff black coffee, I will be high strung with a racing heart and all the brain fog 2 hours later. But if I stick to my Lifeboost, zero issue whatsoever.

That said, there is one other brand I want to make sure I mention, because the brain health benefits are that good. FourSigmatic has stolen my heart, and has become an occasional rotation in our coffee drawer. And, it’s so easy to travel with given its individual tea-like packets. Many of the FourSigmatic blends incorporate things like reishi and lion’s mane for added brain boost. This brand also keeps me from seeing any of those jittery feelings. 

Bottom line: You can still drink your daily coffee while healing your adrenals, but as always, the key is moderation (you do NOT need the whole pot, girl!) and the right kind of clean coffee beans. I assure you, you’ll love the taste and you’ll love the way you feel.

xoxo,
Jenny