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| http://www.tea-happiness.com/2011/04/i-love-coffee.html |
Hello. Okay, so I have had horrible headaches and bouts of nausea for the past week. Also, my skin was breaking out the way it does when I eat foods high in salicylic acid. I eat a low salicylate diet because I can't handle that stuff, so I was really confused as to what the heck is going on. Therefore, the scientist in me (or else the bored housewife) decided to do some investigating of my kitchen. What was different about it? For real, when ever you suddenly feel unwell with vague symptoms that don't present with a fever or typical signs of a stomach bug or cold, explore your fridge and cupboards.You just might find the culprit. Anyway, back to my point.
After my investigation, I decided that the high salicylate foods that never bothered me before in modest amounts (almonds, peaches, cinnamon) must be the issue, because I was eating my favorite peach cobbler turned peach cake (recipe coming soon, as soon as I make it again, so I can get a nice pic up)everyday. And I was wrong. First of all, I've been eating that just fine for months and second I wasn't eating it and I was sick for 3 more days. So, I thought what the heck is new in my kitchen and I found it. It was my coffee. I had this awesome organic decaf coffee that I loved. So, I was drinking a cup in the morning and a cup at night. I have no concept of the effects of caffeine. I've never felt it through drinking tea or eating chocolate. Caffeinated coffee makes me feel like I'm gonna die, so whatever caffeine effect is there is blunted out by my inability to move for 6 hours. I'm just saying, I don't get how people drink 6 cups of coffee a day to function. Back to my topic. Off topic just one more time, my daughter just brought me the 1/8th of a cup of juice she squeezed from a blood orange and it is so good. Okay, coffee is very high in salicylic acid. I once thought I had a brain tumor a while back ( I love how every time I feel sick I think it's a tumor but I have no intention of actually verbalizing that to a doctor). Well, and I'm ashamed to say, I did this kitchen investigation then, so why is it coming up again? I discovered that the change I made since the headaches started was I joined Gevalia and was drinking a cup of coffee every morning. I stopped that and was fine.
Through the Salicylate Sensitivity website (God bless the maker of this website), I learned that while coffee is very high in salicylate, decaf is low. The decaffeinating process removes the salicylate as well! Yay! However, apparently it does not do so in water-process decaffeinating methods. This amazing new coffee is decaffeinated through a water process. And this my friends is why I was mysteriously sick for a week
What the heck is the decaffeinating process anyway if it removes salicylic acid with the caffeine? According to Wikipedia there are a few different methods. The water method consists of soaking the coffee beans in water. Other methods use chemicals, such as benzene, dichloromethane, or ethyl acetate. These are chemicals you don't really want to be consuming. Benzene is a known carcinogen that is in gasoline and well everything else, so it seems. I am now reconsidering my decaf coffee. I spend all this extra money to eat organic fruits and grass-fed meats and use vinegar and baking soda to do my cleaning and then I drink a substance of beans that were soaked in benzene :(
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