Coffee Talk

Since the name of this section is "Coffee Talk", I thought I would talk about coffee this week. If you have read this blog before, then you have probably figured out that I love coffee. I consume approximately 8 to 10 cups (8 oz) everyday, and I have been on that pace for at least 10 years. In contrast, the average coffee drinker in the US consumes 3.2 cups per day. Here is a useful tool to help evaluate your total caffeine intake if you choose to drink other products. Using that tool, I consume 1,075mgs of caffeine each day.

What does this mean? As I search the internet for answers, I see a variety of studies for and against the consumption of coffee using phrases like antioxidant, heart disease, diabetes, moderate, and so on... Why can't I bring myself to open any of them? I don't want to know that something that I enjoy can be harmful to me. Maybe I should be writing about addiction and not just coffee. I open a site called CAFFEINE!, and read that the minimum lethal dose of caffeine is 3,200mgs. That would mean that I consume roughly 1/3 of the minimum lethal dose each day. In a recent interview with Barbara Walters, Hugo Chavez said he consumes 26 cups of coffee each day, which is roughly 2,795mgs of caffeine! (I just took another gulp of coffee) Also on the CAFFEINE! site, I found a list of symptoms associated a caffeine overdose, and here are my favorites:

muscle twitching
nervousness
paranoia
psychomotor agitation
rambling flow of thought and speech
rapid pulse
restlessness

Now I've tried many times to achieve a rambling flow of thought, and it has only been after the right amount of consumption that I am able to achieve the desired results. At least now I have validation for my efforts. Again, what does this mean, basically I need to cut back if I don't want to agitate my psychomotor.

In the comments section, use the useful tool to calculate your daily intake, list your mgs, your excuses, and talk amongst yourselves...