The Juice Buzz Challenge

Coffee. Who doesn't love coffee? Most days I have people ask me 'is coffee bad for me?' or 'should I keep drinking coffee'. The answer to both questions is...yes and no.

Coffee has been associated with all sorts of positive health effects, such as an increase in mental clarity and focus, decreased liklihood of Alzheimers and possible links to warding off some types of skin cancer, diabetes type 2 and decreasing the risk of Parkinsons. Its important to acknowledge that most of these studies are epidemiological in nature, which means that they have taken a large population, asked them how  much coffee they have averaged daily for a certain amount of years and then compared the groups who didn't drink coffee to those who did for the said disease. As far as the scientific method goes this is one of the loosest ways to draw conclusions and is usually only an indication of what areas we need to more thoroughly delve in to.

On the flip side too much coffee can be associated with dependence, chronic adrenal insufficiency, cardiovascular problems, difficulty losing weight, high blood pressure etc.

My general coffee rule is 1 a day. For people who like to get  their coffee from stores like Starbucks and Gloria Jeans, 1 coffee does not mean the "Trenta" which apparently holds 916mls of coffee. That is not a joke. On the other hand if you want to quickly find out if you have an underlying heart condition, Trenta away. One coffee is one shot.

Lately 4.30am starts have me reaching for a Soy Latte and raw brownie at about 3pm and whilst I could be reaching for a 'V' and a mars bar, I'm not keen on encouraging my body in its energy-hit-junkie tendencies. So I am going to do a lil experiment on myself that I am going to call ... The Juice Buzz Challenge.

For the next 7 days I am forgoing coffee to have a fresh vegie juice instead and I am going to see if the nutrients, enzymes and natural sugars can in fact give me the boost that coffee does and if I notice any other health benefits as well. Some juices I will purchase from juice stations or the local health food store and some I will make at home. Get ready for some pretty wacky juice combinations - I ain't no orange and apple girl.

So your challenge - shall you choose to accept it is 7 days of fresh (not bottled) vegetable juice instead of coffee. What have you got to lose?