The INSIDER Summary:
- Too much caffeine decreases the absorption of magnesium and B vitamins.
- These deficiencies can result in a hormone imbalance.
- You'll feel more energized by feeding your hormones properly than by guzzling caffeine.
Alisa Vitti is a functional nutritionist who runs a company called FLOLiving. She created an app called MyFLO to help women understand and naturally manage their periods. She's written a bestselling book called "WomanCode." She has a toddler at home. And she hasn't had a drop of caffeine in 20 years.
Vitti's philosophy for healthy living revolves around eating the right foods at the right times according to one's hormonal cycle and cutting out foods that set off hormonal dysfunction — like caffeine.
Hormone imbalance symptoms can include painful menstrual cramps, weight gain, trouble sleeping, constant fatigue, and mood swings. After Vitti was diagnosed with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) at the age of 20, she alleviated her symptoms naturally through changing her diet. Now, she wants to help others do the same.
Cutting out caffeine is a simple step that can make an enormous difference.
"Just nixing caffeine alone will stop you from depleting essential magnesium and B vitamin stores that are water soluble that caffeine forces you to flush out at higher concentration," she told INSIDER. "Those two micronutrient deficiencies alone can kick off an entire hormonal imbalance and set you down the road of problems. If you just cut out the caffeine as one thing, you will feel dramatically better with your next cycle."
Her FLOLiving program includes a caffeine step-down plan to wean addicts off of their daily fix.
"It should be a controlled substance, in my opinion," she said. "It's very telling that there's a coffee shop on every corner — it's very addicting. Couple that with sugar and you're now stimulating two very powerful addiction centers in the body. It quickly runs people out of hormonal balance very easily."
Instead of coffee, Vitti recommends other hot beverages like rooibos tea lattes that provide the same kind of ritual without the disruptive affects.
"You get more energized by feeding your hormones properly than you do by triaging your fatigue with caffeine," she said. "The earlier you get off it, the better."
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