Crunchy Stewardship

The Coffee Chronicles: Exploring Benefits, Myths, and Alternatives

• Katie Jones • Season 1 • Episode 20

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Join Katie and Chrissy as they dive deep into America's second-most consumed beverage - coffee! In this candid conversation, the cousins share their personal coffee origin stories, from Chrissy's desperate seventh-grade all-nighter to Katie's college social awakening with "fufu drinks."

In this episode, you'll discover:

  • How coffee actually works in your brain (hint: it's not giving you energy the way you think)
  • The surprising connection between mouth breathing and cavities in this week's "Random Revelations"
  • Why coffee releases dopamine and creates those cozy social moments we crave
  • The hidden toxins in conventional coffee and how to choose better brands
  • The fascinating world of mushroom coffee alternatives
  • How stress impacts your health more than most dietary choices


BRANDS/PRODUCTS MENTIONED:

  • Mount Comfort Coffee: https://amzn.to/3VyaJnt
  • Larry's Organic Coffee: https://amzn.to/4m3xfPU
  • Counter Culture Coffee: https://amzn.to/45SVyeN
  • Mud Water: https://amzn.to/427XT32
  • Life Boost mushroom coffee: https://amzn.to/3JMOxn8
  • Rise Coffee mushroom blend: https://amzn.to/4gemUPZ

PEOPLE/RESOURCES REFERENCED:

  • Josh Axe (podcast episode on coffee): https://open.spotify.com/episode/54uVL6udNmD65bzGLNWL5N?si=xiWd1xHoThS_lAM8SlwkJQ 
  • Weston A. Price Foundation

From French presses to Keurigs, organic beans to mycotoxin concerns, and the social ritual that connects cultures worldwide - this episode explores both the science and soul of our morning cup. Plus, Katie contemplates ditching coffee altogether while Chrissy advocates for the mental health benefits of that perfect morning moment on the patio.

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Follow us on Instagram @crunchystewardship

FREE How to Afford Non-Toxic Living Workbook: https://crunchystewardship.com/how-to-afford-non-toxic-living

Katie:

Hey, and welcome to Crunchy Stewardship. My name is Katie Fiola Jones.

Chrissy:

My name is Chrissy Rombach. We are two cousins who are passionate about learning and sharing knowledge to equip others to steward their spiritual, mental, emotional, financial, and physical health in order to honor God in every aspect of their lives.

Katie:

In our podcast, we take deep dives into what it means to steward our lives as God originally intended for us with the resources that he has given us. We look at all sorts of topics like food, medicine, finances, mental health, and lots more through a natural lens and with a biblical foundation.

Chrissy:

Last week we introduced a new segment of our podcast that we called Random Revelations. In this segment, one of us will share something we learned this week. About pretty much anything crunchy that we thought was interesting. So, Katie, what was your random revelation that you learned this week?

Katie:

Yeah, the random revelation that I had, and I kind of, I, I've been going on this for a little while, but I was specifically learning more about it this week, was about, uh, cavities. So a lot of us think.That cavities come specifically from like all the food and junk that we leave in our teeth and that, you know, we're not brushing. And, and that is partly true, but, one of the bigger factors into like getting cavities is actually mouth breathing. And this is something that I was not aware of really until more recently. And there's like some science to it and I started learning it that like when you breathe and like the oxygen that comes in and it like destroys the minerals in your teeth and, and all this stuff. But anyway, the, the point is that if you breathe out of your mouth a lot, especially overnight, like if you sleep with your mouth open or like you snore or something like that, you are more likely to get cavities and. I won't name any names, but I actually know that there are certain people that I have known to be mouth breathers in my life that struggle with cavities. And I was like, wow, just like kinda putting those things together. And I was like, I just had no idea. And I know that these people brush their teeth often and all this stuff, and I'm like, why did they struggle with cavities? And maybe that's it. And I don't know. That was just like a really random revelation that I had this week and I thought it was very fascinating.

Chrissy:

You know, I've also learned that there is actually a connection between mouth breathing and like ADHD symptoms, anxiety, depression, like chronic illnesses, things like that. And I do not understand the science of it. It, it seems like kind of a long shot, but people are more and more talking about the connections. And every time I see on Instagram, like someone doing their wellness routine before bed, and then they tape their mouth shut, I'm just like, what?

Katie:

Yeah,

Chrissy:

But. Like that's a thing, and I, I don't get it. It, it's just one of those sciency things that even as much as I've tried to look into it, I'm like, how does this alternative breathing affect chronic illnesses in relation to heart health? Like, I just don't get it, but.

Katie:

the things that I've been starting to figure out with mouth breathing, so it it, so the reason that people have been taping their mouths and like why it's a beauty hack like specifically is also because when you mouth breathe more often, it actually starts to change the structure of your jaw and your face, basically. And so they kind of say like, oh, if you wanna be prettier, if you wanna look at like a certain way. You don't wanna like lose your jawline, then you have to tape your mouth so that way you're breathing through your nose and it doesn't change that. And so that's why it's like a quote unquote beauty hack. I also feel like I heard once that if you breathe through your nose, the oxygen goes like to your brain better. You know?'cause I guess that kind of makes sense since your nose is like closer to your brain. I don't know. Like it oxygenates your

Chrissy (2):

It still goes through the lungs first.

Katie:

I know. I don't know. That's the, don't nobody quote me on that. I like feel like I heard that at some point, but I don't really know that to be true, so I'm like, maybe that's it. Maybe if you breathe through your mouth, you lose brain cells or something. So I'm like, I have no

Chrissy:

See my question. My question for mouth breathing is, what about those people with deviated septums that blocks both nasal passages? How in the world are you supposed to breathe through your nose if you can't because your nose is blocking your nose?

Katie:

Yeah. No, that's a good question. Don't ask me. I

Chrissy:

Uh,

Katie:

uh, dental, ENT person or whatever, ear, nose,

Chrissy:

what? You're not an airway dentist. Katie, do better

Katie:

do better. I'll get on that, Chrissy, for sure. All right. Well, before we get into the rest of this episode, if, you've been enjoying our podcast and if you've been enjoying Chrissy and I's silly little banters back and forth. Please be sure to subscribe and.Leave us a five star rating. Um, I have had some questions on how exactly to do this. On Apple, you actually are able to leave a rating and review. So if you listen to us on Apple Podcasts, that's where, that's how you do that. You can just like click a button that says like. You know, leave a review. But then on Spotify you can't actually leave a review. You can just do, you can follow us, make sure you are following us, and then you can leave just a five star rating and then you submit it. You do have to listen to several episodes, I think, before you're able to do that. Um, so if you tried to do that right away, it does say, you know, make sure to listen to this podcast before you rate it so go ahead and do that. Um, by leaving us these ratings and reviews and comments on our episodes, it really does help people find us in the future. So be sure to do that, please. Um, and if you're not already signed up, we do have a weekly newsletter where we send out a little bit about, you know, what that episode is of the week, um, some takeaways from it. So go take a moment to sign up for our newsletter if you. Aren't already on that. You can do that by just clicking the link in the show notes, um, or like the description box for the episode. So be sure to do that.

Chrissy:

So today's episode is a continuation of part two from our episode last week. Last week we talked about beverages, specifically those that are more hydrating, so water, drinks with electrolytes, lemon water, things like that. Today though, we are focusing more on the number two most consumed drink in the world, coffee and tea and alcohol. We're gonna not talk as much about alcohol, but we'll probably touch on it at least a little bit.

Katie:

Mm-hmm.

Chrissy:

but yeah, essentially how do coffee, tea, and alcohol work in our bodies, and how are they similar and how are they different? And what happens when you drink the magical bean juice in the morning that makes you suddenly not tired for most people, but also for some people, makes you really tired.

Katie:

Okay. Chrissy, I have a good kickoff question. When did you start drinking coffee and do you like coffee or tea more?

Chrissy:

So I actually remember my very first day drinking coffee very vividly. It was in seventh grade. I

Katie:

Wow! That early?.

Chrissy:

Yes, seventh grade. Uh, so my parents are both coffee drinkers and so they drank coffee all the time and they swore by it. And in seventh grade specifically, I was up super late, I think like one, two o'clock in the morning working on a project trying to finish it. It was a group project. My classmates did not pull through. It was due the next day and it was a lot of work. So I stayed up super late. And then the following morning I had morning practice for volleyball. And so I was up until two and then had to be at the school ready to practice at 5 45, and I decided that, I was like, you know what? I'm getting three hours of sleep. I am going to try a cup of coffee. And so I took my mom's coffee mug and I made myself a cup of coffee and I put her. Um, like French vanilla creamer in it, because that's all I knew, because she always used french vanilla creamer. So I put French vanilla creamer in my coffee and I hated every second of drinking it. I thought it was the most disgusting thing in the world. It was horrible. But then after volleyball practice, I got to first period and I was like, wait a minute. I am not tired right now. What is this magical bean juice that I have discovered and I, I think I only drank like half the cup of coffee that day because it was just such a horrible taste that I couldn't actually handle the taste of it. But I had so much energy that day and I was so focused all day long. Granted, I still crashed in the afternoon. I came home from school and I was like, I can't function because I'm so tired.'cause he got, I got three hours of sleep the night before. Um, but yes, unfortunately that started my coffee drinking journey.

Katie:

Did you like keep drinking coffee from that point on?

Chrissy:

I think if I remember correctly, it became like a morning practice thing and then I didn't end up drinking coffee consistently until like high school. Um. And in high school it became a daily thing. But I have to say though, I did go through a period in college where I drink two cups of coffee a day, one in the morning, and one around three o'clock, especially during COVID I was trying to study from home. That was very difficult to stay awake all day. But now, very rarely do I have two cups of coffee. I am a one cup of coffee a day, sometimes even half a cup of coffee will get me good. Um, and now I have learned to enjoy the flavor and I honestly think the flavor of my coffee's probably much better.'cause growing up we used the, like Dunkin K-cups, you know, they weren't great. And now I am drinking organic non GMO local coffee, and I put milk and honey in it, as opposed to the crappy French vanilla creamer in it. So, okay. Yeah, altogether it's better quality, better for me, and I really do enjoy my cup of coffee in the morning, and it's one of those things that like even if I were to say I am going to take out all caffeine and rely on my sleep in order to give me energy, I would still probably drink decaf, mostly just because I enjoy the flavor of it and it's like just sitting out on my patio. Watching the trees and drinking my coffee is just a lovely experience that I enjoy. So

Katie:

Yeah,

Chrissy:

me. What about you, Katie?

Katie:

well, so my dad's a big coffee drinker. My mom likes coffee flavored things, so like, you know, more like frappuccinos or like, she'll do like a cappuccino. Anything that's like super strong coffee. So like really sweet stuff. My dad calls'em the fufu drinks and so growing up. Very nostalgic. You know, I would wake up in the morning and my dad would be brewing coffee, so I, I always like woke up to that smell as a kid. I kind of remember maybe vaguely taking sips of his coffee every now and then and just being like, whoa, this is terrible. But didn't really start drinking coffee until college. I growing up, my parents always be like, well, if you start drinking coffee now, it's gonna stunt your growth. I have no idea if that's true or if it's like one of those things where you're like, you have to wait, you know, an hour before you swim when you eat. You know, that kind of stuff.

Chrissy:

Maybe it did stunt my growth. I'm still the same height and the same weight that I was in seventh grade,

Katie:

Whoa.

Chrissy:

don't know. I know I haven't grown since then. I, I was done.

Katie:

go. That's crazy. It would be interesting to do a study on like kids who drink coffee. I'm sure there's a study out there and maybe you'll google it and find out. But anyway yeah, so I didn't start drinking it until college, and I think I, I don't vividly remember like the moment that I was like, this is it. I'm gonna start drinking coffee, but I think it was just kind of the thing, like people were just drinking coffee and it was like, oh, we're gonna get coffee, and I, I was just like a social thing and, and my, my introduction to it was kind of similar to yours. I really liked a lot of the sweeter stuff I liked. The like caramel macchiatos and what my dad would probably call the fufu drinks, like more of the like fancy, really expensive stuff at Starbucks. And so I, I started that way and then slowly over time it just kind of morphed to like now. I really do not like those drinks, like the sweet stuff just is, is too much for me. Um, I really just like a cup of coffee with, um, like a splash of half and half or some sort of just like more plain milk versus like a creamer kind of thing. Occasionally I do some maple syrup in it. Uh, recently I've really been enjoying. A protein, like a chocolate protein powder. I think I mentioned that last week. Um, and, and it kind of sweetens it up a little with the, with the chocolate. But, um, otherwise it's just kind of plain. I have been becoming slightly more of a coffee snob. Um, I do buy like whole beans and I grind them myself, and I make a cup of coffee. I do use a Keurig because it's just me making coffee. West does not drink coffee at all, so it's just I make a cup for myself. Um, during COVID I was drinking. So much coffee, but it was more of like, it wasn't even necessarily that I needed to stay awake or be energized. It was more just like, I just enjoy the process of making coffee and like drinking it kinda like you said, it's just like very cozy and comforting. So like I would just be like sitting at home drinking my coffee and I would just enjoy it and be like sitting on the couch, gazing out the window, know? Or like just, it was always like a thing like. To do in the middle of the afternoon even, and just like I would make my cup of coffee and enjoy it, so it's more of like a, even Wes pointed it out because I think in COVID I was just drinking so much like coffee and tea and just stuff that it's like, he's like, you just like having a warm cup of something in your hands. He's like, it doesn't even matter what it is at this point. He's like, you just like that, and I'm like, you're right. I do kind of just enjoy that experience of it versus the coffee, but I do, I am very specific now. I, it's been hard, Chrissy, coming out here to Michigan and I, if anybody is listening to this, I'm not saying that you don't have to offer me coffee, but I really do not love Folger's coffee. And I don't know if it's like a thing out here that people just really like Folger's or something, but. I, a lot of people have Folgers, and that's okay. Everyone, if you are listening to this podcast, and we are new friends out here in Michigan, and you have offered me Folgers, please do not be offended. Please just see this as a funny, like, we're gonna, we're gonna still be friends. Do not be offended, please, because I appreciate your hospitality at your houses, but I don't love Folger's. Maybe next time I'll bring my own coffee.

Chrissy:

Can I say something crazy about coffee? So back before my crunchy journey began, when Max and I got married, we were living, I was still a student, he was a minister, so we were a one salary minister, salary kind of family. And so the goal really was to spend as little money as possible at every point in time. And so. I had the genius idea to buy Walmart Great Value coffee, and we opened it. It smelled pretty decent. It didn't, it didn't smell like fresh coffee, but it smelled fine. And then we looked closer and we noticed that there was actual wood chips in it, we pulled them out. There were some that were like half an inch to an inch long of like legitimate wood chips. In this coffee and I was like, oh my gosh. They literally just took sawdust and put it in here and like, you know, if you mix sawdust with coffee, it prob, it smells semi coffee like, you know, and we just, yeah, it was bad. So I do not recommend Great Value coffee. Sorry for you guys to drink it. Um, maybe don't

Katie:

Uh it's, it's interesting, I like, in the past, the whatever coffee it was, it did not matter to me. I, I would just like drink coffee, right? But as maybe it's just like a maturing palette kind of thing. I don't know. And I don't mean that in like a snobby, like, oh, my palate is so mature, but like, I legitimately. Like over time, do not like the coffee Now that is lower tier, less expensive. You know, you could just tell there's a different quality to it. And so yes, I have switched to. An organic whole bean, you know, I grind my own beans. I, I grind a little bit at a time and keep, um, the rest of it, like, I grind enough for like, probably three days-ish and keep the, what I've ground up into, um, a mason jar in my fridge to keep it fresher too. And then I, um, brew that, you know, cup. On, you know, I, I measure it out and everything and put it in the Keurig and do that. I do also, I enjoy making like French press coffee. It, I, I like the process again. I, I enjoy that process of making it, I get it from my father because he did that and he very much was like grinding his beans and doing the whole thing. And it was just like, I don't know, like, it, it's just like a, almost like a hobby and I'm not even, I don't measure it with like a. A scale, like a kitchen scale. I know some people get really specific where it's the kitchen scale and they, they take the temperature of their water and make sure it's this specific filtered water and stuff. I'm not to that point, and I don't know that I ever will get to that point. I just enjoy kind of the cooking of it in a sense, like the, just that process, but not to the scientificy point of it, but

Chrissy:

So You like coffee and not espresso.

Katie:

yeah.

Chrissy:

Yeah. because espresso is the measuring and the fancy water and the fancy machine and this that. But if you're just drinking coffee, then coffee's coffee.

Katie:

So, but I, I do, like, I've learned now to, like, when we're traveling out of state or if we're visiting people, I almost always bring my own coffee. Now I'll like put it in a mason jar and just bring it with me. Um, especially'cause I mean, again, if we're gonna be somewhere for several days and that means several days worth of coffee. I want my own coffee, but if I'm going to someone's house and we're just enjoying like some social chitchat, I will drink your Folgers coffee, okay? And that is okay. And we will still be friends, and I won't dislike you because you offered me Folgers. Okay? People do not be offended if you are listening to this and you've offered me Folgers, because that has happened several times now and I still love you.

Chrissy:

You know what's actually so great about coffee is so coffee behind water is the number one most consumed drink in the entire world. And so in terms of like meeting your neighbors, whether it doesn't matter what culture they are, you know, if you offer nearly anybody a cup of coffee, doesn't matter if they are Indian, if they're African, if they are from Asia, like they will probably say yes. Because coffee is so widely known throughout the world and so much of the world sees coffee as like a social drink here in America. Coffee is very much a social drink. We go out, we're like, Hey, let's go out for a cup of coffee and just sit and chat for two hours. You know, people don't say, let's go out for a cup of orange juice. I mean, you could get orange juice, but we just don't do that. You know, we go out for a cup of coffee

Katie:

I want someone to invite me out for a cup of orange juice. If you're listening to this and you live near me, please invite me to a cup of orange juice because that would make my day. That would, Yes, let's do that.

Chrissy:

It must be fresh squeezed all organic, no sugar added. Okay. So the reason coffee has this like social. Aura about it is that when people drink coffee, it actually does release a little bit of dopamine in your body, like the feel-good hormone. And so, you know, commercials where like you see the person drinking the coffee and they're sitting on their patio and they take a sip and then their whole world turns into color and they can see like that's not actually completely off with coffee because it does release that feel-good hormone of like, yes, I'm taking this sip of coffee and it's making me feel great and makes me more conversational and able to. Just have a good day. Another thing that coffee does is in, you know, a lot of people think, oh, it's the caffeine. It makes me more awake. Well, yeah, it does make you more awake, but not because it actually gives you more energy. It actually works to block those quote unquote tired receptors in your brain.

Katie:

Josh acts in his episode that, that podcast episode on coffee, he, he says it blocks your neurotransmitters. I don't know. Does does that

Chrissy:

yeah.

Katie:

to you?

Chrissy:

Yeah. So the tired neurotransmitters that are touching their receptors, I don't know exactly what they're called. Josh Acts is a very smart man and he seems to know a lot of things and I only get a very few things of what he understands, but it essentially blocks your tired signals in your brain so that you're not able to feel the tired signals, so you only feel the awake signals. So in layman's terms. Um, and that's how I understood it from Josh Axe's podcast, which makes a lot of sense as to like when coffee wears off, you definitely feel it wearing off. like, oh, yep, I drank my cup of coffee eight hours ago and I know it's not there in my body anymore cause it's been eight hours and I'm ready to have a nice date night with my pillow.

Katie:

I, I think the interesting thing that I learned, so we can link to this episode that Chrissy and I listened to, um, from Josh Ax on coffee.'cause he goes into a lot of like the sciencey details on like how our bodies respond to coffee. But the thing that I learned from his episode that was really fascinating to me is that. Caffeine actually impacts everyone differently, which I kind of knew to a degree. Like, okay, I know that when I drink coffee in the afternoon, like three, four o'clock. That I will still be able to go to sleep that night. And I know that some people, if you drink coffee even after noon, like after lunchtime at all, it like impacts your sleep. And then I also know, like my mother-in-law drinks coffee at like 11:00 PM at night and still sleeps. And I'm like, I, I don't even understand that at all,

Chrissy:

That's how Max is too. He will have a cup of coffee with dessert and still go to bed. Yeah,

Katie:

like

Chrissy:

it's wild.

Katie:

with dessert. Like we, we get, that's another thing here in Michigan and maybe it's like the cold weather kind of stuff. Um, but people, like when we have dinner with them and then we're having dessert, they'll offer me coffee and I'm like, it's like 8:00 PM right now. I cannot drink a cup of coffee. No way.

Chrissy:

I have discovered though, so I knew it was like kind of a normal thing to drink coffee with dessert, but I also kind of characterize it as like a fancy person thing'cause. We didn't eat dessert growing up, and so desserts were like a fancy night sort of thing, and so they kind of got put in the fancy people category in my brain. Um, but, I have learned that like the flavor of the coffee does actually compliment the sweetness of the dessert very well. It's kind of like how sometimes, like certain types of wine will compliment the meat that you have in your dinner. It's like the sweet and the bitter compliment each other as you consume them together. And so I have actually, on our date nights, if we go out for dessert afterwards, I will actually get a decaf coffee with dessert just because like the sweet and the bitter kind of compliment each other really nicely. And like honestly, the feeling of like. I just had ice cream and now I'm sitting here with my cup of decaf coffee and we're just sitting at a beautiful white tablecloth meal and enjoying a cup of coffee together in the evening. Like there's something just like romantic about that, you know

Katie:

had

Chrissy:

So do enjoy that.

Katie:

do decaf in the evening like that. I do actually really like, I don't know if you've ever had an afogato, which is like, it's like a root beer float, but instead of root beer, it's coffee. And I'm like, it is so good. I've made them before at home because I'm like, this is just so delicious and I really love it.

Chrissy:

You know afogatos, they're fantastic. They're very yummy, but they always remind me of a boyfriend that I had in college because he had a fancy espresso maker and to introduce me to Espresso he made me an afogato like every night while we were dating, which only lasted a month.

Katie:

And now you can't have them Oh no.

Chrissy:

I'll still have them, but it's like. Not always the most enjoyable, that's okay.

Katie:

Uhhuh. I I love milkshakes with coffee in them too. So that's another like, especially in the summer, like instead of having like an iced coffee in the afternoon, I'll do like a milkshake, which is probably even worse, just like dumping ice cream in there than having the

Chrissy:

All you need to do is have a handful of spinach before you drink the milkshake, and you're fine. The fiber will counter the absorption of the sugar. It'll be a slower absorption and you won't get the blood sugar spike. It'll be fine.

Katie:

Yeah, we, we kind of mentioned that last week. I think you. Talked about it in the and and I only know like the concept and the idea of like, okay, before I have my coffee in the morning, I drink my water. I usually, you know, I, like I said last week, if you listen to that episode, I do like a lemon water with some cayenne pepper before I have my breakfast. So I do that first and then I eat whatever my breakfast is that morning, hopefully good protein filled stuff. And then I have my coffee, which. Is supposedly supposed to help your body process all of it better. Chrissy kind of gave us a little bit of a rundown of like why that is a thing. I think you talked

Chrissy:

Yes, I

Katie:

So your body really does. Respond to different foods and different drinks based on what it's kind of paired with, which is so fascinating. And it's all like it. It just kind of, it makes sense, like the science of different things coming together, like you think about like science class and chemistry when you're mixing certain. Chemicals together and like certain things react a different way, but if you add them in different orders, they respond differently. And it just, it makes a lot of sense, but you just, you don't usually think about it in the sense of like putting things into your body that way. And I'm like, I don't know why I haven't ever thought about that until it was explained to me more explicitly, but I'm like, yeah, it

Chrissy:

You know what's another thing? I'm just gonna science nerd out here for a second that I learned in my chemistry class in college that just made me so much more in awe of the Lord and just how beautiful and perfect he created this world. So if you take a glucose molecule, it has carbon, it has hydrogen, it has oxygen in it. If you take one hydrogen and one oxygen off of it and replace it with a nitrate, it becomes entirely explosive, like it will explode immediately. But when you have the oxygen and the hydrogen on there instead of the nitrate, it's sugar and it's delicious. And we eat it all the time. Take that out, add the nitrate back in and boom, it explodes. And so my, uh, chemistry professor was explaining this to me and she was using it as a means that we use to try to understand the world, but it honestly just makes my faith grow even more of like the Lord. Like there's no way this all happened by accident, that the nitrates didn't connect to the rest of the glucose molecules and didn't explode like there had to be some sort of power behind that and. The more and more I started to understand the theory of chemistry because side note chemistry is all theory. We don't actually know it to be fact because we can't observe the actual molecules with our eyes. All we can do is observe the reactions of the molecules and the outputs that it. Puts out, we can't actually see the molecules coming together. And so the more that I learned and tried to understand chemistry and the world around us, the human body, nature, things like that, the more that I was able to see like, wow, God is such a good creator, and he created all of these things so incredibly perfect that even if anything was just the tiniest little minutely off. We would all pretty much explode and so yeah, it's just wow.

Katie:

God is so good. And it is like, you're like, he had a plan for all of this and he really did design it so perfectly. And yet feel like we have to fix what was designed perfectly. And that's kind of like how we gotten to this point where our food is actually hurting us versus nourishing and healing us. And it's, it's quite crazy. I Coffee is one of those interesting things like. I, I really love coffee. Yes, I have a coffee addiction. I would say most of us who drink coffee every day have an addiction whether we realize it or not. Right. You know, because it, it's that need that, like blockage of those neurotransmitters to get us through the day because we think that if we don't have it, then we get these big crashes and stuff, and it's, it's, one of those things that I've been hearing more and more about the effects of caffeine on our body and. That is probably not the best and probably not the healthiest. And so Josh, he, he talks about it in this, this episode, um, where he kind of goes back and forth of like, there is a right and there is a wrong way to drink coffee. Um. But I'm also leaning towards the idea that like, coffee probably isn't necessary and probably isn't the best thing for me long term. Because the way that I drink coffee is just, I, you know, I get up and I just kind of drink it in the, the beginning of my day after I've done my other little things, right? But then I almost always have a cup in the afternoon and I'm drinking, like, you know, if you measure it out, it's like a cup and a half-ish when I'm actually drinking it. Um, so. It's, I've actually been leaning towards ditching coffee altogether and. Totally getting off of it, but I need to find something to replace it with because again, it's that whole like, this is my routine. This is what I enjoy. I like having the like hot cup of coffee. And so I think my progression, this is my theory of what I would I am potentially going to do. I have a lot of coffee right now in my house that I'm like it. It's probably not gonna happen soon. And we're still in such a fluctuation stage of our life that I don't think I could do it right now technically, but I think. Eventually weaning off coffee, going to maybe like just a tea, like a black or green tea that still has the caffeine, and then maybe switching over to an herbal tea that doesn't have caffeine at all, and then just doing herbal teas. Or, I've even thought about, and I don't know what your thoughts are on this, but I really, really wanna try like a mushroom coffee. And this is so crazy because I'm like, I used to hear about them, but like before they really became a thing. I had a friend from high school who talked about it a lot on her social media and I was like, that is the weirdest thing I've literally ever heard of. It literally just sounds like drinking a cup of dirt to me. I like mushrooms in general, but I have been thinking more and more about it and I know that there's a lot of benefits to some of these mushrooms that they put in these coffees and I, I feel like I even sound crazy saying it right now, but I'm like, I really think I am going to try it. I dunno.

Chrissy:

My thoughts are at least in terms of like decreasing your coffee intake.'cause I went through kind of the same realization coming out of college of like, oh, I'm having two and a half to three cups of coffee a day. Realistically. And I realized that that was a lot, and I didn't want to have to completely rely on that coffee, and so I just intentionally started decreasing it and also at the same time focusing a lot on my sleep, and so making sure that I was getting an adequate amount of sleep. Every night, and for those nights that I really did like go to sleep when I got tired and wake up on my own, when my body was ready to wake up, I would be intentional of like, maybe I'll only have half a cup of coffee this morning because I got a good night's sleep last night. And so I have that energy already. That half cup of coffee is just to kind of curb the migraine that is bound to come if I don't have my coffee at all. And then same thing for the afternoon of like, oh, I have time this afternoon. I'm gonna try taking a short nap instead of having another full cup of coffee. And so I started doing that right out of college and, you know, before I became a professional human and I think it was actually very beneficial because now I've gotten myself to the point where like, legitimately, even if I don't have a great night's sleep, I can have maybe half a cup of coffee in the morning and it satisfies me throughout the entire day. Yeah, I get a little tired in the afternoon, but often not tired enough to need another cup of coffee. Um, the second cup of coffee would merely just be for enjoyment at that point, and it would be like if I'm going out to be social with some friends or something like that. So maybe try that of just like intentionally decreasing coffee with an increase in sleep. I don't know.

Katie:

I actually get a lot of sleep

Chrissy:

That's great. Then in that case, I don't know'cause I can't relate,

Katie:

I just, I don't even know if it's necessarily the need for energy that, like, why I want to reduce it or like, it's not the caffeine, like it's not being awake. It's more just like I've been hearing a lot of other health professionals and stuff talking about on their podcasts and in books, everything like the Westin A Price Foundation, uh, which I've talked about before. They, they, they do a lot on health and nutrition and I really love a lot of what they talk about and they basically say, don't have caffeine. Like, it's just, it's, it really doesn't do much for you. It's not that great. It, it has a lot of negatives to it. Um, and even just the idea that, like, I've been learning more about. Coffee in general, like, you know, 93% of coffee has mold, which is one thing I learned. So you have to like get it. You have to get the coffee that's highly tested for mold and mycotoxins and things like that. But those coffees are so expensive. Most coffees, if they're not organic, they've been sprayed with glyphosate. So yes, you wanna do the organic coffee that doesn't have the glyphosate but then, you think but and here's my other thing too, like I've been on this kick of like reducing plastics from my life, right? And so many of the coffee makers that we have are brewed in like plastic machines. I think about my Keurig and Keurigs are like all plastic. And so i'm I'm just thinking like, how can I reduce all these other toxins and, and bad things for my life? And so I'm like, why not switch to something that just. doesn't have just then I think about like, okay, if I do tea, then I, oh, I guess my, my percolator, my little brew, uh, what is it called?

Chrissy:

French press.

Katie:

teapot They're of those, like the French press Yeah. Is also glass. So I'm like, okay, those things also are not plastic. So anyway, my point is that I'm just trying to think of like getting away from all these other things too. And I've just been hearing

Chrissy:

have you tried chai?

Katie:

Yeah, I, I like it enough. It's not, it's almost too sweet for me sometimes. Like the flavoring of it I, and I wanna, like, I'm really curious about the mushroom coffee, and if I'd like it and I've heard a lot of like health benefits from it too, then I'm like, okay, if I could switch. But I think if I do, I wouldn't get rid of all my coffee in general. I don't know. Right now I have a really big bag of coffee from Costco. I've, I found the brand that I really like right now is, Mount Comfort. It's an organic coffee. Costco actually has a lot of organic coffee options for those who are looking for a good organic brand. I. would recommend from there otherwise, before that I was doing Larry's Organic Coffee, which was recommended by Vani Hari, who's, um, considered the food babe. I don't know. Do you have any coffee brands you like?

Chrissy:

We've been drinking Counter Culture, which apparently is actually local to where I live. Um, I don't know exactly where they get their beans from, but there are three Counter Culture coffee shops that brew or that roast their beans in house. And so, and then they, they're beans are like in grocery stores around here, like I just get mine from Whole Foods. Um, so that's what I've been using and it, it's really, it tastes good. It's organic. I don't know. I haven't really gone down the super organic. Gotta be all the fancy things, coffee, rabbit hole, because there's just so much and it could get very expensive very quickly. So think that's another thing is like balancing the cost of it. Of like, how can we find a cost-effective coffee that is good for us and doesn't have those mold and mycotoxins in it? And ultimately, I think it just comes down to is like find an organic coffee. Ultimately buying it in bulk is going to be more cost effective. Um,'cause you don't have to pay for as much packaging and things like that. Uh, but yeah, just and create budget for it. You know, switching from Folgers to organic coffee is going to be a jump. You might be doubling your coffee budget two or three times, but at the same time, in the end it is beneficial because you're not introducing all those toxins into your body on a daily basis, like the mold and the mycotoxins and things like that. So it's a balance. It's a something that you kind of have to evaluate of like what's important to my life, like in terms of decreasing coffee intake. Yes, I think it's important to decrease your coffee intake to where your body's not relying on three cups of coffee every single day. But at the same time, I see the social value in still drinking coffee. And so I don't wanna cut coffee outta my life completely because it can be such a great avenue for conversation with people of just like sitting and enjoying a warm cup of coffee is just a beautiful opportunity to get to know people and, um, to create fellowship. and so that's a sacrifice that I'm not willing to make by, if I were to stop drinking coffee, you know what I mean?

Katie:

Well, it's funny, I, I agree with you, but I think if Wes were listening to this conversation, he'd be like, I've never had coffee in my life. And so he would probably disagree in the sense that. He, he's like, I, I do that, but I don't drink coffee, so I'm like you know, okay. There are definitely people who don't drink coffee and still get that. Right. But, and so, I mean, when he goes out, he usually goes out for ice cream with people or just

Chrissy:

Yes, but he's a youth pastor, so high schoolers do still go out for ice cream.

Katie:

He hangs out with other people besides kids, okay

Chrissy:

I don't know about you, but I don't really wanna go get ice cream at 10:00 AM personally, I'd rather go out for a cup of coffee. Okay.

Katie:

Uh, I would be curious if anyone's listening and you've tried like any of those mushroom coffees. If you have no idea what, what I'm talking about when I say mushroom coffee, you gotta at least Google it. There's like, I don't even remember what the brands are, but there's, there's ones that they're basically, it's like ground up mushrooms and different things that are supposed to be really good for you. I mean, they're like lion's mane mushrooms and chaga and shiitake and all these things are really good for like your brain and your mitochondria function and your just overall immune system and health and all this stuff. They're supposed to be really good, so there's a lot of health benefits to it versus like coffee. I don't know for sure if that mushroom coffee is energizing necessarily, it might be in the sense that it wakes up your mitochondria and it, and it gives your cells a boost of energy in, in the function versus like, caffeine kind of cuts out you feeling tired, so you feel alert and awake. So I feel like it's just a better overall natural energy boost. I don't know. I don't for the fact that I want to try it

Chrissy:

if it's still coffee, wouldn't it still act the same way as coffee with the addition of the benefits from the mushrooms? I would think,

Katie:

I don't think it has coffee in it. It's just called coffee because it's supposed to be brewed and made like a cup of coffee. So it's, I don't think it has coffee bean at all, um, in it. And so

Chrissy:

Interesting, I totally interpreted it differently. I thought it was regular, like organic coffee with mushroom added to it, which in my perspective I'm just like, why don't you just cook with mushrooms? I think like a mushroom chicken, like a chicken marsala kind of situation with. You could add lion's, mae, mushrooms to that, and then you get the same benefit as opposed to adding dirt flavor to your coffee.

Katie:

Okay here we go so, the brand that I had a friend from high school. Like she talks about this brand all the time. It's called Mud water, which already sounds terrible, right? Because you're like, why would I drink mud water? But it actually has chai in it. It has, cacao, lion's, mane, cordyceps, chaga, reishi, it has some cinnamon, turmeric and Himalayan salt. So it doesn't have any coffee in it. This one's called Mud Water

Chrissy:

Alright, Let's look at the ingredients for Life Boost mushroom coffee. cause now you just have me curious.'cause I legitimately thought they just added mushrooms to the coffee. So Life Boost brand coffee does add mushrooms to the coffee. So, on the package itself it says cognition, mushrooms, plus coffee. And so it looks like the ingredients are coffee with a combination of lion's mane and chaga mushrooms in it, in addition to the coffee.

Katie:

Okay, so does Rise Coffee. It's like a mushroom blend and then it has organic Arabic coffee, some coconut milk. And ads keep popping up right as I'm reading the ingredient list. It's just kind of funny. Anyway, so yeah, so some of them are coffee plus the mushroom blend stuff, which is interesting because then, so now you have to decide. Do you still want the coffee or do you want just like, I, I kind of wanna try the Mud Water that has no coffee in it. Um, it has chai, which is, you know, we talked about, you mentioned, um, switching to chai, so that'd be interesting to see what it.

Chrissy:

You let me know how that goes. I have no desire to try mud water. Absolutely none.

Katie:

I'm just so curious because I do hear all the, like, benefits from each of these different types of mushrooms, like, um, immune boosting, stamina focus longevity, mood support, gut health, you know all these things that I'm like, these are good versus like, maybe even just doing this with your coffee so having like a Rise or the Life Boost one where it's like coffee plus this. Then it's like you still get your coffee, which you love, and then doing some of these blends that have actual health benefits to it, which is like coffee. I, I don't know that really has any health benefits to it, does it?

Chrissy:

I say it does because it increases socialization and therefore increases your feel-good hormones

Katie:

Your mood. That's true, I mean, there is, honestly, I would, honestly I say. onto something like, I'm not saying like, oh yeah, whatever. That's nothing. Because it really is when you get into this health journey and if you're stressed out about all of the decisions and doing this and taking that out or this versus that, the stress alone actually is worse for your health than just enjoying what you're doing. Because, and I actually, I have a new crunchy friend out here, which is really fun, and we were talking about how one of her family members does everything wrong, but yet, he's he's in his older years and he's still really healthy it seems, and he has never had any issues, but it's more just because he is like, I'm gonna do this and I'm just happy about life. And he's just like, you can tell that there's something completely true about just being positive and like he is just a happy-go-lucky kind of guy. Versus being older in your years and being grumbly and complaining about everything. You could just tell like those people seem. Sicker. Sometimes I don't, I don't even know how to explain it, but it's just like your stress and your mood really do affect your health. So, it's kinda, yeah, God

Chrissy:

Well, think about it this way. So stress and the immune system kind of go opposite to one another, that stress is supposed to be released in a fight or flight situation. It increases your heart rate, it increases your respiration rate, it makes your blood pressure go up and. It makes you more able to get a lot of things done really, really fast It, because if you're running away from a bear, you want to be able to jump over that very large pond or very small pond, hopefully not a large pond. That's actually really impressive if someone's jumping over a large pond. But if you're running away from a bear, you wanna be able to jump over a small body of water. Or if your child is stuck underneath a car, you want to be able to lift up the car really easily to get your child out, which is what people can do when. A ton of adrenaline is released into their system all at once, but with long-term chronic stress, that adrenaline is constantly in your system and so your body's constantly in the fight or flight mode and it's never has the ability to get into the rest and digest mode and rest and digest mode is when your body has that ability to repair itself, to fix itself, to mend itself, and to maximize its health potential. During fight or flight, your body is not worried about it shuts off the digestive system completely, because I don't know about you if you're running away from a bear and you have to poop. That is really unfortunate. But if you are just relaxing and having a good afternoon and you have to have a bowel movement, it's really not that much of an inconvenience. You just, it happens, you know? And so. just one of those things that like your body uses those restful moments of joy and decreased stress and things like that in order to repair itself and improve the immune system. And so if your body is too worried and stressed out about this whole crunchy journey and trying to do everything right, you're not actually going to benefit from your crunchy journey at all, because it doesn't have the opportunity to rest and digest and repair the things that have been broken from that chronic stress over so much time. And so like find those people that just give you life because that feel good feeling is not just like an emotional thing, like it's really is a hormonal thing. It really does help your physical health become better. And also, like we mentioned a while ago in an episode previously when we were talking about raw milk, about the importance of vetting the farmer and vetting the cows. That are providing the raw milk is you want to have happy stress-free cows because they're going to have healthier milk with less bacteria and pathogens in it. If you have sad cows, their milk is not gonna be good. It's gonna be sad milk. And so same thing with humans. You want to have happy humans to create happy fruit in your life. And if you are a sad human, then you have sad fruit and you're just not going to be able to, um, have as much joy if you're so focused on the stress

Katie:

I have to mention something only because you, you mentioned again, you mentioned something about bowel movements and so I did learn something very interesting about coffee I learned that. Caffeine stimulates digestion, which most of us know that like when you're having, when you're drink coffee and it like stimulates a bowel movement and stuff, it's not always a great thing that your caffeine, that your coffee that you're drinking stimulates like you needing to go to the bathroom because it actually makes your food pass through your intestine much quicker than it should pass through your intestine. So it doesn't give. Your body, the chance to actually absorb the nutrients from your food. So it's like if you, if you're drinking coffee and then you're pooping immediately after, it's like, especially like you think about it actually. Oh my gosh. Like mind blowing moment. Maybe it's not good to drink coffee at the end of the evening, like at dinner time, like, you know, like we were talking about dessert, having coffee, maybe it's not that good because you're getting it through your system faster than your body really needs it to go through because now maybe it's not good pairing it together'cause your body isn't absorbing all the nutrients it needs from the food that it just ate at dinner. I don't know,

Chrissy:

potentially. But also if you think about the, the thought process of that you're supposed to poop every time you eat anyways.

Katie:

Mm-hmm. I don't know if it's like you need to poop immediately after you eat, but just the fact that you need to, I don't know, have a bowel movement after you eat. In general, I

Chrissy:

don't know about you, but we are about to get real personal here. FYI I will eat three bites of breakfast. And need to go to the bathroom.

Katie:

Well, but is that like you, is it from the night before? Do you know what I mean? Like,'cause for me it's definitely like from whatever's before and then it like processes in the morning, I don't know. I don't know. I, who knows who has the answer. Are there any, someone tell us in the comments, Josh Axe listen, help us understand about Josh Axe would know. He, he has all the answers of this kind of stuff. He would know. I think he was the person that I listened to. No, actually I don't think it was him. I think it was somewhere else that I listened to and I was like, I just had no idea. Maybe it's not a good thing when your coffee's making you need to poop right away. You're like, oh, maybe it wasn't time.

Chrissy:

I, I did know that if you rely on the coffee for bowel movement, that means you're constipated.

Katie:

Yeah. You were the one who told me that. Yeah. But if you're able to have a bowel

Chrissy:

movement, if you're able to have a bowel movement without the coffee, then you're not constipated. Yeah. But if I were to guess, I don't think having a bowel movement after drinking coffee is a bad thing per se. Like I, I. I don't know because it, it's just like you're putting something in, something's gotta come out.

Katie:

Yeah. Yeah. It does. It makes sense that if you, you don't want it to pass too quickly because the intestines is where, right. It absorbs all the nutrients. Right.

Chrissy:

Yeah.

Katie:

I don't know. It's just, but it

Chrissy:

still takes at least like a day to get through.

Katie:

Yeah. I just, I heard that and I thought that was very interesting. Um, and yeah, it was just a like. I never thought of that. I never thought of that kind of thing. So anyway. Well, we have, well,

Chrissy:

we're gonna end our episode on that final thought.

Katie:

There you go. Everyone. Now you know, probably more than you needed to about Chrissy and I. Uh, so we're gonna end there before this gets too weird. Um, all right, well, we, we also last week introduced a new segment called Community Conversations where we are highlighting something like a comment, a message from one of you guys, or a conversation that we had with one of you. Um, and we want to give another shout out this week.

Chrissy:

Yeah, so today's community conversation shout out is going to Abby P, who joined our Facebook group recently. She said to us, Hey Chrissy, I love your guys podcast. Haha. She's not from Texas. She didn't say y'all's, but that's okay. I speak Texan. Katie always makes fun of me for speaking texan always. Anyways, she said, I've been listening along. I love what you guys have gone through so far. One thing I'd be interested in is hearing about clothing. I've seen a movement towards natural fibers and ECCO certified, and I'm curious how important this is. Birthing would also be interesting, hospital versus home birth versus birth center. It's so sad to me how a lot of women aren't very educated on their options before giving birth. So Abby, thank you for your comment and your recommendation. Uh, we actually have had conversations together behind the camera about these two topics and we've had it in our list of potential episode topics to talk about, but. Now we might move it up the list of priority because we have an audience that we know is actually interested in hearing about these things. So, um, any other listeners who are listening along and you're thinking, oh my gosh, there's something I really want them to talk about to go through, just drop us a comment either on. One of our podcasts, or in our Facebook group, our Facebook group is Crunchy Christian Mamas on a Budget. Um, let us know what you wanna hear about and we can dive into that and you can understand it better. And then through that, we can all grow together as a community honoring God with our health and wellness. And so, um, Abby, thanks for that comment and. I look forward to seeing how those episodes come to be in the future. Um, speaking of future episodes, we fully intended on going through coffee, tea, and alcohol today in this episode, but we only made it through coffee, so stay tuned next week. We'll probably just end up talking about tea and then we'll probably just end up talking about alcohol if I'm gonna be completely honest. So stay tuned. This might be a four part series of beverages. It's gonna be good. I'm looking forward to it. Make sure you subscribe to our channel so you get a notification when our next episodes are posted so that you can stay up to date on all things crunchy. Katie, do you have anything else to add before we end this episode for today?

Katie:

Nope, I think you covered it all. We appreciate the comments that we get from you guys. So, Abby, thanks for your kind words.

Chrissy:

all right, guys. Well, we pray over every single one of you guys, and we hope that these conversations are helpful for you in your Journey to becoming better stewards of your body, your mind, your soul, your spirit, your finances, and your families. And we're praying that this episode was helpful for you and we'll see you next time. Bye next

Katie:

time. Bye.