Glancing up from my novel, I almost choked on my latte. The woman sashaying my way in the cafe looked like my friend Sandra, only much better.
When I last saw her in June, she was a chubby size 14. But Sandra, 45, and a mother of three, had shed a stone. Not only that, but she was flaunting her figure in skinny jeans and a clinging T-shirt.
I’d love to say I was happy for her, but I wasn’t. I was jealous, particularly of her flat stomach. But if her change in appearance had me gawping, it was how she did it that had me falling off my chair.
Frances Child was 8 st 5 lb, and while not overweight, her tummy was permanently bloated (left). After giving up coffee for a month and enduring sugar cravings and headaches, she was astonished by the results (right)
‘I’ve given up coffee and tea,’ she announced. ‘As soon as I stopped drinking caffeine, the pounds just fell off.’
It sounded too far-fetched. How can a low-calorie cuppa make you fat?
It seems there’s something in it. Research has suggested that drinking coffee, tea or caffeinated diet beverages can cause you to pile on the pounds. This is the subject of Eugene Wells’s new book The Decaf Diet, which makes startling claims.
First, he suggests that there is a link between long-term caffeine consumption and obesity.
When we drink coffee, our bodies produce the hormone cortisol — the same chemical that we produce when we’re stressed or scared. This increases blood sugar levels, and it’s this that is turned into fat.
To make matters worse, Wells cites a U.S. study that suggests if cortisol is raised for a prolonged period, the body also relocates fat deposits from other parts straight to the abdomen. You end up with what Wells calls ‘coffee belly’.
Plus, most of us load our drinks with sugar and milk, adding to the calorie count. There’s also the ‘little treats’ we have with coffee such as biscuits or a sugary breakfast.
At 5ft 3in and 8 st 5lb, I’m a size 8, and while not overweight, my tummy is permanently bloated.
At 44, I feel unattractive — I had my daughter seven years ago, but can’t shift my mum tum.
When we drink coffee, our bodies produce the hormone cortisol - the same chemical that we produce when we're stressed or scared. This increases blood sugar levels, and it's this that is turned into fat
Yes, I’ve got a sweet tooth, averaging a bar of chocolate (which also contains caffeine) and a croissant every day. But that aside, my diet is healthy. I rarely eat takeaways and have just a couple of glasses of wine at the weekends.
Caffeine is my weakness, though. I drink at least four coffees and three teas a day.
According to registered dietician Bini Suresh, there is up to 94 mg of caffeine per cup of coffee, and up to 42 mg per cup of tea. The recommended daily limit is 400 mg, but even one cup of coffee can trigger the release of cortisol.
Bini recommends women drink no more than two cups of tea or coffee per day.
I’m shocked when she tells me I’m consuming about 500 calories a day in tea and coffee alone.
I have whole milk and two sugars in both, which equates to about 80 calories per cup of coffee and 60 per cup of tea.
If you have a latte from Costa or Starbucks it’s more, she says, because the servings are much bigger with far more milk than we would use at home.
So is my tummy really a ‘coffee belly?’ Gritting my teeth, I vow to go without caffeine for a month.
WEEK ONE
I measure myself: my waist is 27 in and my hips are 33.5in, the same as my bust. Waking on the first morning, I try not to think about coffee and sip a herbal tea.
Pulling on my trainers, I set off for my usual twice-weekly run. I normally undo all my good work with a croissant afterwards, but today I don’t bother — a treat without coffee doesn’t appeal.
Sipping another lemon tea, I feel virtuous although my head has started to hurt. By 2pm I’m in agony.
Not only does my head feel as though it’s about to explode, but I’m aching all over. My nose is running and I wonder if I’m coming down with flu.
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Not according to Wells. Feeling as though I’m about to die is a normal symptom of caffeine withdrawal. Headaches, nausea and insomnia are all par for the course. For three days, I feel wretched.
I’m sorely tempted to give in — never more so than when I take my daughter to the park and all the other mums are clutching takeaway coffees.
Sneaking into a cafe, I’m about to admit defeat when I notice that, despite it being mid-morning, mulled wine is on offer as they’re refining their recipes now before the winter rush.
I purchase a beaker and head back to the park. It’s not even lunchtime, but I don’t care, and the alcohol makes me feel better.
Since I’ve ditched coffee, I feel constantly on edge and I can’t stop eating. I munch a box of lemon doughnuts and a loaf of focaccia for lunch one day instead of my usual tuna sandwich.
Bini suggests this is because I have developed a psychological dependency on sugar.
‘You have your coffee very sweet, so you are trying to replace the sugar,’ she says.
My body is in total shock. At the end of the week I discover I’ve piled on 3lb! My tummy looks worse than ever.
WEEK TWO
I can’t concentrate on work and find myself cleaning the fridge instead. Eschewing my morning coffee is hard, but the drink I crave most is the mid-afternoon caffeine energy boost. Bini assures me this won’t last.
‘Caffeine is well-known for increasing alertness and cognitive function. But if you make sure you eat healthily and drink plenty of water, you’ll soon start to feel better than when you were buzzing with caffeine,’ she says.
Wells suggests keeping the fridge stacked with fruit and vegetables to snack on instead of drinking coffee. Munching on grapes, I find reserves of willpower I didn’t know existed.
My headache’s gone and I feel less stressed. I realise how many cakes I used to eat because I was having coffee. I’m 8 st 5 lb again. I even think my tummy looks flatter.
WEEK THREE
Out for dinner in a beautiful restaurant, it feels sacrilegious not to linger over a coffee.
‘Just have one,’ my friend Simon tempts me. I don’t. But I do give in to his suggestion that I have a decaf. It tastes unpleasant and I leave it, scoffing a tiramisu instead.
However, I don’t feel bloated and my tummy looks almost flat. I feel far less stressed and my sugar cravings are decreasing.
Even when my daughter forgets her PE kit on the first day of term and we have to dash back for it, I don’t shriek as usual.
‘It’s much nicer when you’re not angry Mummy,’ she says.
I’ve lost 3 lb more — fantastic!
WEEK FOUR
Standing in the shower I can look down and see my toes. I can’t remember when that last happened.
My friend Jo asks if I’ve had something done to my face.
‘Your skin looks amazing,’ she says generously.
In fact, my complexion does look brighter. Bini says this is because caffeine is a diuretic and I’m losing less water now I’m not drinking tea or coffee.
Although I binged for the first week, I’ve calmed down and now eat my usual three meals a day and a little chocolate in the evening.
This week, I’ve finally got down to some work. I’ve stopped reading celebrity gossip on the internet. I’m able to concentrate again.
On the scales, I’m astonished to find I weigh 7 st 13 lb. I’ve lost almost half a stone and my waist is 26.5 in and hips 33 in — I’ve lost half an inch on both.
Some of it may be down to eating less sugar, but I can’t attribute it all to this. I’ve given up sugar before and still had a pot belly. Now I’m not bloated at all.
I enjoy coffee, so I won’t ditch it completely. But I’m determined to limit my caffeine consumption to three or four cups a week.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2429599/Losing-weight-Could-ditching-daily-coffee-YOU-trimmer-tummy-Thats-Frances-Childs--just-month.html#ixzz2fk8WPK1C
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