Mold Exposure Could Be Why You Have a Caffeine Intolerance or Caffeine Sensitivity
Nothing brightens up my day more than an iced coconut milk mocha latte topped with fluffy whipped cream and drizzled chocolate syrup. It’s such a special treat for me as I try to only drink it once a week or once every two weeks. I’ve always been a coffee lover, but not for the buzz or extra energy. I like to drink coffee solely for the taste!
I remember drinking my first Starbucks caramel Frappuccino as a preteen before the quality of their coffee went to shit, and I immediately fell in love. Back then, coffee never impacted my energy levels and as a matter of fact, I remember taking a nap right after drinking a venti Frappuccino. This, however, changed drastically for me in my mid 20’s.
I went from caffeine having absolutely no impact on me… to experiencing jitters, anxiety, irritability, and insomnia - even if I drank coffee or even tea early in the morning. I was stumped and couldn’t figure out why all of a sudden I was so caffeine sensitive. I wasn’t drinking multiple cups of coffee a day, I wasn’t drinking coffee late in the day, and even the smallest amounts of caffeine were affecting me and giving me major insomnia. I made the effort to request half the espresso in my lattes, and that didn’t let up on the symptoms. I was devastated, but still stubbornly drank coffee every once in a while knowing that my quality of sleep would suffer for the night. Decaf just didn’t taste as good. What’s even more crazy is, eating dark chocolate would affect me just as badly as drinking coffee and tea.
I really wanted to get to the root cause of my caffeine senstivity, but back then (nearly 12 years ago), holistic practitioners were not easily accessible and my only option would have been to hire an extremely expensive local functional medicine doctor, so I brushed it off.
Fast forward to a couple years later - that’s when I discovered on my own that hidden mold in my home had been progressively making me sick over the years! My mystery had been solved! My liver was overburdened with mold and mycotoxins I had been breathing in over the years, and it could not keep up with filtering out all the toxins I was being exposed to. This also explains why I had severe acne, hyperpigmentation on my face, jaundice looking skin, and somewhat elevated bilirubin levels on my lab work. If you’re curious about what other symptoms mold can cause, check out my sister site here. I had the majority of the symptoms listed on that page.
Since moving to a safer environment and having my home properly remediated for mold, the majority of my symptoms went away, BUT the one symptom that still unfortunately lingers is my caffeine sensitivity; this honestly doesn’t surprise me though considering I was unknowingly exposed to mold for nearly a decade. My liver is healing, but it still has a long way to go. It seems to be metabolizing caffeine at a faster rate than before, and I say this because rather than the caffeine keeping me up until 4 or 5 in the morning, now it keeps me up until around 12 in the morning. I can confidently say my liver is slowly getting better thanks to obviously getting out of my moldy environment, but also my lovely holistic health practitioner (who I see virtually) and regular use of the x39 patch, which can reactivate dormant stems cells in the body using your own infrared light. On my next Lifewave purchase, I plan to add on the SP6 phototherapy patch, as I have heard it can do wonders for liver health, even though they market it as a “heathy appetite” patch.
Now before I end this article, it would be a disservice if I failed to mention that coffee is notorious for being contaminated with mold and mycotoxins due to the drying methods that many coffee harvesters use.
If you’ve been exposed to mold or healing from mold, it’s especially imperative that you avoid drinking contaminated coffee. And even if you haven’t had mold exposure, I still highly recommend drinking high quality coffee that isn’t contaminated with mold, mycotoxins, and pesticides. Moldy coffee is often the reason why many people have negative side effects from coffee such as jitters and anxiety, but not always. I still unfortunately experience these symptoms when drinking high quality mold-free coffee, but I am hoping that will improve with time.
Here are some options for organic, mold-free, and mycotoxin-free coffee:
The Bean Coffee Company - This is my all-time favorite organic, mold and mycotoxin free coffee brand. I prefer the flavor Hawaiian Hazelnut. I know they are mold and mycotoxin free because Mavavation tested it.
Danger Coffee - This is Dave Asprey’s new coffee brand, which has also been tested by Mamavation. They are the only coffee company (that I know of) that adds trace minerals back into their coffee. Their coffee is good, but I personally like The Bean Coffee Company better. Use code MINIMIZINGMOLD to save 10%.
Purity Coffee - According to Mamavation, Purity Coffee isn’t as pure as the other two brands mentioned above, but it is still a decent option. Use code HEALINGFROMMOLD to save 20% on your first order
Oregano King Coffee *- If you want an instant mushroom coffee, this is an excellent choice. I like to add it to smoothies.
Zen Bunni *- If you want to support a small certified biodynamic company, this is the one. Their coffee tastes amazing.
Kion Coffee - I have not tried this coffee brand, but I have heard it’s very good.
Bio Dynamic Coffee - I have not tried this coffee brand yet either, but I have heard it is amazing as well.
* no decaf options
If you are interested in decaffeinated coffee (as I imagine you should be if you are visiting this page), all coffee brands mentioned above (with the exception of Oregano and Zen Bunni) offer decaf and use a chemical-free method to decaffeinate their coffee beans called the Swiss Water process. With the Swiss Water Process, only water and osmosis is used to remove caffeine from the coffee bean. So far I’ve only tried the decaf coffee from Purity Coffee and it was very good. It’s not like nasty, chemical tasting, decaf coffee I have tried in local coffee shops.
Many people don’t realize that decaffeinated coffee can be more harmful to the body than regular coffee because most companies use the chemicals methylene chloride or ethyl acetate to decaffeinate their coffee beans. I think this is why I had this idea in my head that ALL decaf coffee is gross…because I had only ever tried decaf coffee that had undergone the chemical decaffeination process.
Now if you still aren’t a fan of ‘swiss water’ decaf coffee, I recently discovered a pretty amazing coffee alternative made of mesquite produced by a company called Kamana.
I was skeptical of it because I had tried other coffee alternatives made of mushrooms and dandelion and did not like them, but mesquite coffee is actually the closest thing to coffee I’ve ever tasted! Now of course it doesn’t taste exactly like coffee because…well it’s not coffee, but it’s close! The aroma is similar to coffee, but not quite, and the taste is similar to coffee, but not quite. It also has a slight chocolatey smell and taste to it. You can even brew it just like coffee, drink it black, or make a latte with it. Coffee will always win my heart over, but Kamana Coffee is a really good coffee alternative. Use code MINIMIZI15 to save 15% on your first order.
I hope this article has been helpful for you.
Much love to you all.
xAshley
Disclaimer: This article contains affiliate links.
