When You Started Drinking

How old were you when you started drinking coffee?

I began gulping down coffee at the ripe old age of 8 or 9! My great-grandmother would make it a certain special way that was absolutely delicious—I never asked her ‘how’ because I was really too young to care about the ‘how’—all I knew is that I wanted it, and I would salivate thinking about it once I knew that I was going to be staying over at her house again.Years later, I discovered that Gustav III of Sweden believed that coffee was poison, and to prove his theory, he sentenced a murderer to drink coffee every day. To provide comparison, another murderer was pardoned on condition that he drink tea every day. Two doctors were appointed to supervise the experiment and see who died first. The doctors were the first to die. Then the King was murdered in 1792. Finally, . . . after many years, one of the criminals died, at the age of 83. Hilariously, he was the tea drinker!I enjoy teas as much as coffees now—but this historical fact always ‘scuttles my balloon’!

Should I start drinking?

Drinking responsibly is a virtuous deed and everybody I know that has law issues about drinking tell me almost the same thing, they always drink responsibly, and have no idea what happened. If you want to drink socially, just be careful. If you really don't want to drink I'm certain your friends would love to have a built-in designated driver. I was the designated for years and I had a good time. The bartender will give you sodas all night and feed you as well, and won't charge a dime. My friends would always check on me making sure I had soda and food or anything else I desired. I made good money because they all wanted to make sure I had plenty of gas to take everybody home and get home myself. Remember, you're sober and their not, you get LOTS of good information. I have enough information in my head to bust up every marriage I know. The decision is ultimately yours, but don't make a decision based on what you think you should be doing because of what others are doing, don't let someone else dictate your choices. Good luck and God bless.

Should I start drinking coffee?

There are a lot of benefits to drinking coffee. I usually have 2 cups a day. These benefits include:High antioxidant contentImprovement of mental function (when used properly)Greater energyTaste (once you get used to it)Improvement of workout effectivenessRegarding social benefits--in my experience, it doesn't really matter socially if you drink coffee or not. I used to be part of a religion that completely banned the consumption of coffee, but I never really even needed to mention this to my friends. I would just drink something else if we went somewhere that served coffee. The only negative I experienced when not drinking coffee was when I studied abroad in Costa Rica, a famous coffee producing-country. Regarding the negatives:Addiction is not really a serious problem unless you take your habit to unnecessary levels (i.e., more than 1-2 cups a day); I recently took a 2-week vacation during which I drank no coffee, but experienced no withdrawal symptomsBad breath can be alleviated by not drinking with milk and sugar (significant contributions to bad breath and teeth, due to the encouragement of the growth of sugar-loving bacteria) and mints The money problem is largely alleviated by making the majority of your coffee at home, instead of paying ridiculous amounts for StarbucksYou don't need it for energy if you are healthy, but it will add to the energy (and focus) you already have I will add these caveats: If you have headache/migraine or heart problems, developing a caffeine habit is probably not such a good idea. Also, using coffee to compensate for insufficient sleep is only partially effective, and can lead to long-term problems. Also, drinking coffee late in the afternoon will have an adverse effect on sleep quality. Finally, your choices are not limited to no coffee or daily coffee consumption. If you don't want to drink it daily, you can enjoy an occasional cup with friends without any addictive side effects. You may want to check out an unconventional recipe for coffee that substantially enhances mood and mental function: http://www.bulletproofexec.com/h...