Table of Contents[Hide][Show]
The best time in the morning to drink coffee to encourage the production of serotonin and maintain a balanced mood all day long.
I spent the entire first day at the International Wise Traditions Conference one year camped out in the room where Julia Ross was speaking.
Julia Ross is the acclaimed author of the books The Mood Cure and The Diet Cure.
It was my first opportunity to hear her speak, and I was not disappointed.
I took boatloads of notes that day and have enough material for several blog posts which I will write up in the coming weeks.
Today, however, I want to specifically address Julia’s discussion about coffee.
Julia Ross’ take on coffee is different from other speakers I have listened to before.
I wanted to share her warning about it because I think it’s something most coffee drinkers have no idea about.
Julia says that her main objection is that people drink coffee first thing in the morning when they get up. This typically results in skipping breakfast altogether because coffee is a strong appetite suppressant.
Not to mention that coffee reduces (not increases as popularly believed) blood flow to the brain by about 25%.
Worst Time for Coffee is First Thing in the Morning
Skipping breakfast is a big no-no and not just because it increases your chances of overeating especially starches and sugars later in the day.
Skipping your morning meal does a number on your body’s ability to produce the neurotransmitter serotonin which is derived from the amino acid tryptophan. Â
Tryptophan, like all the amino acids, is contained in protein. Â
Meat is the best source of tryptophan but only from animals roaming on pasture (corn contains almost NO tryptophan so don’t eat beef from corn fed cattle or eggs from primarily corn/soy fed chickens).
Protein (food)  —–> Tryptophan (amino acid) —–> Serotonin (neurotransmitter)  —–> Melatonin (hormone for restful sleep)
Serotonin is what helps you feel happy, calm, and self-confident even in the face of stress
. Moreover, ample serotonin is important for a restful night’s sleep as the body converts serotonin into melatonin at dusk.  Inadequate melatonin results in insomnia problems.
Skipping breakfast in the morning short circuits the body’s ability to produce adequate serotonin throughout the day. Â
While eating protein later in the day definitely helps, your body still ends up playing serotonin catch up all day every day due to missing breakfast.
Julia says that we all need about 20-30 grams of protein 3X per day to fulfill our body’s requirement for amino acids in order to produce adequate neurotransmitters like serotonin. Â
If you are already deficient in serotonin, supplementation may be required for a short time to regain neurological balance.
This topic of neurotransmitters tends to get rather complicated, but the bottom line is this:
If you must drink coffee, then at the very least, wait until after breakfast to do it!
This way, the impact on your serotonin levels will not be as severe as drinking coffee first thing in the morning and skipping breakfast due to the appetite-suppressing effects.
You may find that this one simple change alone will help balance emotions the rest of the day.
Feelings of happiness, emotional flexibility, and stress reduction are common once this simple change is made.
How to Replenish Serotonin
Do you suspect that your serotonin levels are in the tank and you need neurotransmitter supplementation?
Clues would be that you grapple with worry, anxiety, OCD thoughts or actions, depression, panic attacks, and/or chronic insomnia.
In that situation, Julia Ross recommends this dosage with the amino acid tryptophan:
- 5-HTP (suggested source): Â 50 mg in the mid-afternoon and before bedtime.
OR
- L-tryptophan (suggested source): 500 mg in the mid-afternoon and again before bed especially if insomnia is a problem.
Note that 5-HTP is cheaper than L-tryptophan but some people get nausea from it, so switch to L-tryptophan if 5-HTP doesn’t work for you.
For children, start with a fraction of the dose above and only use L-tryptophan.
Raise the dosage as needed to eliminate low serotonin symptoms.
Next Steps
Once you’ve put off AM coffee until after you eat, you might perhaps feel motivated to try to shake the habit completely.
According to Julia Ross, people who crave chocolate, coffee, alcohol, and even exercise are typically low in the neurotransmitter endorphin.
Using supplementation of amino acids that are precursors to endorphin may help in trying to shake the coffee habit completely. These include:
- Amino acid d-phenylalanine (DPA) (suggested source): 500 mg, 2-4X/day. Use DPA if you are a daily coffee drinker and also an anxious person.
OR
- Amino acid d-phenylalanine (DPA) bound to the amino acid I-phenylalanine (LPA) – known in combination as DLPA (suggested source):   500 mg, 2-3X/day. Use DLPA if you crave the energizing effects of coffee and are not typically an anxious person.
Do you think a deficiency of neurotransmitters might be the reason some folks love their coffee so much?
Are you game to try changing when you drink AM coffee to help balance brain chemistry? Or, does it make more sense to switch to a noncaffeinated beverage like dandelion coffee instead?
Please share your thoughts on this and personal experience in the comments!
More Information
The Truth About Your Morning Coffee Fix
How Bulletproof Coffee Shoots You in the Foot
With all the comments and mixed information out there it all comes down to the individual (one persons food could be another persons poison, listen to your body it will talk to you), quality of coffee (check out bulletproof coffee or any other organic brand, they will always be best), balance (Its never good to over do any food, needs to be balance), how your making your coffee (I have always heard great things from people switching over to using coconut oil or MCT oil and grass fed unsalted butter to make there coffee creamy and delicious with the healthy fats) and drinking your coffee within 15 minutes of brewing the coffee is always best, after 15 minutes the coffee keeps getting more and more acidic, plus NEVER microwave your coffee to reheat. I have learned so much from my own research and me being enrolled in IIN to become a holistic health coach, we coaches are about the individual because everyone responds differently to foods. I personally love lattes and I have one 1-3 times a week, I try to switch it up, sometimes I have tea, warm lemon water, or nothing but water first thing in the morning. Thank you Sarah for everything you do, I love your blog! God Bless you and your family!
I am extremely sensitive to coffee and caffeine as well. I am one of those people who is not hungry in the morning upon waking, so if I have a cup of coffee, it over stimulates me on an empty stomach and totally kills my appetite. It is better drinking it with raw coconut oil and coconut milk, but this will still will power me all the way through to lunch ’til or even late afternoon when I find myself STARVING. I switched to black tea years ago and felt SO MUCH BETTER, but this appetite suppressant quality occurs when I drink black tea as well, but not nearly to the degree. I have found tea is much more calming on my system with the benefit of the naturally occurring amino acid theanine. I feel absolutely wonderful when I have ONE cup of organic black tea with raw coconut oil and coconut milk, a dash of Himalayan pink salt, vanilla, and a few drops of stevia. It is divine!! I do not eat grains, sugar, wheat or gluten of any kind, dairy or soy, and eat a high protein organic meat diet with tons of organic veggies as I am finishing a gut repair diet at the moment. I have auto-immune reactions (Cyrex Array 4 positive) to wheat, dairy, and soy, and I have IgG allergies to eggs, garlic, ginger, sesame, soy, oats, pinto beans, peanuts, green beans, chocolate…and coffee! It has been a drastic improvement for me avoiding allergy foods and taking L-glutamine, cod liver oil, turmeric, resveratrol and a few other supplements to assist in the gut repair. However, I have had a long standing issue with hair loss and hair shedding, which I thought would be resolved by the gut repair diet, but it has not! I had previously tested positive for an estrogen dominance, with a normal TSH, low T3 and low T4 thyroid result which can be caused by estrogen dominance. It is different than classic clinical or subclinical hypothyroid when your TSH is normal, but you can still have some of the symptoms and medication is not necessarily recommended. So I have recently decided to try some hormone balancing techniques by taking Dim-Plus (natural broccoli based estrogen metabolizer), eating cultured veggies, taking cod liver oil, and taking wild yam (which I DO NOT recommend taking unless you are going through menopause — made my hyper?!) These things helped with the shedding a little, but I was still loosing more hair than I would like. The FINAL thing I am going to try is cutting out caffeine completely (which can contribute to estrogen dominance), and/or having one cup of tea or kombucha later in the day after I have eaten to see if this makes any difference in my hair. This is something I have intuitively wondered about for years, but it’s not alway easy as I have a craving for me tea in the morning. I can also try the DLPA, but oye vay, the things we have tried and been through on the quest for perfect health! The journey continues!! I have tried cutting out caffeine in the past for my hair thinning, and it seemed to make only a little difference, but I was not eating the same way I am now. Years ago, I came across Julia Ross’s book when I was suffering from severe anxiety and depression, but was unable to tolerate the supplements as well. I think going gluten/dairy free, sugar balancing (watching out for natural sugars like honey, agave, grains, and potatoes), staying away from alcohol, and repairing my gut, and adopting a meditation practice have caused the shifts in neurotransmitters that I had been looking for all these years! Happy transformations everyone!!!
I actually read the book, The Mood Cure, and followed its suggestions. It really did a number on my mental state and I ended up in the hospital with severe panic attacks. It took days for the substances to leave my system and for me to feel better. I felt shaky for months. I HIGHLY suggest people be very wary of the supplements suggested. My doctor, who follows a naturopathic approach, thought a lot of the combinations were pretty dangerous and sent me into a tailspin. Mind you, I was only suffering from mild anxiety and seasonal depression at the time. It is irresponsible to advise people to read this book and blindly take its advice. Not all “natural” approaches are safe. Please don’t try these on your children without medical supervision!
I am typically small. Not athletic but I do have 3 kids all age 4 and under- so I think I get sufficient exercise 😉 Two questions about this article. The first being I’m not typically that hungry when I wake up and it’s hard for me to eat right away. I drink coffee now, but haven’t always so I don’t think that’s the culprit. And like someone else said- does tea have the same effect? My second question does not relate to coffee. You mentioned 20-30 grams of protein a day?! Then I read online women should have 50 (and up to 70 if nursing)?! How in the world do you accomplish that without tons of meat?? If I didn’t have a couple of boosts each day, I’m not sure I would ever get close to either of those amounts!!
She said 20-30 grams 3x a day (per meal) that’s 60-90 a day. Julia Ross suggests 3 eggs or 1 cup of additive free full fat cottage in her books.
I would like your opinion on fatty coffee. I’ve been drinking it every morning for a couple months instead of breakfast. I feel great and am losing weight. The fats (butter, MCT oil, heavy cream) feed the brain but don’t break my fast.
Hello!
I agree with eating (protien in particular) first thing in the morning AND my morning cup of sunshine (coffee) as well! 🙂 I think there is a healthy medium, if balanced correctly. I don’t see why people can have both! Eggs (or in my case egg whites) with black coffe mixed with a tea spoon of honey and 1/2 a cup of almond milk, sounds delicious to me 🙂 and I get the best of both worlds: my breakfast and cup of joe! 🙂
Just reading the bits about supplements, this actually just feels like yet another way for pharmaceutical companies to make even *more* money!
I used to drink coffee by the gallon, I cut down to one coffee plus a few cups of tea per day. Now, I eat a high protein breakfast and drink warm lemon water followed by a smoothie and one black coffee, or coffee with coconut milk in the morning. Then it’s herbal/green tea for the rest of the day, plus at least 3 litres of water. I do this because I am gluten/wheat/dairy intolerant, so I cannot have milk. And I know that drinking less caffeine has had a positive effect on my body.
I don’t take any supplements, and my body’s in pretty good nick. My skin, hair, nails, everything about me is better and brighter, more healthy. You don’t *always* need supplements to look after your body.
Just think: How did people in the stone ages survive without supplements? Oh gosh! Should they have died because they weren’t taking them?
I used to have serious, and I mean SERIOUS gut and migraine problems. I cut out wheat and gluten and solved the migraines. Coffee actually used to fix them until I found out what the root cause was!!! Then I cut out dairy and found my gut problems eased off. Simples!
It’s all about trial and error. Some people need coffee, some don’t. I just enjoy that first coffee of the day, after my breakfast 🙂
Thanks for sharing this Sarah. Coffee does a number on me too. It make me anxious, depressed, and moody. Even one cup. It also destroys my appetite. I have been off and doing wonderful but like any other addiction, I have just one cup and because of the big hit of dopamine I just fall off the wagon. I totally know it messes with my neurotransmitters.
If we buy certain varieties of organic coffee (free trade also, but that is for social and not health reasons), drink it with lots of healthy fats (I add coconut oil and whole milk or cream) and don’t drink too much (just a mug or two in the morning) I don’t crash, have withdrawals, whatever and I so enjoy it. I have experimented for months at a time going without to see if it made a difference in certain issues I have, and it didn’t at all. I think it’s like anything else, it depends on your body chemistry, the form you take it in, etc.
But I love posts like this, it is so helpful to help us to be self aware and evaluating the choices we make.
By the way, I read and studied and followed Julia Ross’s book and found the supplements she recommends very detrimental to me. I just don’t seem to do well with any non-food supplementation at all. But, the experience was a helpful learning exercise. It’s a little unrealistic to expect any advice or protocol to fit everyone all the time.