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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
Eating enough protein early in the day is supposed to help with low serotonin, but does that also help with low endorphin? If not, are there other ways to raise it long term besides supplementation?
Your statements re: coffee and even breakfast are complete bro science nonsense. Just because something doesn’t work for you, doesn’t mean you should mislead your followers into thinking it is harmful by citing junk science. I think you are a good hearted person with good intentions – just wrong. Please research intermittent fasting and the benefits of coffee. Try http://www.leangains.com and this:
If you think coffee is bad for you, go jump in a hole.
why do you do this? is your comment helpful? meaningful? what’s the point? Sara specifically said “If I drank coffee regularly, I would quite possibly be dead right now (I sincerely mean that).” but YOU know better? it’s nice to vent your opinions, i guess, but, you know, it’s kind of rude to just walk into a community and say something along the lines of “jump into a hole”. rude, that’s all. i’ve done the same once or twice. and it feels good to apologize. let’s make the internet a better place.
about coffee. and about cocaine. it’s up to you dude. you just have to pay attention to your body.
Coffee makes my heart feel like it is doing somersaults. Also, I get joint pain so, yes, I think coffee is bad for me and no, I won’t jump in a hole. 🙂
Dear Sara,
I drink coffee on and off. Off coffee = better sleep and better energy baseline. On coffee is most helpful when I drink the first cup after some weeks’ abstinence – wired, extremely productive, which is helpful sometimes. The peak goes down in the course of 2-3 days and it becomes a cycle with the peaks no better than the baseline when I am off coffee. So why do I ever drink it? For pleasure. Why do I drink it more than 2 days in a row? Addition to pleasure (but not really pleasure anymore). Thanks for the supplement recommendation – seems like the most likely and best-founded solution to the craving.
On some of the comments: some people live till their 90’s and snort coke every now and then. This does not justify using cocaine, nor does anything really condemn it. It’s just a matter of what your priorities are! As the wise say, everything is permissible – you just have to know what you are doing!
Thanks. Love your posts.
I know for MYSELF, I love my coffee, but I also have realized that I must make myself eat before I drink or I will NOT eat my breakfast.
I know for MYSELF, I love my coffee, but I also have realized that I must make myself eat before I drink or I will NOT eat my breakfast.
What you coffee drinkers think about this. This is what I mean we can debate all day One size doesn’t fit all .
A new study from the US finds people who drink more than 4 cups of caffeinated coffee a day have half the risk of dying from oral/pharyngeal (mouth and throat) cancer as people who drink it either occasionally or not at all.
However, the researchers say their findings need to be confirmed by more research, and for now should just be received as good news for coffee drinkers and not be used as a reason to recommend everyone should drink 4 cups of coffee a day.
Researchers Examine Link with Coffee Previous epidemiological studies have suggested coffee drinking is linked to a reduced risk for mouth and throat cancer.
When they analyzed the tea and coffee consumption in relation to deaths from oral/pharyngeal cancer, the researchers found those participants who reported drinking more than 4 cups of caffeinated coffee a day had a 49% lower risk of death from oral/pharyngeal cancer compared to those who reported not drinking coffee at all or only an occasional cup.
The team is now planning to analyze links between coffee consumption and cancer in a more diverse population in the ACS’s new Cancer Prevention Study — 3 (CPS-3).
Link: Coffee Drinking May Halve Risk Of Mouth And Throat Cancer.
Can someone tell me if this applies only to coffee or do caffeinated teas have the same effect?
Applies only to coffee because it has caffeine, therefore, decaffeinated teas don’t have this effect.
In my experience any kind of tea, even strongly caffeinated black tea, does not have the kind of caffeine shock/impact/punch/kick as coffee does.
However if you are extremely sensitive to caffeine, decaffeinated teas may still have a tiny bit of caffeine. I guess your best bet is to read up and more importantly pay attention to your body. Cheers!
See my above post. I have no withdrawals from not getting a cup of green tea in the a.m. but had terrible withdrawals if I didn’t get my morning fix from coffee. Huge difference in how they both made me feel. I’ve been off The Bean and on The Leaf for over 16 years and feel way better nerve-wise.
Thank you, Annie Dru for a great follow up comment! I do love this post about coffee — also whoever mentioned Pur – eh tea to help wean from coffee – Thank you! I love this and it works great for me!
I do love fresh ground espressos with cream and a sprinkle nutmeg, but never did this until after my daughter was born five years ago and it started out as a Sunday treat with croissants, then when I would get sad or stressed I would “treat” myself during the nap-time and soon it would be one everyday – I never had the “I deserve a treat mentality” until I became a Mom, but now I find it so hard to break. I am nearly 40 these days and after five years of espressos, I simply can’t handle them as a tea time or post breakfast treat unless it is consumed after a really large meal – my constitution is too weak. I start to drop things easily even if I don’t feel shaky, I seem to snap and be more irritable and have a harder time sleeping.
I think it should be noted too that the traditional customs of consuming a cafè or espresso after a large meal is because it is used this way as a digestif. I believe this is how coffee is traditionally used – not as a between meal treat or most definitely not on an empty stomach.
Also I love the comment about consuming with butter and coconut oil!!! Thankyou! I can’t wait to try on a cold snowy day this winter. I started drinking a version Tibetan yak tea with raw butter, raw cream, and sea salt. So yummy, filling, and warming for cold afternoon or morning treat!