Yum…coffee. I love it. Not because of the caffeine, or that it helps me stay awake, but rather because of the taste.
Many people have 2 or 3, even more, cups a day. I usually have one in the morning, and very rarely one in the late evening. Luckily, if I do have another cup later in the day, it doesn’t affect my sleeping…or at least I don’t think it does.
But most people don’t see it as a “health drink.”And it certainly isn’t healthy with all of the gunk we load it up with, like creamer, added sugar and artificial sweeteners.
I read an article about how you can make your cup healthy, and I would like to share it with you…
But first, you may have seen debate in the past about how coffee has some compounds in it that could have negative health effects such as small amounts of acrylamides or other possibly harmful compounds in brewed coffee. But, the good news is that coffee has such high concentrations of beneficial antioxidants, phenolic nutrients, chlorogenic acids, and other healthy compounds, that it more than counteracts any bad compounds.
In fact, coffee provides the biggest source of antioxidants for most Americans… although that mostly has to do with the fact that many Americans don’t get enough antioxidants from fruits and veggies, so coffee ends up being their biggest source. You should try to diversify your sources of antioxidants from fruits, veggies, spices, herbs, berries, beans, unsweetened organic cocoa, teas, and yes, even coffee if you like it. So what’s the best way to make a healthy cup of coffee? Well, here are 3 most important tricks to maximize the benefits of coffee and minimize the negatives:
1. First of all, you need to AVOID adding any refined sugar or harmful artificial sweeteners to your coffee.
I like when I go to Wawa or Starbucks to order a coffee and there’s always that one guy who picks up the container of white sugar and holds it in the air, over his cup, pouring and pouring away for what seems like forever, until he has a mound of sugar at the bottom of his cup. Yes, we’ve all seen it and you know who you are.
What can you do instead is use either a very small touch of organic maple syrup or a half packet of natural stevia to just lightly sweeten your coffee. Coconut sugar is also a healthy alternative to plain sugar because it does contain some minerals and other nutrients, and has a lower glycemic index than regular sugar. On the other hand, if you like your coffee black with no sweetener at all, that’s the healthiest way!
If you’re getting your coffee at a coffee shop, make sure to avoid all of those fancy specialty coffees (sweetened flavored lattes, frappuccinos, etc) as they are almost ALWAYS loaded with extra sugars or artificial sweeteners. Some of those fancy coffee drinks at Starbucks or other coffee shops can have 300-400 calories in just one coffee! Definitely not good for your body or your blood sugar or insulin levels…or for your wallet.
A latte or cappucino can be okay as long as you make sure to ask for it unsweetened, and then use your own stevia if you need a light sweet taste. Since almost every coffee shop only has either sugar or artificial sweeteners as options, just packets of stevia on you.
2. AVOID at all costs any of those terrible artificial creamers (liquid or powder).
Artificial creamers are usually made with corn syrup solids and hydrogenated oils (harmful trans fats). Instead, use a little bit of REAL full-fat cream (organic grass-fed if you can find it, as the CLA and vitamin K2 in grass-fed cream can be very healthy). A brand at grocery stores is Organic Valley and they have an option for a pasture-raised cream that is really good!
Or, if you can’t get grass-fed cream, what you can use instead is coconut cream as one of the healthiest creamer alternatives. You can get this by buying cans of organic coconut milk, and then after opening the can (shake the can well before opening), then store the coconut milk in the fridge in a container. Note that the cans of coconut milk are much creamier and better as a creamer than those cartons of “coconut milk drink” which are just watered down coconut milk.
The thick creamy coconut milk is the healthiest option for a creamer because it’s loaded with super healthy saturated fats called medium chain triglycerides (MCTs), which are known to boost your immune system and your metabolism! Plus, coconut milk in coffee is just plain delicious! It’s the best healthy creamer option by far aside from just using real grass-fed dairy cream.
3. Cinnamon.
Cinnamon is a healthy antioxidant (it can help control blood sugar and has many other health benefits) and has good taste. You should consider trying some added to your coffee. If you want, you can add a teaspoon of organic cocoa powder (non-sweetened) to your coffee to make your own sort of mocha coffee (but without the loads of sugar in a typical mocha you’d get at the coffee shop, so just use a little stevia to sweeten). The added cocoa powder also gives you great taste and a good dose of extra healthy antioxidants (and cocoa is also known for helping to lower blood pressure!)
So how many cups of coffee do you drink per day? 1?…2? 3 or 4? If you drink as many as 4 per day, you may experience massive headaches from caffeine withdrawal. You can avoid this by only drinking 1 per day and drink various teas like green, oolong, black, and white teas at other times, which are much lower in caffeine. Or you can use rooibos or other herbal teas, which have no caffeine at all.
But despite the caffeine content, there is loads of data that show the high antioxidant levels and health benefits to coffee.
Lastly, it’s extremely important to choose organic coffee beans, as conventional coffee is one of the most heavily treated crops with pesticides, fungicides, and herbicides. Remember that one of the many health risks with these chemicals is that some pesticides can act as “xenoestrogens” in your body, disrupting hormone balance for both men and women. Chronic xenoestrogen exposure can also be one cause of “stubborn abdominal fat” in both sexes as well as “man boobs” in men… so choose organic as often as you can with most foods, but especially with coffee!
Enjoy your cup of Joe and these additions that we talked about in this article, knowing that it can actually do your body good in moderation!
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