Nutrition Nugget: Spilling the (Coffee) Beans
Bite-Size Reads for Your Health and Your Waistline
It’s morning. To get yourself going you must have that precious nectar of the Gods. At your local coffee spot you notice many ordering matcha, green tea and other non-coffee options. Now you’re thinking, “Did I miss the memo?” Are we not supposed to be drinking coffee anymore? Perhaps this is followed by a quandary if you care; you need your coffee and you’ll death-grip your cup if someone tries to take it away. But really, what’s the answer? Is coffee good or bad for us? Well, better LATTE than never to learn. Let’s spill the beans!
The Perfect Pick-Me-Up? Why do you need your coffee? Is it to feel awake in the morning? Maybe it’s that mid-afternoon pick-me-up? If your answer is yes, you might be interested to know that caffeine wakes us up by blocking adenosine. Adenosine is one of our calming neurotransmitters. This can be helpful in the morning but detrimental if we’re drinking coffee later in the day as adenosine is critical for a quality night’s rest.
Nature’s pick-me-up are b-vitamins. B vitamins have a direct impact on our energy levels, brain function, and cell metabolism. Here’s the grind (ba dum shh): studies also show consuming large amounts of coffee, decaf or not, hinders thiamin absorption and increases the risk of deficiency. Thiamin is a B vitamin that’s needed as a catalyst for burning carbohydrates. When we boost our metabolism, it increases our thymine requirements. The more muscle we have the more thiamin we need. To top it off, B-vitamins are also depleted by stress (whomp!). What we have is a vicious cycle: we’re low on energy so we drink coffee which perpetuates a decline in our natural energy producers (b-vitamins) and we live stressful lives which exacerbates our b-vitamin deficiency then to boost our energy and handle the stress we drink more…coffee! Yikes!
Antioxidants? Maybe you’ve heard one of the benefits of coffee is a dose of antioxidants? Sure, antioxidants are a healthy aspect of coffee, but the amount varies by the geography of the source bean, roasting methods and more. In general, we’re better off sticking to our fruits and vegetables for this one.
Blood Pressure Issues? You may have heard coffee increases your risk of hypertension. This isn’t actually true but it may have to do with the fact that coffee is a stimulant and can increase our adrenaline levels in the short term. Stimulants can rev up the nervous system which is part of why we get that alertness with each sip.
Supports Weight Loss? Is coffee your breakfast? Afternoon snack? It makes you feel full and for some that means eating less. Many of us have heard the adage, calories in calories out. While that’s not totally true, that’s a story for another article. But coffee can help us lose weight, right? It helps us eat less because we feel satisfied. This might be the feeling but the science connecting weight loss and coffee are more about caffeine. Studies on caffeine show it can support a decrease in body weight by increasing your metabolism. It can increase the release of fatty acids from your fat tissues and helps us eliminate. The caffeine stimulates the contraction of the intestines and bowels which helps us “go.” Awesome!
Don’t forget to be sure to drink plenty of water! Caffeine is a diuretic which is why it makes us pee but this also means it can dehydrate us which is counterproductive for our optimal health and weight management efforts. Be sure you’re still drinking water and ideally more water than coffee!
Sweeteners and Creamers are the Problem? We want to be careful with sweeteners and creamers because they’re often adding unnecessary fat and sugar into our day’s calorie consumption. For many, it’s not a ton but anything sweet can keep us addicted to that taste/flavor. It’s recommended to avoid sweeteners especially if you’re carbohydrate sensitive. If you absolutely can’t avoid sweeteners, then perhaps add some low-fat milk so the fat and protein from the milk help blunt the impact of the sweetener on your blood sugar.
So where does this leave us? Do we buy coffee or matcha? Coffee helps us feel alert, has some antioxidants, can help us poop and may support our metabolism but it can also contribute to vitamin deficiency and dehydration. The takeaway here is balance. Think about your whole health picture. Maybe one to two cups earlier in the day is the way to go. I recommend detoxing from caffeine for a week, a couple of times a year. Without that caffeine, you can give your body a break and the reset it needs. In the meantime, cheers to your cup of joe.
