How to Get the Most out of Your Coffee’s Health Benefits
Coffee is one of the healthiest beverages in the planet. There’s a bunch of benefits that made coffee the drink of choice for a lot of people. It is known to help with mental health, weight loss, heart and liver diseases, diabetes, and even some types of cancer. Aside from coffee’s health benefits, many people also love coffee because of its ability to keep them awake and alert.
Nowadays, there are already so many variations of coffee coming out in stores. A lot of these varieties have also gone the do-it-yourself or DIY route, and have been published in so many blogs or websites. Although you are definitely free to experiment whatever you want to do with your coffee, it’s best always to remember the fundamentals if you’re going to reap the potential health benefits of coffee.
There are ways to avoid (or even stop) ruining your coffee’s health benefits. Here are the most common things to consider. They’re actually very basic but are still often overlooked.
1. Go for coffee with natural sweeteners.
Not a lot of people are willing to drink their coffee black. Some might find it too strong for their taste, while others really just have sweet tooth. As a result, so many stores have come up with sweet coffee variants which have a boatload of sugar. A little sweetness won’t hurt, but make sure to stay within your recommended sugar intake.
Even if you put just a teaspoon of sugar to your cup, but then you drink coffee at least five times a day, all those sugars can definitely add up. If you don’t want to drink pure black coffee, consider adding natural sweeteners instead. Some examples are cinnamon, coconut creamer, honey, and cardamom (for a more exotic flavor).
As with everything, even natural sweeteners should be taken in moderation. For more information, you can read our previous post about five extras you shouldn’t add to your coffee.
2. Drink coffee in moderation.
Since we’re talking about moderation, you have to realize that it applies to coffee too. There’s always this misconception to drink lots and lots of coffee to stay alert. But drinking way too much coffee doesn’t help anymore because it just makes you queasy and likely sick. According to a nutritionist and author of Eating in Color, Frances Largeman-Roth, RDN, coffee’s health benefits are generally capped off at five to six 8-ounce cups which are basically 400 mg of caffeine. Source: RodalesOrganicLife
Like what people always say, everything should be done in moderation, and coffee is no exception.
3. Drink coffee during appropriate times of the day.
In an article published in Forbes, it cited a study related to the best time to drink coffee according to science. And guess what? It’s not right after you wake up. That’s right. The human body works with a hormone called cortisol that’s responsible for making people feel alert and awake.
According to the study, the peak production of cortisol is between 8-9 AM, 12-1 PM, and 5:30-6:30 PM in ideal circumstances. When you wake up, your body is also naturally caffeinating so having additional levels of caffeine in the form of coffee will no longer be effective. It’s just like taking caffeine when your body doesn’t need it yet. When you keep doing this, you will have a faster tolerance to caffeine, and it will likely reduce the good effect it has on your body.
To sum up, the ideal appropriate coffee break times are 9:30-11:30 AM and 1:30-5 PM. These are the usual dips of cortisol levels for most people. As you may have noticed, these are usually the times when you’ve entered a state of tiredness. Unfortunately, it’s all throughout the day when most people are working! No wonder why people love coffee so much.
As for people who wake up a lot earlier than 8 AM or those who totally have different work and sleep schedules, the key point to remember is that you don’t need to consume caffeine or drink coffee right after you wake up. Late mornings and early afternoons are a good enough basis.
4. Get whole coffee beans.
If you are serious about your coffee-drinking, definitely invest in quality coffee beans. Look for a quality coffee roaster in your area. Although you need to spend a little more time with grinding, it’s all worth it because you know that you have it freshly ground, and freshly ground coffee right before brewing is just the best.
Getting whole coffee beans and grinding them at home will produce greater-tasting coffee with a very delicious aroma. If you want to learn some tips in grinding your coffee beans, you can read our previous post – Tips in Grinding Coffee Beans.
5. Store your coffee beans properly.
This is probably one of the most common coffee crimes. True enough because it becomes a waste if you’ve invested in proper coffee beans and coffee accessories only to store your precious beans inappropriately.
Knowing how to store your coffee beans properly will yield better coffee, which in turn gives you more out of it such as its antioxidants that help fight free radicals. To know more about proper coffee storage, read our post about it from this link: How to Store Coffee Beans Properly.
So are you ready to get the best potential health benefits of your coffee? Come to think of it; it’s not rocket science. You just need to invest a little more, but it’s going to be worth it.
