5 Ways to Make Your Coffee Healthier

Coffee is good for you! You know why? That’s because of all the nutrients and compounds that come from the coffee bean. But of course, how you drink your coffee is important too. So here i want to share with you guys, tips to turn your coffee from healthy to super healthy.

1. No caffeine after 2:00 p.m.

Caffeine is a stimulant. This is why people love it so much. It provides that kind of jolt of energy when we’re feeling so lethargic and tired. But, if we drink it late in the day, it can interfere with our sleep, and poor sleep causes all sorts of health problems. This recent systematic review looked at results from observational studies and randomized control trials on coffee, caffeine, and sleep.

Now, they concluded that high caffeine intake reduces total sleep time and quality, which was measured not only with self assessment, but by actually measuring brainwave activity as well. Now, it’s much the same as someone who is really drunk yet still gets to bed for eight hours. They might think they slept well, in for eight hours, but they didn’t. And, the next day it really shows.

For this reason, it’s important not to drink coffee too late in the day. Abstaining from coffee from after 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. Is typically a good guideline. If you must, you can choose decaf coffee instead or have some tea, which is much, much lower in caffeine.

2. Add some cocoa to your coffee.

Cocoa is the powder that we get from the cacao bean. It’s the main ingredient in dark chocolate. It’s loaded with beneficial minerals and other compounds that are associated with all sorts of health benefits, including heart and brain health. So, if you want to try some chocolaty flavor in your coffee, then add some unsweetened cocoa powder to your cup.

3. Do not load your coffee with sugar.

Not exactly breaking news, but it’s very easy to turn your coffee into a milkshake. The best way to do that is to put a whole bunch of sugar in it. This is arguably the single worst ingredient in the modern diet because it’s highly palatable, and therefor easy to overeat. Now, high sugar consumption can derive all sorts of healthy problems in the context of an excessive calorie intake which is the average person today, really.

4. Try not to use artificial sweeteners either.

You can probably guess that I’m not much fun in the tea break room. But seriously, although artificial sweeteners might seem like a good idea because they’re sugar free and calorie free, there might be some other issues to consider. Humans don’t just eat for nutrition and energy. We also eat for pleasure. Now, more specifically, we eat for the satisfying hormones that are triggered as part of the food reward pathway. Now, sweet foods are well-known to activate this pathway. However, many researchers believe the lack of calories in artificially sweetened foods, leads to somewhat of a false activation compared to sugar.

This small study looked at brain scans in five men and results showed that sugar intake decreased signaling in the hypothalamus where appetite is regulated. The dis-response was not seen with intake of aspartame, which is a common artificial sweetener. Suggesting the brain does not register a satiating nor satisfying affect from calorie free sweeteners. So, it could be that artificial sweeteners just leaves you wanting more.

Now in theory, this could cause you to seek additional foods later in the day. In a way, fueling your dependence on sweet things. And, it makes sense if you consider that salt and fat are flavor preferences of humans that can be trained with repeated exposure as well. At the end of the day, the vast majority of us are going to benefit from eating less sugar and fewer calories. So, if artificial sweeteners can help you do that, then go for it. Just don’t make it a long term solution.

5. Add some cinnamon to your coffee.

It’s not very nice if I tell you not to use any sweeteners and then don’t provide an alternative. Cinnamon is that alternative because it mixes particularly well with the flavor of coffee and can be added to the coffee grounds before you brew. Many good quality studies show that cinnamon is particularly beneficial for cardiovascular health. So, you should try add some to your coffee. It’s surprisingly good.

So that’s 5 ways to make your coffee healthier! Don’t forget do not drink too much coffee too.