I LOVE coffee. Maybe a little too much. I’ve been known to bring my coffee maker with me on vacation so that I can brew my favourite coffee, my way. Crazy, I know. But I’m going to keep doing it anyway.
I’ve been drinking it since I was a kid. I remember hanging out on Saturday mornings with my dad and sister while my mom was at work. We would watch Saturday morning cartoons together and my dad would give us tiny black and white mugs of coffee. It was actually mostly Carnation Evaporated Milk and sugar with a little bit of coffee added for colour, but to us it was COFFEE. We felt so grown up being allowed to drink this adult beverage!
I don’t drink my coffee that way anymore 🙂 Anyway….that’s where it started.
When I went to high school, I became known for the fact that I loved coffee. Not many of my friends drank coffee, but most of them started drinking it because of my influence…sorry guys! or maybe I should say ‘you’re welcome’.
Benefits of Coffee
In moderation, coffee has health benefits such as:
- increased exercise performance and fat burning
- a good dose of disease-fighting antioxidants
- decreased risk of stroke, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, Type 2 Diabetes and certain types of cancer
- protection against cirrhosis of the liver
How Much is Safe?
Of course, some people experience negatives effects of drinking too much coffee including interference with sleep, heartburn, jitteriness, irritability, or heart palpitations.
Most negative effects occur when drinking more than 4 cups per day (about 400mg of caffeine), although many people can drink more than that without any problems. I try to keep my consumption to 3-4 cups maximum. Beyond that, my stomach doesn’t like it much and Inusually end up with a headache.
Don’t drink regular caffeinated coffee after 2 or 3 pm if it affects your sleep.
No need to start drinking coffee if you don’t like it. You can experience many of the same benefits from eating a healthy, varied diet.
If you’re pregnant or breastfeeding, limit your consumption to 1 or 2 cups per day at most.
If you’re sensitive to caffeine, drink decaffeinated coffee instead. It still has many benefits associated with regular coffee.
Don’t add sugar to your coffee. If you must have it sweetened, use a tiny amount of stevia or Swerve.
Supercharge Your Coffee
I love a cup of bold, dark coffee with heavy cream. Yes, 35% cream. Not whipped, just straight from the carton.
Sometimes I boost the nutrition with organic butter, collagen or other interesting, healthful ingredients. This makes the coffee more like a meal and I usually delay or skip breakfast on these days. I used to think that butter in my coffee sounded strange and kind of gross, but it quickly grew on me and I liked how it filled me up for a few hours. If you’re doing intermittent fasting, you can drink this high-fat coffee without breaking your fast and getting in the way of ketone production. (Some fasting purists disagree, so you will have to decide this on your own.)
If you’d like to find out how you can up-level your coffee, click HERE to get your free guide to the Top 5 Coffee Add-Ins. You’re going to drink it anyway…so make coffee WORK for you.
