11/11/2023
Anyone who knows me knows I have great appreciation for good coffee, it’s why I spend so much on a local roaster so that I can get the very best coffee each morning.
However, certain coffee habits definitely do impact your health, here’s how to reduce the negative impacts of stimulants, such as coffee
🍳  Food before coffee -  coffee on an empty stomach will fasten your bowels, can make you feel nauseous, results in a reduced appetite, it increases stomach acid production and can result in dysfunction of your gastric system and acid reflux. Make sure your breakfast contains a good amount of protein too!
🕒 Coffee timing - as a general rule, try to avoid coffee after lunch time. Coffee late in the day can affect sleep, we all know that lack of sleep has massive negative implications on health in almost every aspect.
🫨 Adrenal stress - every time you consume coffee, your adrenal glands produce cortisol, the main stress hormone, this is partly why it makes you feel energised. High caffeine intake forces your adrenal glands to overproduce the hormone, causing adrenal fatigue. Limit your coffee to no more than two a day, and try to space them apart by at least 2 hours. It takes 40 minutes for caffeine levels to reach peak in your system after consuming coffee, so if you consume one coffee after another, your body hasn’t even had time to feel the first coffee kick in.
☕️ Coffee beans over instant - one of the benefits of coffee is the levels of antioxidants, instant coffee contains less antioxidants, less caffeine, and other beneficial compounds. Another thing to note is instant coffee and pre-brewed coffees (e.g. dare iced coffee), often contain unnecessary and unhealthy additives. The other issue with instant coffee has to do with a potentially harmful chemical known as acrylamide. Instant coffee may contain up to twice as much acrylamide as fresh-roasted coffee, according to 2013 research in Roczniki Panstwowego Zakladu Higieny.
While excessive consumption of caffeine has a negative health impacts (i.e. IBS, anxiety, adrenal fatigue, insomnia, increased heart rate), responsible consumption of caffeine has shown to reduce your risk of neurodegenerative diseases and cardiac diseases, support weight maintenance, reduced risks of T2 diabetes, endometrial cancer, and depression.
So enjoy your coffee! Just drink responsibly ☕️
If you are a Geelong local, I highly recommend Roundhouse Coffee roasters, you’ll find them at the Torquay farmers market, and Sth Geelong farmers market. It probably doesn’t surprise you I’m on a first name basis with the roaster 😅
