So you are late for work and you manage to have a little cappuccino before your first-morning date. Fast forward to lunch, your stomach growls and you realize you’ve skipped breakfast. Drinking coffee has many health benefits, but it can suppress your appetite and some people use it as a meal replacement.
We’ve done a bit of research on how to make your cup of coffee healthier without losing your appetite and screwing up your metabolism.
Ways to Make Your Coffee Super Healthy
Avoid Artificial Sweeteners And Refined Sugar
This may seem a bit obvious, but coffee is healthy in and of itself. In fact, you make it harmful to the body by loading it with sugar. Many popular versions of coffee are packed with artificial sweeteners or refined sugar.
For example, a medium Macchiato iced candy has 34 grams of sugar and a white chocolate mocha has 49 grams of sugar.
Due to the high amount of fructose in sugar, it can lead to all kinds of serious diseases like obesity and diabetes. If you can’t tolerate the taste of unsweetened coffee, you can use a natural sweetener like stevia.
Go For Quality Over Quantity
The quality of coffee can vary and depends on the processing and how the coffee beans are grown and roasted. In many cases, due to the need for mass coffee production and also because a coffee tree takes up to 5 years to grow and produce 10 kilos of coffee, some farmers spray their coffee trees with synthetic pesticides and other chemicals that were never intended for human consumption.
These chemicals speed up the growth period of each tree and there is much controversy about their long-term effects on human health.
If you are concerned about the pesticide content in your coffee, consider purchasing organic coffee beans from a quality brand.
Add Some Cinnamon To Your Coffee
Cinnamon is a very tasty spice to add to your coffee and gives it a more interesting flavor. Studies show that cinnamon can lower blood glucose and cholesterol levels. It is loaded with antioxidants that protect the human body from oxidative damage caused by free radicals.
Additionally, cinnamon can improve major risk factors for heart disease, such as cholesterol, triglycerides, and blood pressure. So if you need a little spice in your coffee, a pinch of cinnamon will do the job.
Add Some Cocoa To Your Coffee
Cocoa, like cinnamon, is also rich in antioxidants and offers many health benefits, including reducing the risk of heart disease. In addition, it helps you lose weight, improves mitochondrial biogenesis, and also offers neuronal protection.
According to the National Institute of Health, cocoa improves cognition and positive mood. Try adding a pinch of cocoa powder to your coffee to add flavor.
Avoid Drinking Too Much Coffee
As mentioned above, drinking coffee is very healthy for our body, but an excessive amount can cause a series of health problems.
Too much caffeine can cause anxiety or nervousness. It can affect our sleep patterns, alter the quality of our sleep, and turn into an addiction where we develop a tolerance for caffeine, so instead of a cup of coffee, we may need 3 to wake up.
Drinking coffee is all about balancing the benefits and risks, we must always listen to our body because it knows what is best.
How do you drink your coffee? We’d love to hear about your favorite coffee recipes. Let us know what you think about this article and also share some of your experiences and tips on the art of drinking coffee.
