Civilisation has been drinking coffee for centuries, and while the method of preparing it has changed drastically over the years, the benefits of 'real' or organic coffee (that has not been chemically tweaked), have not.
Whether you use fresh brewed, pressed, or simple filtered coffee, the positives associated with drinking real coffee have become clearer in recent years, and moderate coffee consumption is now seen as a worthy addition to a healthy diet.
The key is to ensure you’re drinking organic, fair trade coffee to minimise the pesticides and additives that you’re consuming. And thankfully, there are plenty of good brands nowadays who offer organic varieties of coffee to satisfy the more conscious consumer.
The benefits of drinking real coffee range from improving your mood and energy, to aiding digestion and preventing diseases and cancers from proliferating.
It's important to be wary of what you're 'adding' to your daily coffee - the types of milks and sweeteners you use can drastically reduce the health benefits of drinking coffee.
But when consumed a little more consciously, Coffee is actually a 'superfood' that can you can enjoy daily as part of a healthy lifestyle, to help protect and boost your physical and mental health.
Here, we reveal 7 of the top "health benefits" of drinking real coffee, plus the best, healthiest ways to enjoy your daily cup or two:
1. Antioxidant Rich
It might surprise you, but coffee is actually one of the best sources of antioxidants, even better than most fruit and vegetables!
You’ll get more antioxidants from a cup of coffee than a cup of green tea, which isn’t to say you shouldn’t enjoy green tea, simply that you shouldn’t discredit coffee.
There are hundreds of antioxidants, known as "polyphenols" in coffee beans, which amplify during the roasting process. These antioxidants are so key to your diet because they fight inflammation and free radicals that cause oxidative stress within the body and eventual dis-ease.
Chronic inflammation is at the root of many serious diseases, so by consuming more antioxidants, you're actually helping your body protect itself not only from common everyday ailments, but from serious, long-term illnesses as well.
2. Boosts Metabolism
As you age, your metabolism naturally starts to slow down. This deceleration happens mostly after 25 years, but it can seem like it really hits home after 40.
The main culprit of metabolic decline, is generally reducing level of physical activity and the depletion of muscle mass after age 40.
Even though these changes are a normal part of getting older, the effects can be dramatically slowed with regular exercise and boosting your metabolism even as you age.
One of the benefits of organic coffee is that it can help increase your resting metabolic rate, so that when you’re resting you are actually burning even more calories. Coffee also helps signal your body to burn fat, which of course is important for maintaining a healthy weight as well.
3. Fasting Friendly
Whilst the benefits of fasting are well known for boosting longevity and healing from chronic diseases, most people don't know that coffee is a fasting friendly compound.
This means that the right type of coffee (generally organic black coffee) can be a very useful addition to a fasting regime because it will not kick the body out of its 'fasted' state and thereby deplete the benefits.
In fact, coffee is widely known to be a wonderful inclusion, particularly when intermittent fasting, because of how the polyphenols further assist the body to purge toxins more efficiently, without causing stress on the digestive system or sabotaging the fast.
What’s more, coffee can naturally and safely suppress your appetite, making settling into a fast even easier.
To learn more about fasting, visit our blog Fasting: What You Should Know.
4. Activates Energy
Coffee has long been regarded as a morning kick starter to help activate energy.
The natural caffeine in organic coffee, stimulates the sympathetic nervous system, which plays a role in suppressing appetite, boosting satisfaction and increasing the breakdown of fat cells to be used for energy.
This can be particularly effective when consumed first thing in the morning on an empty stomach, because coffee has the effect of kicking the body into ketosis, meaning it will draw on stored fat for energy.
Additionally, coffee can help you to exercise better and longer, reduce your sensation of pain and even fight fatigue. Studies have shown that drinking a cup of coffee 30 minutes before a workout can help you perform better. However, the secret with coffee is not to over do it and to keep coffee consumption before noon as nature intended.
5. Boosts Focus
Another of the benefits of organic coffee is that it can improve your memory and focus. After all, there’s a reason coffee is such a popular drink at work or while studying.
A morning coffee can help you stay focussed, productive and alert.
In fact, coffee has even been proven to help prevent against Alzheimer’s disease and contributors to cognitive decline. Drinking coffee regularly could help you ensure a healthy brain as you get older.
6. Prevent Diseases
Whether it’s the antioxidants or polyphenols in coffee, one of the benefits of organic coffee is that it can help prevent diseases and even cancers from forming.
There is evidence and studies that show that coffee may prevent and protect you from serious conditions like heart disease, diabetes, liver cancer, colorectal cancer, liver disease, and gout.
Coffee can counteract damage to the body from lifestyle choices, and help spur the body to protect itself. As you get older and are more susceptible to diseases and cancers, drinking coffee regularly can help you naturally prevent your body from becoming susceptible.
7. Improves Mood
If you often feel like you’re not yourself until you've enjoyed your morning cup of coffee, you might be right.
The natural caffeine in coffee blocks receptors in the brain from binding with a chemical called, adenosine, that causes fatigue and a depressed mood.
Coffee doesn’t just give you energy and improved performance, it can actually help stave off mental stress too. A daily cup of coffee is a great way stimulate feel good chemicals in the brain to help boost your mood.
Suggested Healthy Ways to Enjoy Your Daily Coffee
While coffee is a healthy drink in its own right, what you add to it can make a huge difference.
Black coffee is best to get the greatest benefits - and is actually very enjoyable once you're used to it - but it can be a bummer at first if you're only accustomed to drinking it with milk, cream and sweeteners.
At the very least, instead of relying of regular pasteurised dairy milk and sugar, try substituting factory-farmed dairy milk with organic dairy, or better still, a plant-based milk like:
- Almond Milk
- Coconut Milk
- Oat Milk or;
- Organic Soy Milk
If this change is too drastic, try reducing your regular milk and slowly ease yourself over to the healthier options over time.
For sweeteners, try a ¼ teaspoon of the following as healthier options than regular refined and processed sugar crystals:
- Organic Raw Honey
- Organic Raw Sugar
- Coconut Sugar
- Organic Maple Syrup
When To Drink Coffee
Ancient cultures understood that coffee is a morning drink which is meant to be consumed for its activating health benefits and qualities in the early hours of the day.
Morning is a time when your body is naturally in it's fasted state, when your digestive cycle is at its peak and when you most need to kick start your energy and focus to launch your day - all of which are complimented by consuming coffee during that period.
Try to avoid drinking coffee after noon in order to ensure it enhances instead of disrupts your body's natural energy cycles.
If you’ve ever felt guilty for drinking a second or third cup of coffee a day, you can relax: science is catching up to what humans have always known, that organic coffee has so many health benefits.
The Main Takeaway
Coffee is a sacred morning drink that has many health benefits provided you choose and enjoy your coffee wisely.
Avoid over commercial grade coffee which has been over sprayed and over processed, instead finding organically harvested, freshly ground coffee whenever you can.
If you're not ready to drink coffee black, the way mother nature intended, simply be smart about what you add to your daily cup. Go with organic almond, soy or coconut milk and add natural sweeteners like raw honey or coconut sugar.
Do these things and you'll experience the daily benefits of drinking 'real' coffee (the way nature intended).
Tolman Self Care.
