A day without coffee feels like the morning did not start at all. It is not the story of someone particular but more than 50% of the world population. And this immense love for coffee makes it one of the most widely consumed beverages in the world.
Whether you are strolling in your garden in the morning or want a small break amidst your office work, a mug of coffee fits everywhere. And why won’t it be? This incredibly soothing drink is soul uplifting and has medicinal values that protect us against many diseases.
In fact, many people highly depend upon their daily cup of coffee to lose weight. But is coffee really helpful in losing weight?
This article is all about the benefit of coffee in weight loss. Hence, if you are trying to speed up your weight loss or willing to know the proper use of coffee in losing weight, read this article till the end.
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What Is Coffee?
Indeed, coffee is that one drink that lets you get out of your bed every morning and keep you going during work. But knowing the origin of coffee will make your next coffee break much more interesting than ever.
Coffee is a brewed drink prepared from roasted coffee beans sourced from coffee plants. These are certain flowering plants of the Coffea genus. The beans are generally found inside the fruit, known as cherries. And it takes about a year for a cherry to mature, and then its bean is harvested.
The coffee plants require mild temperature, rain, and sufficient shade to grow. Thus, the appropriate region for growing coffee is between the Tropic of cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn, also called the coffee belt or bean belt.
When consumed, raw coffee is somewhat bitter, and it is also slightly acidic. Due to the mild stimulant of the caffeine content of coffee beans, coffee has certain health benefits. We will be looking at those benefits in more detail after looking at the benefits of coffee in weight loss.
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How Does Coffee Contribute To Weight Loss? Is Coffee Good or Bad for Losing Weight?
Undoubtedly coffee is a low-calorie drink. And that is one of the many reasons why it is one of the most popular morning beverages consumed worldwide. You will be surprised to know that in the year 2021-2022, over 160,000,000 bags of coffee were consumed globally.
But can coffee really help with your weight loss goals?
When consumed in moderation without adding sweeteners, coffee benefits weight loss alongside our overall health. Coffee contains some nutrients such as potassium, magnesium, niacin, antioxidants, and more that improve humans’ digestive health, lead to better heart health, and support muscle function.
The caffeine content of coffee boosts metabolism and energy and promotes weight loss.
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Here Are Some Amazing Benefits Of Coffee In Weight Loss
Coffee is a low-calorie beverage:
People who deal with obesity mostly find it hard to check their calorie intake. And if weight loss is your goal, you must consume fewer calories than you burn. Therefore, if you are looking for an ideal beverage that contains less than five calories per serving, black coffee is perfect.
But remember, coffee is low in calories only when you drink it black. Because when you add sweeteners and different kinds of milk, your black coffee can quickly become high in calories.
Coffee makes a great pre-workout drink: Best Time To Drink Coffee for Weight Loss
Most people trying to lose weight face a challenge while deciding what to eat before their workout; to maintain a fitter body, they are recommended to omit fat-containing foods from their diet. That is where coffee plays an important role.
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If you are confused about what to drink or eat before your workout, give the coffee a thought. Coffee speeds up your body’s recovery and also reduces fat. Additionally, this drink is an excellent energy booster and fuels your workout. Therefore, the next time you can’t decide what to drink before your workout, coffee is what you need.
Even the gym trainers and nutritionists suggest drinking a black coffee minimum of 30 minutes before heading for a workout session to get plenty of energy.
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Coffee suppresses your hunger:
Many factors influence our appetite, including our physical activity levels, the type of food we eat, and hormones. Though the research is still going on to determine a cause-effect relationship between caffeine and reduced appetite, many studies have shown that coffee reduces ghrelin (the hormone that makes us feel hungry).
People who try to lose weight say that it is hard to convince their minds and bodies to settle for less eating. But don’t worry when you can brew coffee. Caffeine consumption during the day makes you feel fuller. It helps you achieve the goal of consuming food in a lesser quantity.
Additionally, drinking coffee is a better alternative if you want to cut down the mindless junking during the day.
Coffee boost metabolism:
Metabolism is the process in which your body breaks down nutrients and uses the calories we intake throughout the day. Caffeine found in coffee is a stimulant that is believed to be associated with boosting metabolism.
As fat loss from the body and weight reduction largely depends upon how fast or slow our metabolism is, coffee is one of the great uplifters. Studies have found that caffeine balances the BMI and efficiently speeds up metabolism. And the rich antioxidants present in caffeine helps in enriching our metabolism.
Coffee reduces water retention:
Water retention is the condition in which a human body holds onto fluids causing swelling in the body. Since our body cannot store the caffeine found in coffee, we might excrete more urine after drinking coffee. And the increased output of fluids from our body will help alleviate water retention.
Water retention hinders weight loss progress as it makes a person feel bloated and sluggish.
How To Drink Coffee To Lose Weight?
You have already understood the benefits of drinking coffee for losing weight. But like any other food, there are the right and wrong ways of drinking coffee.
To achieve the optimum benefit of drinking coffee, one must not consume more than four cups of coffee in a day, equating to 400mg of caffeine. Four cups of coffee in a day benefit the metabolism without impacting sleep and hunger.
However, if you like to drink more than four cups of coffee in a day, reduce the amount of coffee powder you use in a mug. Likewise, drink fewer cups accordingly if you want your coffee to be strong. Remember, you must never exceed the limit of 400mg of caffeine per day.
The moral of the story is that black coffee in the right amount can help you lose weight.
But if you are new to drinking black coffee and would like to add some sweetener to your coffee, here are some low-calorie alternatives to sugar you can use:
- Fruit-based sweeteners like erythritol
- Sugar alcohols
- Planned waste sweeteners like stevia
A Few More Things To Remember While Drinking Coffee For Weight Loss
Don’t drink coffee after 2:00 pm: Caffeine is the main content of coffee, Which is a stimulant for which coffee is so popular. Caffeine keeps us stay awake when we are tired. But when we drink coffee late in the day, it can hamper our sleep. And a lousy sleep cycle is associated with all sorts of health problems.
Stop drinking coffee after 2:00 to 3:00 pm is a good guideline. But since not everyone is equally sensitive to caffeine, the timing does not apply to everyone. This is the reason one must not drink coffee late in the day.
Nevertheless, if you can sleep perfectly fine even after drinking coffee, you can prefer drinking coffee even after 2:00 pm.
Choose a good organic brand: The quality of coffee also matters when you are drinking it to achieve a particular goal like weight loss. The quality highly depends upon the processing method and how the coffee beans are grown.
In the market, you will find many coffee beans spewed with synthetic pesticides and chemicals that are not appropriate for human consumption. Therefore, if you want to avoid the pesticide while drinking coffee, always opt for organic coffee beans, as they contain much lower amounts of synthetic pesticides.
Try some cinnamon with your coffee: Though it’s completely optional and not everyone likes the taste of cinnamon, cinnamon has other health benefits. It can be considered mixed with coffee.
Cinnamon lowers blood glucose, triglycerides, and cholesterol. It has no adverse effects and tastes surprisingly good. Therefore, if you want to try some flavor and your coffee, cinnamon is an excellent choice.
Use a paper filter to brew coffee: The diterpene named cafestol is present in brewed coffee that can raise the level of cholesterol in our blood. But there is a simple method to reduce its level by using a paper filter. While brewing coffee, use a paper filter to effectively lower the amount of cafestol without stopping the beneficial antioxidants from passing through.
What Are The Other Top Health Benefits You Get From Drinking Coffee?
As we earlier mentioned that a mug of coffee brings us benefits beyond boosting our energy; here are our top five ways coffee positively impacts our health:
- We get better longevity: Studies found that coffee drinkers are less likely to die from chronic or severe cardiovascular disease, stroke, kidney disease, or diabetes.
- Our body processes glucose better: People who drink coffee are less likely to get impacted by type 2 diabetes. This is not what we are claiming, but that is what many studies have found so far.
- We are less likely to develop cardiovascular diseases: If we mention the number of people suffering from cardiovascular diseases, it will upset us. But drinking one or two cups of coffee every day can help ward off heart failure and other heart-related diseases.
- We can keep Parkinson’s disease at bay: Coffee drinkers have a lower chance of developing Parkinson’s disease. Also, people who have already developed Parkinson’s disease may experience betterment in their condition after drinking coffee.
- Our liver thanks us: Coffee protects our liver. Research shows that coffee drinkers are less likely to experience liver-related diseases as they have their liver enzyme levels within a healthy range due to drinking coffee every day.
- Our DNA becomes stronger: Dark roasted coffee tastes heavenly, but it also decreases the breakage in DNA strands, which leads to cancer or tumors if not repaired automatically by our body cells.
Are There Any Side Effects Associated With Drinking Coffee?
Every habit we take up has its own consequences- good or bad. While coffee is beneficial for our health, it also has a few adverse side effects.
First of all, caffeine can be a little addictive, and some people’s genetics may be a little sensitive to it. That is because drinking coffee regularly can alter one’s brain chemistry. Therefore, they might require more significant amounts of caffeine to have the same effects.
Many people who drink coffee in excessive amounts experience anxiety, restlessness, palpitations, and worsened panic attacks. Sometimes drinking an excessive amount of coffee may lead to headaches, migraines, and high blood pressure.
Finally, coffee cannot readily cross the placenta, and the effect of coffee can last up to 16 hours in pregnant women and their babies. Therefore, pregnant women must limit their coffee intake to 240 to 480 ml per day.
Conclusion:
Coffee has very few adverse effects for healthy people when consumed in moderation. On the contrary, it offers some health benefits such as weight loss, better health functioning, and richer antioxidants.
But we would always suggest talking to your doctor before drinking coffee if you are suffering from certain health conditions such as diarrhea, stomach ulcers, etc. Also, coffee might interact with certain medications. Therefore, it is indispensable to speak to a healthcare professional before drinking coffee with the drugs you are intaking.
