Learn new health benefits of coffee

Are you a coffee drinker? Is coffee healthy?

There are so many conflicting thoughts about coffee that I thought I'd share some recent news along with a SparkPeople twist on the topic.

The more I read about this topic, the more I see experts say that coffee in moderation is good for you. I'll make this a short article just sharing the top points I see and focus on the SparkPeople twist at the end as my more important contribution to this topic.

New research

A new study showed that coffee can even help you live longer. The study showed that people who drank at least 4 cups of coffee per day lowered their risk of early death by 64%. These benefits were especially strong for those over the age of 45. I put a link to a story about this new study on my blog.

Why is coffee healthy?

Top benefits I read about coffee include:

• Lower body inflammation
• Improved liver function
• Improved insulin sensitivity

A big reason for all of this is that coffee is full of anti-oxidants. This list of benefits may sound boring, but I can tell you they are connected to most major diseases and body functions.

Warnings

A big watchout is that many people put loads of sugar and other additives in coffee that can negate many of the benefits of coffee. If you drink coffee, try to reduce these types of additives. I now usually just put grass-fed butter into my coffee and no sugar (we use the KerryGold brand much of the time). This tastes better than it sounds especially once you get used to it :).

A second warning is that certain people should be cautious about caffeine consumption, including pregnant women and those with heart conditions. You might want to research this more if you have any type of health condition or ask your doctor.

The SparkPeople Twist

A big reason I like talking about coffee is that it's a fun way to share a SparkPeople principle. I get nervous seeing people drink so much coffee because I know they are often using coffee as a crutch -- to try to cover up deficiencies like poor sleep, poor diet, and poor fitness levels. This will work for a while and can be fine for a short-term crunch, but eventually the odds are good that you will crash using this method -- and maybe crash hard as part of the accumulation of poor lifestyle habits. In this case, people drink coffee just to feel "normal."

This is not good.

A much better approach is to have good sleep, good diet, and good fitness levels (you can improve all of these one step at a time with SparkPeople). Then you get to enjoy one of the best benefits of coffee that I haven't mentioned yet: it gives you a lot of energy and makes you think better!!

In other words, you can use coffee as a powerful tool for being both productive and having fun instead of using it as a crutch.

Let me know in this blog whether you use coffee as a powerful tool or as a crutch (in addition to a story about the study if you'd like to read that). This can apply to other forms of caffeine as well.

I hope you have a great week reaching one small goal at a time!

SparkCheers!

Chris "SparkGuy" Downie



Chris (SparkGuy)

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