Health Benefits Of Coffee?

If you’re wondering about the health benefits of coffee (or if there ARE any) then you’re going to like this article because that’s what it’s all about!

You see, nowadays, there’s a lot of mis-information out there about everything when it comes to your health…

What you should eat, what you shouldn’t eat, and most of the “government advice” (at least here in the States) is not very helpful — just look at our obesity epidemic for the answer to “is it working?”

One of the unfortunate things that got thrown under the bus lately is coffee drinking! “It’s bad for you!”, etc. But is it really?

What Makes Stuff You Eat Bad For You?

Rant time! Let’s first think about how we classify “bad food” in the first place. Is there really such a thing? The only time I could really argue this is when a food is totally man-made… but even then you’re likely to get some benefits in moderation.

AH! That key, little, yet-oh-so-powerful, word — MODERATION. What is my definition of it? Not abusing stuff. For example, I’m about to fill you in on the many benefits of coffee, yet some people will take this as proof that drinking 5 pots of coffee a day is good for them (even when they’re suffering from an irregular heartbeat, jitters, and cold sweats all day!)

More examples:

• 1-3 beers or glasses of win per day — good for you. (Binge drinking 7 nights a week is NOT 7 times as good for you — believe me I tested that theory)
• Eating 7 hot dogs will all the fixins every day will make you fat — but in moderation (enjoyed every once in a while at a ball game or something — sodium nitrate (the chemical used to preserve and color hot dogs and other meats) may have a beneficial effect on all the body’s organs-heart, brain, lungs, everywhere the blood flows. Sodium nitrate seems to have the ability to guard your cells against hypoxia (lack of oxygen).
• Hell, even sex could be a “moderation” thing. Though I’ve tried many times though, I can’t say I’ve hit the “upper limit” of where you get diminishing returns with this, but I’m sure there is and upper limit somewhere!

So my basic take on all foodies is that almost everything is good for you — in moderation. Perhaps it’s a good thing though that some foods get labeled as “bad” because almost NOBODY these days has an ounce of “moderation” or “self discipline” thinking in them. Go figure.

Alertness, Attention, Wakefulness and Short Term Memory!

Although straight up caffeine can get you these same benefits, drinking coffee is basically the more enjoyable route to getting it.

I think most of us “adults” learned Coffee does this from a young age — that maybe this was its purpose after watching our parents trudge to the coffee maker in the morning for years growing up and gradually over the course of a few cups waking up and becoming “human” again.

I think of coffee as my “let’s do work son” drink. If I need to absolutely positively get something done, I’ll even O.D. on it a little and drink a LOT of cups — just so I have so much extra energy I can’t sluff off or I get bored — then I’m almost FORCED to get stuff done.

Good News For Smokers/Drinkers

Tomas DePaulis, PhD, research scientist at Vanderbilt University’s Institute for Coffee Studies, (which does its own medical research and tracks coffee studies from around the world) says,”People who smoke and are heavy drinkers have less heart disease and liver damage when they regularly consume large amounts of coffee compared to those who don’t,”

Boost Athleticism!

Red Bull has been using the research on caffeine boosting athleticism for years, but it’s true, when you’ve pumped enough coffee into you it can boost your strength, speed and maybe even stamina.

Why? From what I’ve researched it mostly has to do with a “priming” effect on your nervous system, which of course, is the basis for all your muscle/athletic activity — so anything that boosts it will boost you too.

Good for Diabetes and Parkinsons Disease

I don’t think there’s a clear reason why it’s good for diabetes, but the research definitely shows it is. And the same for parkinson’s disease (decreases your risks for getting this disease if you’re a coffee drinker)

One more plus for coffee/caffeine consumption — has been shown to lower the chances of developing Alzheimer’s disease.

Helps Your Liver!

For those of us who aren’t opposed to the drink — this is good news. There’s some promising research that drinking coffee is associated with an increase of liver enzyme activity (in laden terms — it’s good for it).

I dunno about you, but my little liver could use all the help he could get.

Protects Against Certain Cancers

Apparently, there’s ample research that points to coffee helping prevent certain types of cancers, like:

• Bowel Cancer
• Pancreatic Cancer
• Liver Cancer
• Bladder Cancer

Unfortunately, there was no correlation found with coffee drinking and preventing varian, laryngeal, lung, prostate, cervical, endometrial and thyroid cancers, Hodgkin’s and non Hodgkin lymphomas, sarcoma, and skin melanoma. (seems that the coffee helps prevent cancer only in those places where it would “pass through”???)

Coffee Hydrates You!

Yeah, I know, you’re finding this hard to believe right? Can’t figure out how it’s possible, when coffee is a diuretic and makes you pee? Well, recent research has shown:

“Despite being widely believed, the claim that caffeine containing drinks promote dehydration is simply not true.

The latest evidence, published in scientific and medical literature, concludes that moderate intakes of caffeine (250-300mg/day), have no long term effect on hydration and can actually count towards daily fluid intake. According to Armstrong: “Caffeinated fluids contribute to the daily human water requirement in a manner that is similar to pure water”. (9)”

So Stop Sipping On That Hater-ade – And Start Sippin’ On Some Coffee Instead!

When it comes to coffee, I used to drink it with milke and sugar, now I take it black in the morning. The rumors are true, you really CAN taste more of the flavor of the coffee (instead of just sugar).

If you still like sugar though and you’re looking for an alternative sweetener, you might want to look for saccharine, stevia, xylitol, or erythritol… and use heavy cream (this will keep it low carb/sugar with high fat to go along with eating “anabolically” during the week days).

For the record, I’ll still enjoy a sugar/cream laden coffee or two on my “carb loading” day(s) — it’s now a very sweet tasting treat that I look forward to.

So I hope this article inspired you and maybe even edumicated you a little about the many health benefits of coffee!