1. Have a cup of coffee in the morning
Enjoy a rich and fragrant cup of good coffee in the morning light, as if every cell in your body is awakened. Many enthusiasts even treat drinking coffee as a ritual to kick off a brand new day.
In addition to mental satisfaction and pleasure, drinking coffee in the morning has many other benefits.
First, caffeine stimulates the central nervous system of the brain, which can boost spirits and improve concentration. Especially when you haven't had enough sleep the night before or feel groggy from a cold, this cup of coffee can temporarily help your brain stay alert, allowing you to focus on your work or exams. Another unique benefit of drinking coffee in the morning is aiding bowel movements. Since coffee can stimulate intestinal peristalsis and have a laxative effect, it can improve constipation. Interestingly, however, the effect is particularly significant in the morning, but drinking coffee at other times is not as effective.
2. Drinking coffee after breakfast can help with weight loss
It's not a fantasy that drinking coffee can help with weight loss. On one hand, caffeine can boost metabolism and accelerate fat breakdown. On the other hand, drinking coffee also has a temporary appetite-suppressing effect. However, drinking coffee without eating breakfast is not conducive to weight loss. Furthermore, foreign studies have pointed out that drinking coffee one hour before exercise, consuming about 200mg of caffeine, can increase the excitement of the nervous system, promote energy consumption in the body, accelerate fat burning, and improve concentration during exercise. It is also beneficial for enhancing muscle strength and endurance, and can reduce muscle soreness.
However, because coffee is a diuretic and accelerates dehydration, doctors remind that you must replenish water at any time during exercise.
3. Drinking coffee after meals can prevent stomach damage
Sometimes, symptoms such as stomach bloating, heartburn, and stomach pain occur after drinking coffee, which is why there is often a saying that black coffee is bad for the stomach. If you add sugar or milk, can it improve the situation? The answer is no. Caffeine in coffee can cause a large amount of stomach acid secretion, leading to discomfort. Moreover, caffeine also stimulates the lower esophageal sphincter, which should be tightly closed, making it more relaxed, leading to gastroesophageal reflux. Adding milk or sugar cannot alleviate this. In addition to caffeine, in recent years, scientists have also discovered that coffee contains many other chemicals that can stimulate stomach acid secretion.
For busy office workers who don't have time at home to grind beans and make coffee every day, fortunately, there are numerous cafes of all sizes, and supermarkets also sell freshly brewed coffee. It is becoming easier and easier to buy a delicious cup of coffee. By following a few principles, you can also drink a healthy cup of coffee outside.
4. Drink less cheap or 3-in-1 coffee
Due to cost considerations, a coffee that costs 5 or 10 yuan usually cannot afford to use higher quality coffee beans. Some are a collection of defective beans, while others use the cheaper Robusta coffee beans, making them bitter and difficult to drink with high impurities. Although you can season them with sugar and creamer, the quality of the bad beans remains unchanged, which is just self-deception.
As for 3-in-1 coffee, most of it is made from coffee essence or coffee-flavored powder. It is impossible to use good quality beans, and the added sugar and creamer powder are high in calories. In other words, most cheap 3-in-1 coffees are a combination of artificial sweeteners and the overall taste of defective beans. Some people experience nausea, a sore throat, and other discomforts after drinking coffee, which is largely related to the poor quality of the coffee beans.
5. Smell it first, then taste it with your tongue
When drinking coffee, don't gulp it down all at once. First, get close to your nose and smell the aroma. If it has a rancid smell, it means the coffee beans are not fresh. Try a different cafe next time!
After passing the olfactory test, take a sip of coffee in your mouth, savor it with your tongue, and then slowly swallow it. If your tongue feels numb and intensely bitter, it may contain black beans from defective beans. If you feel a sour, astringent sensation in your throat after swallowing, it might be sour beans or insect-infested beans. Both of these beans may contain toxins. If it tastes sour, unpleasant, and makes you feel nauseous, it may be the fault of chlorogenic acid, which is abundant in unripe beans.
If the coffee tastes clean, bright, with a full and pleasant aroma, and your body has no adverse reactions, then it is a good cup of coffee.
6. Replace creamer with fresh milk
Although coffee purists insist that black coffee is the only way to present the best flavor, everyone has different habits. Some people must add sugar and creamer to make it taste good.
For health reasons, it is recommended to replace creamer with fresh milk and reduce the amount of sugar, so as not to offset the original benefits of coffee, which would be counterproductive. Of course, from a nutritional perspective, it would be even better if the shop offers low-fat fresh milk instead of full-fat.
7. People with high blood pressure, high blood sugar, and high cholesterol should be more selective
Diabetics are advised to switch to low-caffeine coffee. People with high blood lipids should preferably drink filtered coffee. As for patients with high blood pressure, they should pay attention to the time they drink coffee and try to avoid drinking coffee right after getting up in the morning to prevent a temporary spike in blood pressure that could affect their health.