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Coffee is healthy for everyone - even dieters and athletes!
Coffee is often seen as an indulgence, almost a guilty pleasure. But we at Araku love creating coffee (and breathing in its sweet aroma) too much to let it be assumed this way. Most of the food and drinks that we enjoy consuming – ice-creams, candies, everything that comes under junk food – is inherently not the healthiest, unless made a very specific way. But coffee is different. It is not only loved for its flavours, but it is actually good for the body and mind as well. There is nothing to be guilty about when it comes to this pleasure. Especially when coffee even helps with weight loss.With science on our side, we are here to talk about the truth of how coffee affects weight loss, helps athletes workout better and ultimately lead to an overall healthy lifestyle.
Health for all
Plenty of recent studies indicate coffee to be extremely beneficial to our health. The key, though, is to pick high-quality coffee which is nutrient-rich without any harmful or artificial ingredients. Coffee beans, such as Araku’s, which are organically grown and expertly roasted can keep coffee’s many health benefits intact even after brewing.
Coffee is certainly packed with many impressive properties for our well being. Read along to get a taste of a few!
Antioxidants
Coffee is a potent source of antioxidants and beneficial nutrients; with more than 1,000 antioxidants already present in unprocessed coffee beans. Antioxidants work at a micro-level – they protect cells and thereby shield from internal inflammation and diseases. For many people, coffee provides more antioxidants than a combined intake of fruits and vegetables.
Cancer-free
Research has shown that coffee lowers risk for two of the 5 most common cancers – liver and colorectal. Breakages in DNA strands, when not repaired by cells, can lead to cancer or tumours. Dark roast coffee decreases these breakages, thereby overall reducing the chances of cancer.
Cognitive
Caffeine improves cognitive functions such as reaction times and enhanced memory. Previous research has shown two cups of coffee a day can improve long-term memory. Coffee has also been linked with lowering the rate of depression by 20% due to chemicals such as serotonin and dopamine released while consuming the beverage.
Athletes
For athletes, coffee is a major boon – it has neurotransmitters that increase awareness, it also helps the body battle fatigue and endure through tough rounds of exercising. Caffeine can be seen as a performance enhancer that strengthens muscle contraction that staves off the risk of injuries.
Moreover, coffee is known to help with weight loss, thereby making the athletes leaner.
We have put together the phases of exercising and how coffee makes them better. Let’s dive right in!
Pre-workout
>Coffee, when consumed as a pre-workout drink, drastically improves the burning of fat during exercise. Caffeine stimulates the body to make use of stored fat; enhancing the endurance level and reducing fatigue. Once the caffeine enters the bloodstream, athletes are able to train longer. Alongside breaking down of stored fat, there is a rise in blood pressure and heart rate resulting in body-energization.
Workout
>Coffee’s positive effect on cognitive functions is even more beneficial for athletes. Various studies have determined that caffeine increases the activity of the prefrontal lobe – responsible for concentration, planning and attention span. Athletes who consumed coffee before training were able to sustain high exercise intensity and improved concentration, even the ones that lacked sufficient sleep.
Post-workout
>Rigorous exercise causes a build-up of lactic acid in stressed muscles. It makes continuing the activity painful and often, people stop their workout after this. A research experiment has shown that drinking coffee prior to exercising, decreases muscle pain and soreness during and after workouts. There was a decline in the amount of time taken for muscle recovery as well.
Weight loss
Weight loss is not an easy feat. It needs constant attention, patience and often, unpleasant changes in a lifestyle. But there are some healthy ways to diet and coffee can help losing weight faster during them. Weight loss tips aren’t our thing because we truly believe that every person’s body is different. So we recommend finding your own groove while we help you incorporate coffee and its amazing benefits into it.
Two of the rising stars in the diet realm are Intermittent Fasting and Keto.
Diet - Intermittent Fasting & Keto
Intermittent fasting (IF), in essence, is a pattern of eating – it doesn’t demand changes in the diet but the timing of it. It helps in losing weight between meals when insulin levels go down, making the fat cells release their stored sugar as energy. The diet’s short periods of eating and longer periods of fasting can be sustained better by incorporating coffee in it. It has been proven that drinking very low or zero-calorie beverages do not hinder the fasting window of this diet.
Black coffee is an excellent beverage because it contains about 3 calories, which is insignificant to the overall effect of the fasting period. On the other hand, any addition of ingredients such as milk and sugar can disrupt the dietary pattern.
Black coffee also works well for a keto diet - where the body is burning fat instead of carbs.
Furthermore, sticking with black coffee during fasting also provides bursts of energy when one might be feeling mentally or physically tired.
Bullet/ Bulletproof Coffee
Black coffee isn’t the only way to keep fit. There is a version of coffee that is perfect for the eating periods in Intermittent Fasting– Bullet Coffee. It is a beverage made of coffee combined with quality fats. It helps maintain energy levels, prevents hunger and improves mental focus.
It is a creamy delight that slowly releases calories reducing hunger pangs. Basically, Bullet coffee is an enjoyable and efficient method to intake fat. Ketogenic diet as well as ‘low-carb, high-fat’ diets benefit greatly with this version of coffee due to a boost in metabolism and improved cognitive function.
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Caffeine not only fits into a healthy lifestyle, it almost promotes it. Science is on our side but even if it wasn’t, is there anything stopping us from drinking this goodness?
Coffee is here for everyone who wants to lose weight, ones who want to take the athletic route or just be more mindful of what they consume day-to-day. Coffee is for all. Araku is for all.
Araku has been a pioneer in the Indian Speciality coffee scene with organically grown 100% Arabica of unblended single origin quality. Every harvest is processed in-house to ensure optimal selection and quality. We aim to preserve the goodness of coffee and pass on all of its benefits to you!
In the comments section below, tell us about the time when coffee brightened up a dull day – got you running, playing, dancing or even just out of the bed. And we will continue to create coffee that does all of the above!