Many people rely on caffeine to get them going in the morning, and while there’s nothing wrong with that, coffee on its own – without any additives – can cause jitters, stomach irritability, and an inevitable crash in energy and mood.
However, coffee isn’t all bad and can have positive health benefits, too. Here’s a recipe that combines the benefits of caffeine with other healthy ingredients in order to prevent the negative side effects that coffee can have.
Healthy Spiced Coffee Recipe
Ingredients
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon cardamom
- 4 cups coffee
- 1 cup vanilla hemp protein powder
- 10 dates
- 2 cups coconut milk
Instructions
Mix the spices with the coffee and brew as you normally would. Then combine the brewed spiced coffee, coconut milk, dates and hemp powder in a blender on high speed until smooth. This should make enough coffee to last you through the week – you can chill it in the fridge and drink it cold or heat it up prior to drinking it.
Health Benefits Of Coffee
“The health-promoting properties of coffee are often attributed to its rich phytochemistry,” one article explains(1).
“Many research investigations, epidemiological studies, and meta-analyses regarding coffee consumption revealed its inverse correlation with that of diabetes mellitus, various cancer lines, Parkinsonism, and Alzheimer’s disease. Moreover, it ameliorates oxidative stress because of its ability to induce mRNA and protein expression… furthermore, caffeine and its metabolites help in proper cognitive functionality.”
And, if you’ve heard that coffee causes cancer or raises your risk for cancer, the news is in: it doesn’t. In fact, reductions in oxidative stress – as provided by coffee – have been linked to a decreased risk for the development of cancer.
Drink In Moderation (2-3 Cups a Day)
It’s not all good news, however; like all things, coffee is best consumed in moderation. Too much coffee can “raise serum cholesterol, posing a possible threat to coronary health, for example, myocardial and cerebral infarction, insomnia, and cardiovascular complications.”
One study explains that, while “most prospective cohort studies have not found coffee consumption to be associated with significantly increased cardiovascular disease risk… coffee consumption is associated with increases in several cardiovascular disease risk factors, including blood pressure and plasma homocysteine.”(2)
Pregnant women and women with postmenopausal problems should avoid excessive consumption of coffee. The same goes for anyone at high risk for hypertension.(3)
All things considered, however, there’s strong evidence that some coffee can be good for you. And when combined with healthy ingredients, it can make a great start to your day.
sources:
[1]https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21432699
[2]https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16507475
[3]https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23465359