I’m willing to admit I’ve created a very intimate relationship with my morning cup o’ Joe. The aroma of a fresh pot brewing makes me feel so warm and excited inside, not to mention the pure euphoria of that first morning sip. I recently re-evaluated my coffee habits, though, and with some time away from my morning friend, I wanted to bring you everything you need to know about coffee and how it can be improving or hindering your health. 

With roughly 75% of the US consuming coffee daily, this is something we all better be educated on! After digging into some research on the matter, I’ve come to find that coffee can either be really really good for you or it can set your body up for failure depending on a specific gene in your DNA. Basically, we all carry a gene that determines whether or not we are fast caffeine metabolizers or slow caffeine metabolizers. Those of us that are fast caffeine metabolizers can enjoy the incredible benefits that coffee has to offer, such as decreased risk of: 

• Parkinson’s

• Prostate cancer

• Liver cancer

• Liver cirrhosis 

• Diabetes

• Depression in women 

• Mortality 

A lot of these benefits have to do with the high amounts of polyphenol antioxidants found in coffee beans, which are protective against a lot of chronic diseases. Now for those individuals who can’t seem to clear caffeine very rapidly suffer from too high of an adrenaline spike, which outweighs the benefits coffee has to offer. Essentially, liver enzymes cannot work fast enough to clear caffeine, putting high stress on the adrenal glands to pump adrenaline driving up blood pressure and heart rate. So for those who metabolize caffeine slowly double their risk of heart attack with daily coffee consumption. 

Now in my own personal experience, I find that everything should be consumed in moderation and we should always check in with ourselves in why we are consuming something on the regular. For example, I used to consume coffee in the mornings and would go for a second round around 3pm in the afternoon. I realized I didn’t need that second shot of adrenaline and really just needed to make shifts in my eating and sleeping patterns to ensure I wasn't crashing halfway through my day. Most recently I found myself over consuming coffee to the point where I could feel in my body I was in excess. I took time off and found that when I started drinking coffee again, it was actually much more enjoyable because I wasn't abusing my ability to have something that feels like it should be a special experience. 

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I’m a firm advocate of bio-individuality and believe that everyone has an internal wisdom that knows exactly what we need, when, and how much. The challenge though is to take time to stop and hear this voice speak. From there it takes a courageous act of self love to listen, and to give the body what it’s asking for, rather than falling compliant to the mind’s desires. 

I hope you found this helpful and it gave you some insight! Leave a comment & let me know what you think/ if there are any other topics you’d be interested in reading about.

Love & light,

Ally