Thursday, March 24, 2011

Can coffee make you fat?

Hey Gang;

Sorry for the slow update.   From this point on the blog will be updated on the 15th of every month.

That being said, let’s get down to business.  This month we’re going to discuss the Hot topic of Coffee and its effects on your metabolism.  (Pun very much intended)

                Lately there has been research suggesting that coffee may be hindering your progress in the battle of the bulge. Ok, it doesn’t just suggest it.  It outright confirms it.
  Here’s why…
                When you consume caffeine first thing in the morning it wakes you up and gives you a little extra boost to get out the door.  That boost fires off the sympathetic nervous system (your fight or flight response).  Any time this system is fired it turns up the adrenal glands, moves blood away from your trunk and into your arms and legs, pupils dilate, heart rate increases and digestion essentially shuts down so it suppresses your appetite.
You initially burn more calories and fat stores from the night before, but there is a rebound effect.  Your body now thinks it has to replenish the fat stores you burned previously because you’re now in starvation mode.  To complicate matters, caffeine causes disruptions in glucose metabolism which trigger fat storage hormones like Lipoprotein Lipase and insulin.  
                To make matters worse coffee will also cause uncontrollable cravings for sweets.  This all has to do with the fact that your body is incredibly efficient and smarter than you or I.  If you stress the body, it will respond according to a caveman’s needs.  We have only been eating the way we do and taking in stimulants like coffee for a few hundred years.  That’s nowhere near long enough for the human body to adapt to what we’re doing to it.  Further, we’re under more stress than we ever have been in history coupled with the fact that we’re taking in more caffeine than ever before.
                Taking in caffeine at any level triggers an acute insulin resistant environment in the body.  This response over time can lead to type II diabetes.  Let’s look at the effects of coffee on a diabetic.
·         It has an adverse effect on glucose (sugar) metabolism.
·         Produces a higher average of glucose concentration for that day.
·         Exaggerates post prandial (after nap) glucose responses.
That being said, I still love coffee.  But if you’re trying to lose weight and failing, coffee, caffeine, energy drinks and sodas may be a big culprit.  If you’ll cut coffee out of your day for a week, and you can get past the caffeine headache, you’ll see results in the waistline.
If this post was helpful to you, please share it with someone you love.
God Bless-
-Doc-