Coffee: good or bad? Is Drinking Coffee Good for You or No?
Like many of you, coffee is part of an every day lovely morning moment for me. Once in a while it doesn't happen, and it's no big deal. Once in a while it's more than a cup-a-day, but not often. (If you wonder whether or not it's good to drink coffee daily and if drinking coffee is good for you, there's more on that below and I want to hear what you think, too.)
By the way, if you don't really like coffee, here are some coffee replacements that are good for you.
I've always only liked it black, and while I'm thankful that I don't like it with sugar, I've always wished I did like it with cream, because a little real cream from pastured cows would redeem my morning cup of happy by adding in some nutrients!
If you're scratching your head in confusion or freaking out right now about why I'd want to add fat into my diet, read about healthy fats here and why what you've heard about them is all WRONG.
Recently I have found a way that I love it with cream, so my cup of coffee has some redeeming qualities, and wait 'til I show you how dreamy it is…
First I brew a cup of my favorite coffee using my one cup coffee maker and our Instant Hot Water Dispenser – notice the hot coffee doesn't touch any plastic:
(Read more: A Cup of Coffee Without Plastic Toxins Please!)
Next I pull out my new favorite kitchen tool, a milk frother like this one, and whip up some real cream (best from pastured/grass-fed cows so it's loaded with nutrients!), this only takes a minute and it's sooooo worth it — the kids like it on their homemade gourmet hot cocoa too:
Next, dollop a spoonful onto your coffee and enjoy the dreaminess!
Sooooo — Coffee: good or bad? Is Drinking Coffee Good for You or No?
As you know, there are many who advise against drinking coffee (Sally Fallon is one), but there are just as many who say that drinking a cup a day is actually good for you, so I don't plan on stopping!
I have, however, cut back a little, and this is why…
As I explained in my post: Should we embrace our muffin top?
My peri-menopause symptoms first began when I realized I was becoming mineral deficient. (Did you know that most people are mineral deficient?) I started getting leg cramps, or “charley horses”, at night, along with heart palpitations. I especially noticed it on the days when I drank more than one cup of coffee, that's how I knew coffee was the culprit, and this makes sense since I know it does deplete minerals. Apparently mineral depletion, specifically Magnesium, is heightened in menopause due to low estrogen, because estrogen helps our body utilize Mg, and this can be dangerous (source). The first thing I did was cut way back on caffeine. I already didn’t drink much, usually one cup a day, but now I don’t always drink coffee every day, and if I do, it’s fairly weak. Or often I'll have half-caffeinated/half decaf. (I drink Dandy Blend now and then instead, or drink more raw milk, or if I have bone broth on the stove, which I do a lot, I’ll just drink some of that to try and put more minerals IN! Here are more good coffee replacements to try.)
By the way, yes, I started doing more magnesium foot soaks with these magnesium chloride flakes that dissolve in warm water — not the same as epsom salt soaks, that's magnesium sulfate and is not absorbed as well, but does help. You could also use this Magnesium chloride spray before showering. I still didn't do either of those anywhere near enough though, so I started taking these Mg supplements. (However, that didn't take the Charley Horses away completely until this: How I Stopped Painful Leg Cramps at Night.)
Something else interesting though…
At the November Wise Traditions conference in California, even Julie Ross (author of The Mood Cure: The 4-Step Program to Take Charge of Your Emotions) said that coffee with breakfast, not instead of breakfast, is ok for healthy individuals who tolerate it fine.
Here are a few more links for you to look over from my blogging friends who give good reasons why they are in favor of drinking coffee (yay!):
- The only way Katie (Wellness Mama) drinks her coffee
- Here's why Elizabeth drinks coffee every day
- Why Kristen thinks you should drink coffee
So take all of that into consideration and decide for yourself: Is drinking coffee good for you?
My other posts on coffee:
- A Cup of Coffee Without Plastic Toxins Please! – We all know that keeping heat away from plastic is the biggest way to avoid plastic toxins in your life. But if you’re a little slow like me, maybe it took you a while to make the hot coffee and plastics connection…
- Are There *Any* Good Coffee Replacements Out There? – You may want to think about some of these coffee replacements, because even if you do drink coffee, there will always be times when you’d like to enjoy an alternate hot beverage.
- Gettin' Real About Coffee Enemas with a Q & A on Coffee Enema Benefits
Unrelated posts you might like:
- Could THIS be the answer for the gluten-sensitivity epidemic?
- A little better for you dessert recipes
- Yummy beverage recipes
- What I Did NOT Want to Know about Broth (Plus: Gelatin vs. Collagen & How to REALLY Help Your Bones – Diabetics Listen Up!)
Share your thoughts in the comments, and also will you share this post on the social media links to see what others think, too?
Hi Kelly,
We visited downstate from you at Berrien Springs, Adventist land, the other month–wish I had some links for you–we are wellknown for finding decent coffee substitutes–although I wouldn’t recommend Caffig–it’s a waste of good figs……my experience, growing up without coffee, is to use it only as a drug when driving longhaul…
Sharon
Yes we need to listen to our own body!
I drank bullet proof coffee every morning until I learned some things – I have Hashi’s. So, some people are benefited and others are not. Here is one of the articles. We need to be informed both ways because nothing is ever universal. I do plan to reintroduce coffee at a later date.
https://www.hormonesbalance.com/articles/11-ways-coffee-impacts-your-hormones-and-how-to-substitute-it/
In 1999, I had asthmatic bronchitis in March and then in October I got pertussis. (My poor lungs!!) My doctor recommended I start drinking coffee to help open my alveoli and relieve bronchial spasms. Then later I read some convincing info on the benefits of coffee by Dr. Mercola too. I’ve come to adore coffee … but have a hard time drinking it without sugar. 🙁
Nowadays I practice intermittent fasting so other than water, I don’t consume anything until about 1:00PM each day. I don’t miss morning coffee but I do allow a splurge once or twice a week on coffee with organic sugar and raw, organic cow’s milk cream. If I could get myself to drink it black, I’d probably drink it daily.
Kris, I know some coffee is really acidic or strong tasting, but maybe if you found a better coffee you liked, you’d like it without sugar? Just a thought. For example, I cannot STAND Starsucks coffee, it’s so bitter and icky. But we have a coffee shop nearby and their coffee is so smooth and wonderful!!!
Kelly
YES TO THIS. Except I recently had to switch to decaf….but still!
My husband who looooooves coffee (I’m a tea lover myself) buys organic green beans and roast them himself at home. I find the taste much better than anything commercially bought.
It is so easy to make,great coffee at home,from iced to frapps.
Can’t stand Starsmucks.
Amen sister! 🙂
A always call it StarSucks. lol!
I use the ceramic cone to make my hot coffee too. Usually black, or with coconut oil and / or fresh cream.
Right now, I’m sipping on some homemade cold brew with raw milk and a bit of maple syrup. Yum!
Love a teaspoon of coconut oil AND cream in mine. Yum!
How can you leave the house without a cup of coffee? Wife sent me to get soup broth. Looking down the isles blurry eyed and see fruit and vegetable. Just ready to ask someone if soup is a fruit or vegetable, when I see the soup isle. Coffee, don’t leave home without it.
<<<
Haha!
I don’t EVER buy anything there, though. I have 2 gift cards that are on their last dime. I always get an iced coffee with 1/2 and 1/2 🙂 As close to REAL as you’ll get there!
I’m one-upping ya. Add a tablespoon of coconut oil, and a tablespoon of grass fed butter along with a huge dollop of raw cream. Put in a cup, place the cup in a bowl, pour boiling water in the bowl so it all melts, when melted froth and add cocoa and froth some more. Pour coffee over and ingest happily. YUM!
Really? OK, I’ll have to try that. 🙂
Kel
It is a pack of 2 filters from Amazon, so a little over $5 each seems pretty reasonable?? I haven’t done much comparison shopping though. I used a hemp filter a while back and really liked it! They sell them here –> http://www.greenboatstuff.com/herecocofisi.html. A little more pricy though. You are supposed to let it get “seasoned”, so no need to wash often; just rinse & let fully dry after each use. My brother is co-owner & founder of Rowster New American Coffee in Grand Rapids on Wealthy St….we love us some coffee! 🙂
Check these out…I think I may have to get some. 🙂 http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00F8LMKYA/ref=mp_s_a_1_9?qid=1381975328&sr=8-9&pi=AC_SX110_SY165
I found mine at Wal-Mart where coffee pots are
I am interested too. We just bought a stainless percolator and my husband forgoes any filter now.
I used one for years but we bought a Bunn and they don’t make them for Bunn. Unless they do and just don’t sell them anywhere I’ve seen
We use a reusable linen coffee filter on top of a half gallon mason jar. I hold it in place with a rubber band and drip the coffee through….no plastic 🙂
tina
@Tina, you’ve got my wheels turning on the reusable coffee filter – what kind do you use?
FYI….our fridge recently started freezing our lovely raw milk. no one wanted to drink it. I pulled out the trusty stick blender and whipped it up and voila! fluffly milk! I adore it on the coffee. just like a fancy coffee and the kids think its awesome.
Yeah I could do it for their cocoa too! 🙂
I am so excited about that porcelain cone. I have been wanting to get away from these coffee makers with the plastic cups, but I love the ease of use. I KNOW. I did get a percolator, but it’s a pain. BUt this little cone looks splendid. Unfortunately I do not have instant hot, but I will just get a stainless tea kettle for the stove top. Keep these posts coming! xoxo
My three-year-old loves coffee. He will eat the freshly-ground coffee by the spoonful if he can get to it!
I’m a pansy… milk AND sugar in mine. Maybe if I switched to a bland variety, and used a reusable filter (paper ones absorb the oils – oils cut the bitterness) then I’d be better off… but for now…
I’ve been drinking coffee for about 35 years…and I love it light and sweet. But, since I’ve gotten older, I don’t need the sugar in my diet, so I switched to Xylitol about 4 years ago. I also love latte’s, cappuccino’s, Ice coffee and many flavored coffees. A “true coffee lover” learns, over time, that variety is the spice of life (in my opinion). And I never have been very good at the same ole’, same ole’ every day. I find that when you drink the same coffee every morning, I tend to stop really tasting it. So, I switch it up from time to time with several tried and true favorites, and am always glad I did.
That is how I drink mine 🙂 I add some butter to it as well. Delicious.
@ Davida Thompson – Stevia is a great option!
@ Joanna Dowlearn – you got me there, I loooove my sweet chocolate!
Saying true coffee drinkers don’t take sugar in their coffee is like saying true chocolate lovers don’t take sugar in their chocolate. Anyone ever eaten unsweetened chocolate and liked it let alone loved it? And if adding sugar is an issue for “true” coffee drinkers why isn’t adding milk/cream/creamer? Things that make you go hmmm…
I “fix” decaf coffee for my granddaughter (9) to enjoy while I’m having my coffee in the morning. About half cream and some honey. She loves it. We were at a restaurant one day and she wanted to try my black coffee. I told her restaurants don’t make coffee as good as Grandma, but I let her try it. She said, “You’re right, Grandma. Their coffee isn’t as good as yours.” Now my grandsons on the other hand, drink it black and love it.
I was always a black coffee girl, from green through getting married, but as soon as I had a baby, I started adding cream-not really because I wanted it, but because it cooled the coffee down enough to drink safely around the baby, so I didn’t forget it on the kitchen counter nearly as often. Now, I love my cream (and I mean cream, not milk or half and half!) But I could NEVER add sugar.
I am LEARNING to like it without sugar. I just don’t need the sugar.
Even many French & Italians put sugar in their espresso :). I use heavy cream & a little stevia though.
Totally agree. True coffee lovers don’t need sugar 🙂 I drink mine black, but add whole milk or cream to iced coffee.
I’m 100% with ya.
I’m three weeks without coffee again. 🙁 Super sad, but my thyroid and adrenals just can’t tolerate it though I love it!
That is sad!!! Good for you though for doing what you have to do to be healthy!
Kel
I am currently on day 2 of giving up coffee. I truly believe that coffee is really good for you, however, I had to add lots of sugar and cream (not always pastured) to make it taste good, and I was drinking it more for the sweet taste than the caffeine.
When I felt best on coffee was when I was adding heavy grass fed cream along with some refined coconut oil, and just a bit of sugar. After my 30 days or so without coffee, I may reintroduce some of it that way.
Interesting post, Kelly! I read Caffeine Blues and went off coffee completely – after drinking 8 – 10 cups per day! Yes, I was addicted but I also like the taste and comfort of a hot cup of coffee. after some bladder problems, a doctor advised me in a round about way to stop caffeine. I even did a blog post on “Why I Quit”. The problems are much better and you have made me want to try it again only in moderation!
We have an Italian coffee maker that grinds one cup at a time and does a high temp steam extraction – boy is it good – I drink it black.
I will have to start looking at this mold issue as I had not heard about that. I do love my coffee–I recently considered giving it up to save some money, but I just don’t think I can. My weakness is liking sweetener in it, though. On the upside, I have gone from using flavored creamer (for years before my real food days!) to skimming some cream off our raw milk and just a touch of maple syrup.
Have you heard of kombuchafying your coffee? You can’t heat it after, that would kill the goodness. I am fermenting my first batch as we speak. I heard you can get a huge rush from it too.
Ruth,
What do you do? And then how do you brew the coffee, just cold-brewed or something?
I drank my coffee bulletproof for a while. Yum! It’s more than my stomach can handle right now, though, so I stick to a dab of local, grassfed cream.
I found a local roaster who will do a low-temperature roast for me to preserve the antioxidants. It brings out the most amazing flavor!
When I left Florida at the end of November I was drinking some coffee at the airport because I wanted the perk-up and it helped my breathing after a week of allergy problems. Tweeted about it and got a reply from Price-Pottenger Nutritional Foundation saying that calcium drops would help cut some of the issues with the coffee. So I guess your cream addition is right on target, Kelly!
I just did that then – whipped up some real cream (separated from raw milk the other morning! with my new milk separater that I received for Christmas!) and dolloped it on top of some plunger coffee. Mmmmmmm. It tastes so sweet too, like it has sugar or something added… but it must just be all the nutrients from the grass fed dairy cow’s milk that tastes sooooo nice!!
Here is Dr Mercola’s article on health benefits of coffee … http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/09/16/coffee-health-benefits.aspx
Lots of Love from Australia!!
Love your blog Kelly,
Have you read the posts on Bulletproofexec.com about mold-free coffee? This is the famous bulletproof coffee you might have heard of. He uses grassfed butter in his coffee. It is delicious. The mold-free information is very interesting. He says that most people have problems with coffee side effects because they are drinking toxins from mold and other things (like decaf coffee). When coffee beans are fermented, they can become moldy. He links to a lot of research on the health benefits of coffee and caffeine. Coffee is one of the THE most anti-oxidant-rich foods you can consume. The caffeine is necessary for inhibiting mold.
He offers criteria for finding mold-free roasted beans by asking your roaster the right questions. He also sells his own coffee. I found out about his blog before he sold coffee. I live in Chicago burbs. Chicago has many coffee roasters. I called around and found a local business which sells beans that fit his mold free criteria. It is as expensive as buying his beans and I don’t know for sure if they are mold-free. Apparently there is no way to test it.
Many people are huge fans of bulletproof coffee. I like it but I gained weight when I started drinking it. I also experience heart palpitations when I drink coffee. I have to stick to black tea (which he says is moldy).
On Sept. 16, 2012, Dr. Mercola sent out an article/newsletter titled Mounting Evidence Suggests Coffee May Acually Have Therapeutic Health Benefits. After reading it, I decided to START drinking coffee! It is worth reading. He even has a few tips about how to get the most health benefits from coffee consumption, even though he himself does not drink it because he doesn’t like the taste.
Kelly, I grew up without coffee as I was raised in the LDS Church (the Mormons), and that’s a no-no. I had never tried coffee until I left at age 27. I never developed a coffee habit, though, because I’m extremely sensitive to caffeine; it gives me terrible headaches.
Recently I tried the “Bulletproof coffee” approach of Dave Asprey over at bulletproofexecutive.com (I think that’s it): he advocates the use of mold-free coffee, which he sells on his other site (“upgraded coffee” at upgradedself.com), blended with MCT oil (medium-chain triglycerides, derived from coconut oil) and unsalted Kerrygold butter, or comparable grass-fed butter. He also uses a frother. I’ve got to get one!
I sometimes use bulletproof coffee as an aid to intermittent fasting (IF), in the sense of postponing breakfast and eating in a compressed time period only (such as noon to 8 p.m., so you fast from 8 p.m. to noon, for instance). It *killed* my appetite and I dropped a few pounds painlessly. For me, I just am not hungry first thing in the morning, and forcing myself to eat just made me eat more throughout the day. I think breakfast is important for kids or anyone working away from home, though. I’m lucky to be able to work at home.
However, eventually the caffeine headaches came back and I’ve switched to decaf, though Asprey doesn’t recommend decaf as he thinks it’s bound to have mold in it. Apparently mold reactions account for a lot of the problems people have with coffee. His Upgraded Coffee is really expensive, but he gives advice for how to find mold-free coffee elsewhere: usually from South America, single-estate not blends, and dark roast are all good signs apparently. And, buy from small companies that pride themselves on following the best practices. I buy from our local Thanksgiving Coffee company. So far, so good. I’ve gone back to eating breakfast again recently, though after 10 a.m. at the earliest, accompanied by decaf bulletproof coffee. This probably makes no sense so check out the Bulletproof Executive for better explanations!
Me too! I love this AM coffee. It is frothy like a latte yet retains good coffee flavor.
Funny, Jeanmarie, I too only tried coffee after leaving the Mormon church at the age of 50! A coffee loving friend insisted I try it, and I’ve come to love it. Like Kelly I usually have 1 cup per day, and skipping a day is not a problem for me. I buy only organic coffee as I’ve heard it’s one of the most heavily sprayed crops. I made bulletproof coffee one time, and it was delicious. Normally I take my coffee with some organic half and half, or raw cream when I have it in the house, and a tiny bit of natural stevia.
Jeanmarie, thanks for introducing me to the bulletproofexec website. I learn just as much from commenters as I do from my favorite real food bloggers. I am already intrigued by this guy’s information, as well as the Dr Mercola’s endorsement of him.
Kelly, like you, I use the pour over method, but to heat my water I use a butter warmer, which is quick and easy.
I love learning! Keep up all the good information!
I love bulletproof coffee and sometimes also add high vitamin butter oil. Just a touch. I also use a T of coconut oil in addition to the MCT Oil. Oh and he sells a decaf version now. 🙂
Has anyone tried this stainless steel version of the 1-cup coffee maker?
http://amzn.to/2iXcQlq
I haven’t but I’ll bet it would be just fine!
Kelly