One More Reason for a Daily Cup O’ Joe

Coffee may help improve memory, in addition to a wide variety of other health benefits.
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If you keep up with news, perhaps you’ll have heard this little tidbit: drinking coffee may be a boon to memory, according to a study out of Johns Hopkins University. You know how I love my coffee (one of the many reasons I love living in Seattle)—and now, I can love it even more.

Researchers showed study participants a series of images and then either gave participants 200 milligrams of caffeine or a placebo. Twenty-four hours later, the participants were asked to identify the images during a similar lineup. Those that had been given caffeine were better able to identify the images.

Caffeine has been the focus of many health and wellness studies. These studies have suggested that drinking coffee can have some incredible benefits:

Coffee can…

• Raise our energy levels (duh)
• Make us smarter
• Help us burn fat
• Improve physical performance
• Give us several important nutrients
• Lower our risk of Type II Diabetes
• Protect us from Alzheimer’s and dementia
• Lower our risk of Parkinson’s
• Keep our liver from developing cirrhosis
• Improve our mood and fight depression
• Lower our risk of certain kinds of cancer
• Reduce the risk of stroke
• Improve longevity
• Give us much-needed antioxidants

I never used to drink coffee, but over the years it became an acquired taste. It’s funny how our taste sometimes changes over the years. In this case, I’m so glad it did. I love my morning cup of coffee on taste along, but all these added benefits are great, too.

Are you a coffee drinker? What keeps you coming back to it every day?

The “Exercise Pill” May Be Coming

An "exercise" pill could be on the horizon.
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I read an article today that I really wanted to share with you all, because I think it’s a topic that really needs to be discussed. The topic: the fact that an “exercise pill” may be on our horizon.

Not a diet pill. An exercise pill. To me, those words do not belong together, but it seems that some would disagree. You see, scientists have been working on creating a pill that would enable humans to get some critical benefits of exercise—while maintaining a fatty diet and being completely complacent.

Coconut Water: Famous For A Reason

Fad alert: drinking coconut water.
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It seems like everywhere I look (especially in these warm summer months), people are drinking coconut water. When I was growing up, I had a few friends who loved coconut water, and when I was living in Costa Rica, we used to crack open fresh coconuts and drink it fresh through straws.

Lately there’s been this huge surge of people drinking coconut water. And while some might just be doing it because it’s the new healthy “fad,” coconut water has become famous for some very legitimate reasons.

It’s not for everyone (my boyfriend absolutely hates it), but if it tastes good to you, you can enjoy these benefits:

7 Foods That Boost Your Metabolism

Water stimulates the metabolism.

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One of the best ways to ensure that your body keeps on burning excess calories instead of storing them as fat is to keep your metabolism going. Many of us have jobs where we sit all day (guilty), and that’s B-A-D for your body. There are lots of ways to keep your body active during a typical workday, but today I want to talk about the foods (and drinks) you can consume to help.

 Water—no joke, when you get dehydrated your body’s metabolism slows down. People who drink plenty of fluids every day tend to burn more calories than those who don’t.

Salmon—Foods high in Omega-3 fatty acids help our bodies build muscle. More muscle means more calories burned. Omega-3 is also thought to help reduce cortisol levels, which in turn would reduce how many calories our bodies convert to fat (this has not yet been proven).

Coffee—As long as you don’t overdo it, drinking coffee can be a great metabolic aid. Just one cup of coffee contains enough caffeine to speed up our metabolism by up to 15% and keep fat-storing processes at bay.

Hotter is better! Eat chili peppers to burn more calories.

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Avocado—The essential oils, fats, and antioxidants present in avocados help keep our blood vessels healthy and inflammation down, meaning that our metabolism can function well. Avocados also have lots of fiber, which speeds up our metabolism as well.

Beans—Because our bodies have to work extra hard to process the fiber and resistant starch in beans, we burn more calories doing so. Studies suggest eating foods with high levels of resistant starch (beans, whole grains) can boost metabolism up to 24% throughout the day.

Chilies—Spicy foods that contain chilies also contain capsaicin, which boosts calorie burn. The hotter the better!

Green Tea—The combination of caffeine and antioxidants in green teas naturally stimulate our bodies and speed up our metabolism and increase fat burn. Various studies have suggested that drinking green tea on a regular basis can help people stay slim.

Green tea's antioxidants and caffeine can help us stay slim.

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Other foods that you can eat to give your body a natural boost include almonds, apples, pears, broccoli, cinnamon, curry, grapefruit, lean meat, oatmeal, spinach, unsweetened soymilk, and yogurt. I don’t know about you all, but those are some of my favorite things to eat anyway!

For more information on these foods and others, check out “Surprising Foods That Fight Fat” on Health.com and “16 Foods that Naturally Boost Your Metabolism” on Organic Authority. I used both as sources.

Do Late Lunches Mean Less Weight Loss?

Does your lunch time affect weight loss?
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A new study from the International Journal of Obesity hassuggested that those who eat lunch earlier in the day may have better successwith weight loss than those who eat later. The study surveyed a total of 420 people in a weight loss program and found that those who regularly ate lunch before 3 p.m. lost about 25% more weight than those who ate later.

As someone who snacks about every three hours, with slightly larger snacks around breakfast and lunch, missing meals isn’t something I often do. My body is used to having small, constant amounts of food coming in to refuel it—so a late lunch is pretty miserable for me. But others don’t have the same routine as I do—my boss regularly waits until after three to eat and even then it’s just a bowl of ramen noodles (sodium and carbs). For those or you who find yourselves relating to her, I wanted to discuss the implications of eating late.

3 p.m. lunch may bee too long of a wait.
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Numerous studies have been done over the years on the effect of meal times and sizes. Some suggest that the biggest meal should be breakfast, and meals should gradually decline in size, making dinner the smallest. Other studies say that eating every three hours is best for our bodies, as it keeps meals small and generally lighter than a heaping platter. But none of these studies have definitively nailed down the single best pattern. And that includes this one.

When reading into studies, make sure to keep in mind all the variable factors. One such factor to consider is how much time the participants were going between meals. This study doesn’t chart that, but it’s an important consideration to make. One thing we do know about meal times is that when we go too long in between meals, it can affect the metabolism, slowing it and hindering weight loss.

A cute lunch box is essential in life!

Participants also likely had other different behaviors, including the comparison between calories consumed and burned. Not getting enough sleep has also been linked to higher rates of obesity and lower success in weight loss. The researchers themselves have recognized that these findings are preliminary and require further research to determine how much meal-timing influences weight loss.

Certainly, it’s not a bad idea to space your meals out equally and keep your body from going into “starvation” mode. But how much of an impact it actually has remains to be seen. Eating right and exercising regularly are still kings of the weight-loss world. 

Spotlight: Energy Supplements & Vitamins

Stimulants are one way to get extra energy.
Image: 5 Hour Energy

Life moves quickly these days, and it always seems like there isn’t enough time in a day to get all the things done we needed or wanted to. We’re tired and run down sometimes, and going to the grocery store seems to scream a singular solution: energy bars, pills, drinks, and more. But do you really know what you need versus what you’re getting?

There are multiple types of energy supplements and vitamins available for purchase, and they accomplish different ends because they affect your body differently. And you might not even “need” one at all.

Stimulants basically rev up your metabolism. Stimulants include caffeine, guarana, yerba mate, kola nut, green tea, capsaicin (red pepper), Asian ginseng, and Bitter Orange (synephrine). These will help pick you up when you feel groggy or sluggish in the middle of your day. Caffeine is one of the most potent and effective stimulants. Many natural alternatives to caffeine still contain it or something similar to it; most have the same or similar effects as caffeine. They will give you a temporary boost in energy when you need it.

Green tea contains caffeine, which can give you a boost.
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Substances that affect energy metabolism are a different kind of “energy” supplement. This category includes products like Coenzyme Q10, B vitamins, folic acid, thamine, niacin, Creatine, carnitine, and amino acids. Rather than temporarily boosting our metabolism, these products change the way our bodies process and convert nutrients to energy. Eating a healthy, balanced diet will generally get you the same effects as taking these supplements. Taking them on their own isn’t proven to increase energy except in those who are deficient in those substances. In those who are deficient, taking supplements could be of some benefit to your energy levels.

Calories are, simply put, energy.
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Calories, much to the disbelief of many, are not the same thing as fat. Calories are, simply put, energy. Carbohydrates (including sugars) are easy for our bodies to break down and absorb as energy, and that’s generally what energy drinks, bars, and gels are full of. The problem is that with too much sugar, our bodies’ glucose levels get spiked and we experience an insulin surge—which can cause problems on its own. For athletes working their bodies hard, carbs can give them the boost they need to refuel or recover. But when you’re not exercising, that spike in glucose will likely quickly lead to a crash, which will make you feel sleepy. And those calories you don’t burn will get converted into fat.

Eating a healthy diet will help give you an energy boost.
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When choosing whether or not to use a supplement, consider whether or not you have a medical condition that would affect you adversely. Some supplements could be dangerous for you. Remember that many of the “energy” supplements haven’t been scientifically studied—or they may just be straight sugar and carbs.

Consider whether or not you really need it before you try it, too. If you’re regularly going on just a few hours of sleep, constantly taking energy supplements could not only be less than optimally effective, it could be dangerous. As I’m sure you’ve heard before, the best way to boost energy is to get enough sleep and exercise and eat a healthy diet.