Coffee

Who is addicted to coffee, needing that cup first thing of a morning to get going? Have a read below!

Coffee is a stimulant. In folk medicine it was used for snakebite, asthma, jaundice, vertigo and headache. Now days it can still help some of these things such as headache, but mostly it can help stimulate the bowel for those that are constipated and can also help after eating rich, greasy, heavy food to get digestion stimulated. Coffee is used a lot these days as a purgative stimulant in the form of coffee enemas.

Coffee is technically a drug being a large source of caffeine. The coffee bean is usually roasted and ground, then brewed passing boiling water through the ground coffee. This helps to release the caffeine.

As a stimulant it can increase heart rate, blood pressure, respiration, gastrointestinal activity, stomach acid output, kidney function and mental activity. Coffee can interfere with the absorption of many vitamins such as calcium and iron.

Many people do use coffee to relieve fatigue, but many do enjoy the bitter flavor.

Decaffeinated coffee can be an option if you want to reduce your amount of caffeine (although it does still contain a percentage of caffeine, its not completely free of it). Be wary of decaffeinated coffees as they are often processed via chemical means – look for Swiss water method. Instant coffee is also worth avoiding as not only can they contain chemicals from processing but the oils can easily go rancid once the coffee is ground.

If you are going to enjoy a cup of coffee try to have one from freshly ground organic whole coffee beans and limit your intake, savouring the one cup a day.

How many cups of coffee do you drink every day??