9 Great and Healthy Ways to Sweeten Your Coffee

 

Click HERE to Discover these 80 Keto-Friendly and Healthy Slow Cooker Recipes

Coffee: since 54% of Americans over the age of 18 drink this delicious beverage on a daily basis, some education on making coffee healthier is in order.

Unfortunately, a large majority of coffee drinkers are continually adding to their waistlines by drinking popular coffee store versions – which are typically loaded with tons of extra calories and sugar.

If consumed properly, coffee can actually aid in weight loss, so it makes sense to avoid the artificial creations made in stores. Or, if you still really need to get your coffee from a retail store, you can learn just how to make that cup work for you – instead of against you.

With 70% of the United States now overweight, and 30% obese, these simple coffee tricks could be the key factor in helping you shed those unwanted pounds. So read on to discover nine great (and easy) ways to make your coffee healthier!

1. Avoid Artificial Sweeteners and Refined Sugar

This trick may seem obvious, but you would be shocked to learn just how many popular versions of coffee are loaded with artificial sweeteners and refined sugar.

For example, a chai tea latte (found at a popular coffee store that shall not be named) has 15 more grams of sugar than a Snickers bar does!

Even less obvious versions of sweetened coffee may be packed with artificial sweeteners or extra sugar.

A salted caramel mocha (again, found at an unnamed coffee chain) hits your bloodstream with a whopping 56 grams (!) of sugar.

One daily unhealthy choice when it comes to coffee, and you can say hello to 5 or 10 extra pounds in a month or two.

To put this in perspective, the World Health Organization recommends that adults consume 25 grams (or less) of sugar per day. One daily unhealthy choice when it comes to coffee, and you can say hello to 5 or 10 extra pounds in a month or two.

To give you another example, a typical Frappuccino can weigh in at 66 grams of sugar – yikes. Drinking coffee black is a simple way to avoid all of these issues, but I will also give you some extra delicious tips to help spice things up.

If you can’t go completely black with your coffee, try adding a small amount of stevia.

While not 100% perfect, this choice is certainly better than consuming the artificial sweeteners and refined sugar which are usually found in most cups.

Coconut sugar or organic maple syrup can also be used, but the real key here is adding a very small amount. Don’t go overboard!

2. Avoid Artificial Creamers

Almost as bad as artificial sweeteners, artificial creamers are packed with a wide array of things you don’t want to put in your body on a daily basis.

What exactly do you want to avoid here? Well, a large assortment of artificial creamers is made with corn syrup solids and hydrogenated oils (trans fats). Major yikes.

You can improve your coffee by adding real cream. This means organic and grass-fed. Cream like this can be purchased at all major health food stores, and will give you the health benefits of CLA (conjugated linoleic acid).

There is also usually a nice amount of vitamin K2 present in full-fat cream. This is important because adequate intake of vitamin K2 has been linked with lower rates of cancer and heart disease. Full-fat cream has even been linked to more successful weight loss.

3. Use Filtered Water and Organic Beans

Coffee is 99% water. While this may seem obvious, we often don’t take into account the quality of that water when brewing a morning cup. Start with the highest quality ingredients, and you will ensure that best coffee possible. This goes for the beans, too.

Always opt for organic, and spend the extra dollars if you have to. Coffee is the most heavily sprayed crop in the world, pesticide-wise, so you really don’t want to go with beans of dubious quality.

4. Add Cinnamon to Coffee

Want to add even more antioxidants to your coffee and control your blood sugar? I thought so. How exactly does one do that? It’s simple: just add a pinch of cinnamon to your cup!

Interestingly, cinnamon has a fairly long history of use as both a spice and a medicine. While it can be used at any time of year, it no doubt tastes best during the cold, winter months.

And cinnamon itself has been linked with numerous health benefits. One of the most important is lower blood glucose levels after a meal. And in those with type 2 diabetes, cinnamon has been linked to lower serum glucose levels and an improved lipid profile.

5. Eat Before You Drink Coffee

While many of us start the day with a big cup of coffee, you actually may be lowering your energy levels by doing this. How is this possible?

Well, quite simply, your body releases insulin in response to the caffeine found within coffee. This, in turn, causes a major drop in blood sugar, which leaves you feeling depleted and tired. Not a great way to start your day.

Munch on a small snack during your morning cup, or even eat right before you drink. Your body will thank you for it.

6. Add Collagen to Coffee

Collagen is prevalent in a well-crafted bone broth, but it also makes a fine addition to coffee. Rich in the amino acid glycine, collagen has also been scientifically studied to help reduce joint pain.

Collagen also helps inflammation stay within an appropriate range, and aids in healthy tissue repair.

7. Add Grass-fed Butter to Coffee

The popularity of the Bulletproof Diet is undeniable. But what started the craze was the world-famous Bulletproof Coffee.

By simply adding grass-fed butter to black coffee, you will get a nice brain-boosting buzz — as well as all the health benefits of grass-fed butter.

Try blending the coffee with a handheld blender or latte frother if you are stuck with globs of butter on top of your coffee.

8. Add Coconut Oil to Coffee

Similar to adding grass-fed butter, coconut oil is loaded with healthy fats, specifically medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs). These MCTs have been linked to improved weight loss in multiple scientific studies.

When it comes to brain health, coconut oil may also be largely beneficial. Some studies have examined the potential links between reduction in Alzheimer’s disease rates and daily ingestion of coconut oil.

One UCLA study even famously reversed some symptoms of Alzheimer’s. What was the methodology used? A Paleo diet and lifestyle!

Since a typical Paleo diet includes coconut oil, it is wise to add a little bit of this fat to your morning coffee. I personally love the taste of coconut oil in coffee, even though I am typically not a coffee drinker. Yum!

9. Add Cocoa to Coffee

Love hot chocolate? Most of us have delightful memories of consuming this sugary delight in the cold months of winter. But worry not, because you can add some organic, unsweetened cocoa to your coffee, and bring back those warm memories! 

Cocoa has numerous health benefits, including a lower risk of heart disease and a lower risk of cancer.

Remember, don’t go overboard here. A small teaspoon is more than enough!

Still looking for healthy ways to sweeten your coffee? Watch this video – 15 Healthy Ways to Flavor and Make Coffee Sweet

The Bottom Line

Remember, coffee from popular chains can be loaded with hidden sugars and many other artificial ingredients. Going with black coffee, or making your own, is a much healthier choice. Be sure to use filtered water and organic beans for homemade coffee.

If you need a little more spice, try adding grass-fed butter, coconut oil, cinnamon, cocoa or collagen. Remember, healthier coffee doesn’t have to be boring. You can still get your morning caffeine fix – just do it in a more Paleo-friendly way!

Written by Casey Thaler

Author Bio:

Casey Thaler, B.A., NASM-CPT, FNS is an NASM® certified personal trainer and NASM® certified fitness nutrition specialist. He writes for Paleo Magazine®, The Paleo Diet® and Greatist®. He is also an advisor for Kettle and Fire and runs his own nutrition and fitness consulting company, Eat Clean, Train Clean®.

A lot of people have gotten results from the Keto diet, and enjoyed the foods that it has to offer. However, many of the people who are following this diet have a hard time finding the recipes that they need, especially ones that are quick and easy to complete.

Fortunately, Kelsey Ale, noticed this problem, and decided to do something about it. She’s found that making recipes in a slow cooker gives you meals which are not only delicious, but also take very little time to make. Mostly you just put a few simple ingredients in the slow cooker, and let it do the rest.

To find out more, click on – Keto Slow Cooker Cookbook

What is the Best Way to Destroy Arthritis Inflammation Completely?

 

Click on Here to Discover How You Can Completely Heal Any Type of Arthritis In 21 Days or Less

Destroy Arthritis Inflammation Completely – This Food Causes Arthritis (cut it out)

Arthritis is usually considered a chronic, incurable disease. More often than not, it is caused by genetic factors.

But a new study published in BMC Nutrition & Metabolism shows that you can prevent it by cutting out specific foods and loading up on others.

The research team noted previous studies that linked specific foods to reducing arthritis risk, but they wanted to answer a bigger question—what dietary pattern could cut the risk?

They recruited 100 newly diagnosed rheumatoid arthritis patients and 197 healthy subjects. Those with a history of heart disease, kidney disease, cancer, and other chronic diseases were excluded. So were consumers of alcohol and people who consumed less than 800 or more than 4,200 calories per day.

They gave the participants a 168-item questionnaire to record their food intake. They had to say how often they consumed each item during the previous year: never, 2–3 times per month, once a week, 2–4 times per week, 5–6 times per week, or daily.

Based on the portions the subjects reported, the researchers calculated how many grams per day they ate of each food item.

They divided the foods into 32 categories based on their nutrients to identify dietary patterns.

They identified two general patterns: a healthy dietary style and a Western dietary style.

The healthy style included poultry, fish, eggs, dairy, fruit, and vegetables, while the Western style included a lot of red meat, processed meat, and organ meat.

They also investigated their subjects’ weight, height, education, employment, medical history, drug consumption, and so forth to ensure that none of these affected their findings.

Unsurprisingly, they found that those with low adherence to the healthy diet were 2.85 times more likely to develop rheumatoid arthritis. Those who ate the Western diet were 2.22 times more likely to have this type of arthritis.

They attributed these findings primarily to the inflammation caused by the unhealthy diet.

They stated that previous studies had found that red meat and processed meats caused inflammation, especially the arachidonic acid in red meat. Sugary treats and beverages are also pro-inflammatory.

Furthermore, fruit and vegetables contain lots of minerals, antioxidants, and fiber, all with anti-inflammatory functions. Fish provide plenty of anti-inflammatory omega-3s, and the riboflavin, calcium, and vitamin B12 in dairy are also anti-inflammatory.

Destroy Arthritis Inflammation Completely – This finally proves that the right diet can prevent arthritis. But to completely reverse it, you need a more specific plan. Here is the exact three-step strategy that thousands of readers have used to reverse their arthritis in days…

Destroy Arthritis Inflammation Completely – Why Arthritis is Getting Worse and What to Do About It

Researchers in Great Britain recently asked an interesting question.

Why are so many people with and without officially diagnosed arthritis reporting to hospitals with exactly the same types of joint pain?

The team wondered how humans came to have the kind of positioning of bones that leads people to develop arthritis and pain issues. So, they decided to consult the way the human body has evolved to answer.

And this may lead to the easiest treatment for arthritis.

Scientists at Nuffield Department of Orthopedics, Rheumatology and Musculoskeletal Sciences at the University of Oxford authored the study, looking at people’s reports of pain at the front of the knee, hip pain, and shoulder pain when lifting the arms above the head, as they were the most common joint complaints.

They collected 128 slice CT scans and 224 bone specimens from reptiles, dinosaurs, primates, and humans over the past 350 million years, scanned all of them, and used 3D engineering to plot the changes in the arrangement of the bones over time.

They made some interesting discoveries.

They found the necks of our thighbones have become much thicker as we progressed from walking on four legs to walking on two only. This was obviously important to enable our hips and thighs to take all our weight, part of which our arms used to carry when we still walked on all fours.

However, this necessary thickening of the neck of the thighbone has made it too big to fit comfortably into the hip joint, increasing the likelihood of hip pain.

Something similar has happened to our shoulders.

A gap in our shoulders through which tendons and blood vessels pass has narrowed over the years, limiting the moving space of the tendons that become active when we reach over our heads.

Together with mapping our past bone development, the scientists used these models to estimate what our bodies will look like 4,000 years from now, finding that the current structural trends and their resulting aches and pains will probably increase.

These studies are useful because they show that joint replacements will have to be adjusted to match the shape of our evolving bodies, but the researchers also suggest that regular flexibility exercises, muscle strength training, and good posture can help to mitigate the effects of evolution.

But what can we do now – not 4,000 years from now?

Destroy Arthritis Inflammation Completely – I was practically immobile with arthritis pain, suffering for years as inflammation broke my spirit more and more each day. Until the remarkable discovery of one simple ingredient that changed my life…

Destroy Arthritis Inflammation Completely – This Bacterium Causes Arthritis – Cure in Sight

Chronic inflammatory gum disease and arthritis are more similar than many people realize, and researchers now think they may have found one of the main causes of both.

Scholars have understood for some time that people with arthritis are up to twice as likely to suffer from gum disease as their non-arthritic peers are.

They also know that people who have lost the most teeth because of gum disease tend to have the most severe cases of rheumatoid arthritis.

Scientists at Johns Hopkins University now think they may have found the link between these two conditions.

They first examined gum samples of people with and without gum disease and arthritis, discovering that 50% of people with both these conditions had an abundance of a bacterium called A. actinomycetemcomitans.

In comparison, only 11% of people without these two conditions had this bacterium in their gums.

This opened up the possibility that this A. actinomycetemcomitans bacterium caused both gum disease and rheumatoid arthritis.

Next, they compared samples from the joints of people with arthritis with gum samples from people with gum disease, and found that an identical immune system process occurred in both affected locations, called hypercitrullination.

Hypercitrullination happens when the normal process that regulates the operations of proteins in your body becomes overactive.

The consequence of this hyperactivity is the buildup of something called citrullinated proteins.

Your immune system dislikes this buildup of citrullinated proteins, because it is not a normal biological process.

It accordingly responds by producing antibodies to attack and remove these proteins.

These antibodies cause inflammation that then attacks your gums (in gum disease) and/or your joints (in arthritis.)

As we’ve reported on in the past, inflammation is the culprit in so many adverse health issues. Correcting this kind of inflammation might be as easy as better brushing, regular dental cleanings, and higher quality of food.

Want to destroy arthritis inflammation completely? Watch this video – Rheumatoid arthritis – causes, symptoms, diagnosis, treatment, pathology

Not all arthritis can be stopped by brushing better, though. To destroy arthritis inflammation completely, you need to take the 3-steps found here…

This post is from the Arthritis Strategy Program. It was created by Shelly Manning, a former arthritis sufferer and a health consultant.

A Brief Background on the Author

Like you, Shelly Manning also suffered from arthritis, particularly osteoarthritis. This was due to her weight and desk job. Her condition eventually took a toll on her relationship with her (former) husband.

It was when she went to Hong Kong that she met Janerdquo, an old woman who owned the restaurant where she ate. Janerdquo supposedly offered her a bowl of a weird-smelling soup, which helped ease her joint pain. She ate there each day for 10 days until she was completely healed from arthritis.

Shelly Manning decided to research this natural remedy and to create a step-by-step treatment plan to others who are suffering from different types of arthritis, such as gout, rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, fibromyalgia, and psoriatic arthritis.

That’s why she created “The Arthritis Step By Step Strategy.” According to her claims, this unique strategy will get rid of joint pain and stiffness, repair your damaged joints, and treat the underlying cause of your arthritis.

Shelly teamed up with Christian Goodman, the owner of Blue Heron Health News, a publishing company that aims to help people to take responsibility for their own health by using natural health alternatives for preventing arthritis in fingers and knees naturally.

To find out more about this program, go to Destroy Arthritis Inflammation Completely

How to Cut Your Risk of Suffering Stroke and Heart Attack by Half?

 

Click Here to Find Out How You Can Completely Clean Out the Plaque Build-Up in Your Arteries

This Oil Prevents Heart Attacks and Repairs Broken Hearts

The #1 cause of death in the world is heart failure of some sort.

So, if you were to discover one single type of oil that could repair your heart in 30 minutes, I think you would be pretty interested, wouldn’t you?

Well, that’s exactly the result from a new study conducted by the University of Illinois at the Chicago Center for Cardiovascular Research.

What’s more, this type of oil is available in every supermarket and you most likely already have it in your kitchen.

For the study, researchers used rats with heart failure, a condition in which the heart has become too weak to pump blood effectively and metabolize fat.

They actually extracted the rat’s failing hearts and kept them pumping outside the body.

Fat is essential to the heart to make it function smoothly. A failing heart is like a car engine running out of lubrication oil. The metal parts in the engine are just scraping together until it eventually completely burns up and ends with a bang (a heart attack).

The purpose of this study was to find out what kind of fat was best for helping failing hearts to restore themselves. The researchers applied two different types of fats to the hearts to see their effects:

1) Palmitate (the kind of fat typically found in palm oil, animal fat, and dairy products).

2) Oleate (found in olive oil).

Observing the effect of these fat particles using special NMR spectroscopy, they discovered something amazing.

First, not so surprisingly, the failing hearts injected with palmitate functioned/dysfunctioned pretty much the same.

But the hearts injected with oleate (olive oil) had completely restored fat content and began to show normal contractions after the injection.

What’s more, it happened within just half an hour!

Now, of course, you’re not going to inject your heart directly with olive oil, so your heart is not going to heal in half an hour. But this study shows for sure that consuming olive oil regularly can drastically improve your heart health.

One thing to keep in mind when shopping for olive oil is to go for high-quality, pricier brands. Cheaper brands have often been treated in a way that removes all health benefits (even if it’s called “cold-pressed Extra Virgin”).

I recommend always picking oil that is labeled from a specific location. For example, Tuscany, Italy, or Crete, Greece. These oils are much more likely to be clean and unprocessed.

Another thing you absolutely must do to keep your heart healthy is to keep your blood pressure under control.

The best way I know to lower blood pressure is using 3 easy exercises. Learn more about these simple blood pressure exercises here, and try them out for yourself…

One of the most important things, however, is to cut your risk of suffering stroke and heart attack by half and remove all cholesterol plaque buildup from your heart arteries. And that can be done by cutting out this one hidden ingredient explained here…

Cut Stroke Risk 38% By Avoiding This Food

In the past two decades, a growing number of researchers have started arguing that one of the biggest risks for high cholesterol and heart disease is inflammation.

The Journal of the American College of Cardiology has contributed to this debate in the last month by publishing two studies that show the dangers of inflammatory foods for heart health.

In the first study, the scientists used data from 74,578 women from the Nurses’ Health Study I, 91,656 women from the Nurses’ Health Study II, and 43,911 men from the Health Professionals Follow-up Study. These studies followed their participants for around 32 years.

The participants completed a questionnaire every four years to examine their food and beverage intake and also underwent medical examinations. They were all free of cancer and cardiovascular disease at the beginning of the studies.

The scientists also used the Dietary Inflammation Index, which was compiled from available research and investigates signs of inflammation in people’s bodies caused by different types of foods. The index ranks foods from most to least inflammatory.

The researchers found that—compared to participants who consumed a mostly anti-inflammatory diet—those who consumed a mostly pro-inflammatory diet had a 38% greater chance of developing cardiovascular disease and a 28% greater chance of having a stroke.

This is after the scientists accounted for the participants’ body mass index, level of physical activity, family history of heart disease, and their consumption of anti-inflammatory drugs.

So, what are the foods that worsen inflammation?

The main enemies are basically processed meat, refined grains, fried foods, organ meats, and sugary treats and beverages, with diets rich in red meat scoring quite high as well.

The most anti-inflammatory foods are leafy greens, cruciferous vegetables, yellow and orange vegetables, berries, apples, poultry, fish, legumes, dairy, and nuts.

This leads us to the second study in the same journal, in which scientists split their 634 participants into a group that ate 30 to 60 grams of walnuts per day and a group that ate none.

They knew that previous studies had shown a lower heart disease risk in people who ate a lot of walnuts, so they wanted to see whether these people had low inflammation levels in their bodies to identify that as the cause for improved heart health.

After two years, the walnut consumers had substantially lower levels of six of the 10 inflammatory markers tested. They also had lower cholesterol levels.

Therefore, pay attention to the inflammatory potential of the foods you eat to combat heart disease, cholesterol, and stroke.

OK, finally the traditional health system is catching up with the inflammation/heart connection that I have been discussing for years.

Cut Your Risk of Suffering Stroke and Heart Attack by Half – But there is another factor behind the inflammation that nobody is talking about— and that’s the real underlying cause of stroke and heart attack. But avoiding all this is as easy as cutting out one food item explained here…

Cut Stroke Risk 40% By Eating This Delicious Snack

If you could take a magic pill that caused absolutely no side effects and cut your risk of suffering stroke and heart attack by half, wouldn’t you take it?

How about if there was one small, delicious snack that had the same effects?

You can find this snack in every supermarket and you probably already have it in your kitchen. Isn’t that easily worth saving your life?

And just to set the record straight, this snack was proven more effective than any cholesterol or blood pressure drug in a recent study recently conducted by Oxford University.

Mom was right all along! Fruits and fresh, leafy vegetables are good for you.

And it took a study spanning seven years conducted on half a million people to prove mom right. It involved 451,681 people with no previous history of cardiovascular disease at the beginning of the study.

The participants were divided into five groups based on their fruit-eating habits: Daily, 4-6 days a week, 1-3 days per week, monthly, and never. About 18 percent of the participants ate fruits every day, while at the other end of the spectrum, about 6.3 percent of participants never ate fruits at all.

Over the course of 7 years, 19,300 heart attack cases and 19,689 cases of stroke were recorded.

Those who ate fruits daily, compared to those who never ate fruits, had a 15% lower risk of developing cardiovascular diseases overall.

But when it came to stroke risk, the numbers were stunning. Those who ate fruits daily were 40% less likely to suffer a stroke than those who never or seldom ate fruits.

Better still, people who ate fruits regularly also had blood pressure readings 3 points lower than those who avoided fruits.

Citrus fruits were discovered to be the best options that offered the maximum benefits. So make sure you snack on some delicious oranges, mandarins, grapefruits, or other citrus.

Another study conducted by University College London revealed that eating about 7 portions of fresh fruits and vegetables daily can reduce the risks of death by all causes by up to 42 percent.

If you aren’t convinced already, this is the time to make fruits and vegetables an essential part of your diet. Next time push away that bag of chips and take a piece of fruit instead.

Watch this video – How to possibly cut your risk of suffering stroke and heart attack and other heart disease

But if you already have high blood pressure, changing your diet habits may not be enough to bring it down to a healthy level. Instead, try these 3 easy exercises proven to lower blood pressure—starting today…

Or, if your cholesterol is too high and want to cut your risk of suffering stroke and heart attack by half, learn how cutting out ONE single ingredient will normalize your cholesterol in 30 days or less and clear out clogged arteries…

This post is from the Oxidized Cholesterol Strategy Program. It was created by Scott Davis. Because he once suffered from high cholesterol, so much so that he even had a severe heart attack. This is what essentially led him to finding healthier alternatives to conventional medication. Oxidized Cholesterol Strategy is a unique online program that provides you with all the information you need to regain control of your cholesterol levels and health, as a whole.

To find out more about this program, go to Cut Your Risk of Suffering Stroke and Heart Attack by Half.