Leaving your cosy bed and getting up early in the morning is undoubtedly a challenge, but all your difficulties vanish into thin air when you are greeted with an aromatic cup of hot coffee. The heady aroma of a freshly brewed coffee is enough to get energized for the day ahead. The problem, however, is that our regular coffee has high caffeine content and so much caffeine may not always be good for our health. Does that mean you have to bid adieu to your all-time favourite coffee? No, you need not. What if I tell you that you can now enjoy the goodness of coffee without compromising on your wellbeing? Yes, you got it right, I am referring to green coffee beans.
Of late, the green coffee beans have become highly popular among health enthusiasts. You must be wondering, why? Green coffee beans, which became popular around 2012, are the healthier version of our regular cuppa. All the difference lies in the roasting process and its chemical components.
What is Green Coffee?
Did you know that a standard cup of coffee contains about 100mg of caffeine while the same quantity of green coffee contains only around 20mg of caffeine? It is indeed a vast difference. Green coffee beans are similar to our regular coffee beans, and the only differentiating factor is that they do not undergo the roasting process and remain entirely raw. Since they are unprocessed, green coffee beans have an abundant supply of chlorogenic acids, which are compounds with high antioxidant content. Thus drinking a cup of green coffee could easily give your body the much-needed caffeine fix while preventing your system from getting into a caffeine-induced hyperactive episode. Experts today believe that a cup of green coffee has a slew of health benefits.
Health Benefits of Green Coffee
Aids in weight management: The most popular benefit of green coffee is that it promotes weight loss. The chlorogenic acid of green coffee beans helps the body to burn glucose and the stored body fat, reduces the absorption of carbohydrates in the body, and improves the cholesterol ratio.
Some studies suggest that green coffee also improves the metabolism of our body, thereby helping the body to lose weight or maintain a healthy weight.
Controls blood sugar levels in the body: Green coffee’s anti-inflammatory property has a positive impact on the blood sugar levels of the body. Several studies have shown that green coffee reduces fat accumulation and insulation resistance. Also, among obese people, it reduces the absorption of glucose. Since green coffee beans can reduce the blood sugar levels in the body, it can also prevent the risk of type 2 diabetes.
Helps you retain youth: One big reason to switch to green coffee is that it helps you stay young for long. Kudos to the high antioxidant content of green coffee beans. The high antioxidant content is known to slow down the effects of ageing.
The high concentration of chlorogenic acid in the green coffee beans can cure the redness that is caused on the skin due to excessive exposure to the sunlight. On the other hand, the caffeine content in it also has anti-ageing properties. It reduces the effect of photodamage, the appearance of wrinkles, and gives your skin a supple and youthful look. Besides the fatty acids and esters present in green coffee beans, extract nourishes the skin and protects it from severe damage. At the same time, if you have dull and acne-prone skin, you could try out green coffee beans extract, it acts as a natural cure.
Now you know why some of the best skincare products have green coffee bean extracts in them.
Prevents diseases: As has already been mentioned, green coffee beans are full of antioxidants. The antioxidants prevent the damage caused by the free radicals in the body. Free radicals can also cause cancer in the body, so you might want to switch to green coffee soon.
Gives a boost to energy levels: Indeed, too much caffeine isn’t good for the body, but a certain amount of caffeine intake seems highly useful for the overall wellbeing of the mind and the body. In fact, caffeine has a significant impact on our psychomotor and cognitive performance. It also has a positive effect on our psychological well being, blood pressure levels, and athletic performance. At the same time, there are some studies which say that caffeine can affect our alertness, attentiveness, and sometimes even reaction time. So, now is the time that you should take care of your health and enhance your alacrity simultaneously.
Acts as a natural detox: The antioxidants present in green coffee make it a natural detox for the body. Consumption of the recommended dosage can help detox the liver, eliminating all toxins, bad cholesterols, and unnecessary fats.
Works great for the hair: If you love healthy and lustrous hair, you should switch to green coffee. The chemical compounds present in green coffee can make the hair strong, healthy, and beautiful.
However, if you want to enjoy all the health benefits of green coffee beans but are reluctant to give up on your regular coffee, you might opt for 100% plant-based green coffee bean capsules.
Possible Side Effects of Excessive Consumption of Green Coffee
Green coffee beans indeed have a plethora of health benefits but as the famous saying goes, ‘too much of anything is not good.’ Similarly, if you consume too much green coffee in a day, you might have to experience undesirable side effects. Specifically, if you have a caffeine sensitivity, then you might experience problems like:
- Nervousness
- Irritability
- Insomnia
- Increased heartbeat
- Stomach upset
- Nausea
- Headache
- Irritation in the ears
Besides, some experts point out that prolonged exposure to green coffee increases the risk of homocysteinemia (which involves the excessive accumulation of the amino acid homocysteine, which in turn might trigger heart diseases or miscarriages. In many instances, it has been seen that anxiety disorders have worsened due to regular intake of caffeine. Additionally, the caffeine content in green coffee builds up pressure inside the eyes. The increase starts within thirty minutes of consumption and lasts till ninety minutes.
Therefore the mantra is to enjoy your cup of green coffee in moderation to reap its benefits while staying mentally agile due to its caffeine content.
Dosage and Preparation
As far as the dosage and preparation of green coffee or its supplements are concerned, there is nothing fixed, but it is recommended that you have a look at the labels for the instructions. The reason is that sometimes green coffee bean extracts might be mixed with something else, and as per composition, the dosage will vary. Moreover, unless you drink or ingest the recommended dosage, you might experience difficulties in your body.
How to choose your Green Coffee Beans
With the growing popularity of green coffee, the extracts are now easily found in many foods or grocery stores. Especially stores which label themselves as wellbeing stores will undoubtedly have green coffee bean extracts. Most of the packages will have single-serve packets, and you can use them just the way you use tea bags. When you decide on having green coffee, you must keep in mind that unlike the roasted coffee beans, green coffee does not have an intoxicating aroma, and it has a slightly bitter taste.
At the same time, green coffee bean extracts or supplements are available in plenty of online stores. But the question that remains,how would you know whether it is genuine? The truth is there is no set way to do so. However, you can look for the brand online and check out the reviews. Also, try to check out the label carefully so that you know precisely about the ingredients. Last but not least, only genuine products can help you reap all the benefits of green coffee,not the adulterated versions.
To sum it up, if you think that drinking green coffee or ingesting green coffee bean capsules will do wonders on your weight management, then you are wrong. You should balance it with a healthy lifestyle comprising balanced food, optimum rest and ample physical activities.