4 Ways to Make Your Coffee Healthy

originalThere have been plenty of studies showing coffee is good for you – and just as many showing its harmful effects. Dependent upon which research you read, you’ll find that coffee is bad for pregnant women yet reduces depression. It could be a help in the fight against Alzheimer’s, and is said to lessen the risk of Parkinson's disease. It reduces the risk of heart attack, though unfiltered it increases cholesterol levels (which is bad for blood pressure and increases the likelihood of heart disease). With so much contradictory evidence, coffee drinkers will want to take their coffee as healthy as possible. That way you’ll get all the upside of being a coffee drinker while cutting down on any downside. Here are four ways of making sure your coffee is as healthy as possible:

1.     Don’t load your coffee with sugar

The majority of people sweeten their coffee, to compensate for its bitterness. We’ve discussed how damaging added sugars can be before; you’ll want remove the sugar without losing the sweetness. You might try a little cream but, for a great tasting alternative to sugar, natural sweeteners such as xylitol products and stevia products do the job without the harmful side effects and addictiveness.

2.     Don’t use artificial sweeteners – use natural instead through stevia

Many people turn to artificial sweeteners as a sugar substitute. But artificial sweeteners, such as Splenda, for example, are made by a chemical process which combines sucrose with chlorine. Stevia products are natural sweeteners which won’t pump unwanted chemicals into your body – and they have no calories. Stevia in coffee is great for sweetness, health, and weight loss.

3.     Choose a quality brand

The better the quality of coffee you use, the better it tastes. Higher quality coffees also contain the best antioxidants, which help prevent cell damage in the body that causes cancers and other mutations of DNA.

4.     Brew your coffee using a paper filter

Now you’ve chosen a great coffee bean and substituted sugar with stevia for healthy sweetness, the final piece of the jigsaw is to make your coffee the right way. You’ll probably use a drip filtering machine, which is one of the most popular methods of making coffee today. If you do, make sure you use a paper filter and not a reusable one. Paper filters remove cafestol from coffee – and it’s the cafestol that increases cholesterol. Metal and plastic filters don’t do this. Coffee is a great way to start the day and then keep going. It’s one of the world’s favourite beverages: drink it and enjoy it - stay healthy and alert with a great coffee bean filtered through paper, and sweetened with stevia.