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Coffee Lovers: This Is How You Upgrade Your Morning Brew

Coffee is a natural antioxidant, it's delicious, and allows you to say “dirty bean water” in public. Give your morning brew an upgrade with these tips.

Nate Palmer | Courtesy Photo

I must have looked concerned as I watched her pull out a stick of butter from the fridge, carve off an ample slice, and plunge it in her freshly brewed coffee.

“Do you want some? It’s called bulletproof coffee and it helps you burn fat.” A decade ago if you told a barista to put a stick of butter in your coffee, the nice ones would have laughed at you. Now it’s not uncommon to see bulletproof coffee in cafes worldwide.

Proponents will tell you that healthy saturated fats are good for hormones and brain health. They’ll also tell you that it’s positively correlated with burning more fat and having a thinner waist.

They’re right. But this approach misses the forest for the trees.

If you could have all the health benefits from exercise by working out for 30 minutes per day, would you instead do a 60-minute workout followed by a spin class, then go home and knock out a p90x session? I hope not.

 

Upgrade your morning brew

Here’s a way you can get more from your coffee without tossing back 500 calories worth of saturated fat.

Take your standard cup of joe, and add:

  • 1 tbsp of MCT oil (which stands for medium chain triglycerides) and can be found at most health food stores or online.
  • 1/2 scoop of collagen protein. Unflavored is best. Protein powder is fine also, but collagen dissolves better.
  • 1 tbsp of non-dutched cocoa powder.

Now you’ve gone from bulletproof coffee (500 calories, 54g of fat) to Optimal Body Coffee 210 cal, 11g fat, 25g protein.

 

Surprising benefits of optimal body coffee

Collagen is the glue that keeps your body together, so you’ll build your skin, hair, and nails, as well as strengthen tendons, ligaments and joints. Collagen peptides are also a type of protein, so it improves overall satiety and ensures that your muscles get the fuel they need.

Photo: Tyler Nix, Unsplash
Photo: Tyler Nix, YFS Magazine

MCT oil triggers fat burning in the body as well as expedites caffeine uptake in the brain for improved focus. The majority of the benefits of the saturated fat in bulletproof coffee come from the MCT oil, with no sticks of butter being harmed in the process.

MCT oil is also processed in the gallbladder, which signals to the body to start using our own fat as fuel. By consuming this in the AM without any sugars or carbs, we can decrease our belly fat – the ideal fuel source for low intensity, high complexity tasks (i.e., sitting and working or thinking hard).

Cocoa is a rich compound filled with phytonutrients that protect against high blood pressure, reduces anxiety and premature aging of the brain. Because of this, it has a cognitive enhancing effect. Some people even believe it fights cancer. The anxiety decreasing effects of cocoa when combined with caffeine give a relaxed sense of focus and calm, which will increase your mental clarity and ability to do work that matters. Because of the neurotransmitters involved in this process, it could take up to 30 days to see the benefits of a cocoa and caffeine combination.

 

For the love of ‘dirty bean water’

Coffee is a natural antioxidant, it’s delicious, and allows you to say “dirty bean water” in public. It’s also a great source of caffeine, which is why most of us started drinking it in the first place. The caffeine in coffee can slightly increase your bodies natural metabolic rate, so you get a slight uptick in calories burned during the day. It also slightly decreases appetite–if you’re into that sort of thing.

Too many of us grab a banana or worse, a bagel or cereal on the way out the door in the morning. This sets us up for a blood sugar roller coaster that impacts our energy throughout the day.

When we start the day off with healthy fats and proteins, our blood sugar stays level and we have the mental focus to accomplish our important tasks in the morning.

It’s not complicated. By eliminating several hundred fat calories from bulletproof coffee and adding a healthy protein and a superfood like cocoa, we create a symbiotic effect that:

  • Gives you mental focus and clarity
  • Maintains and builds muscle
  • Increases the health of skin, hair, and nails
  • Decreases the need for a mid-morning snack
  • Decreases the need to tell everyone you’re drinking bulletproof coffee

Try it out this week and see how you feel.

 

Nate Palmer wears a lot of hats – like cowboy hats, fedoras, and tiny top hats (but only as a joke). He also happens to be a dad, husband, and the #1 bestselling author of Passport Fitness. Nate is an internationally recognized coach, speaker, and writer, whose work has been popularized in media outlets such as The Huffington Post, Testosterone Nation, Breaking Muscle, STACK Media, and The Personal Trainer Development Center. Nate coaches entrepreneurs to become unstoppable by weaponizing their nutrition and training. Find out how to unleash your energy at n8trainingsystems.com.

 

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