For today’s edition of Dear Mark, I’m answering five questions about coffee and one about vegan vitamins. First, was I wrong about Aeropress? Second, what’s my take on CA’s move to put a cancer warning on coffee? Third, is aluminum in coffee makers a problem? Fourth, how does instant coffee stack up? Fifth, how can a person figure out if mold toxins in coffee beans are causing “caffeine jitters”? And finally, are there any other vitamins I’d add to my recommendations for vegan keto dieters?
Let’s go:
Read MoreCoffee is a perpetual topic of interest, and for good reason: Almost everyone drinks it, almost everyone is passionate about it, and it’s packed with compounds that are pretty darn good for you. One aspect of coffee I’ve never explored, however, is how coffee brewing methods affect its health effects.
What’s healthier—filtered or unfiltered? Dark roast or light roast? Pre-ground or whole bean? French press or drip? Let’s get to it.
Read MoreFor today’s edition of Dear Mark, I’m answering questions from last week’s post on coffee and fasting. First, is cortisol a bad guy all the time? Next, what about non-dairy powdered creamers? Good, bad, breaking the fast? How does thyroid hormone replacement therapy affect the fast? Is a “tiny amount” of protein disastrous to a fast? Can you take BCAAs during a fast and maintain the benefits? Can I still drink Frappucinos? And what do I think of Dr. Panda’s take on coffee triggering the digestive system and thus negating the effects of a fast?
Let’s go:
Read MoreI talk about intermittent fasting a lot, so I get a lot of questions about how to do it “right” to net the most benefits. By far, the most common question I receive is, “Can you drink coffee while fasting?” This is usually followed by some explanation about how the asker is happy to go for 16, 18, even 20 hours without food, but there is no way they can give up their morning cup of joe.
So let’s talk about it. DOES coffee break a fast?
To begin with, I’ll make the case that you shouldn’t worry too much about this stuff. That you’re even willing and able to go without a meal or snack every couple of hours places you in rarefied company. That’s 95th-percentile stuff. I wouldn’t want you stressing about the minutiae. Stress will undermine some of what you’re hoping to accomplish with fasting—less inflammation, better health, longer life.
But I know my readers, and I know you love digging into the specifics and asking the tough questions. In this case, rather than asking whether coffee breaks a fast, I think it makes more sense to ask: Does coffee interfere with the benefits we’re seeking from a fast?
Read MoreFor today’s edition of Dear Mark, I’m answering three questions from readers. First, I give my take on a new, big coffee study, which analyzed several meta-analyses of existing coffee and health data. Second, should you let a fever run its course or try to defeat it at all costs? The body obviously “wants” to get hotter in these situations. Is there a good reason? And finally, how much glycine do people need per day?
Let’s go:
Read MoreNormally, I’m deep in the thick of nutritional research or other heady topics midweek. Today, not so much. I have coffee on the brain after trying a few new concoctions recently. As I’ve noted in the past, coffee is a welcome part of the Primal Blueprint. Unlike traditional paleo, there’s no conflict here. While living healthily and sleeping well mean I don’t depend on coffee for energy, I consider it a positive staple in my diet, not to mention a pleasant ritual in my day.
I’ve gone into extensive detail about the copious benefits—to overall health, to disease prevention, to cognitive function, even to fitness performance—in the past. Today, I’m all about the actual intake. There’s plenty to the why, but this post covers several Primal ways to enjoy it right now. Let’s dig in….
Read MoreFor today’s edition of Dear Mark, I’m answering several questions. First, if a person can’t have coffee but wants the benefits it provides to liver health, what else can they try? Next, what role does vitamin C play in glutathione production? Then, I explore how gelatin and collagen differ from each other, followed by a quick description of NAC. After that, I give my current favorite method for cooking greens, and end with a discussion of how breading meat with potato starch changes the meal.
Let’s go:
Read MoreConventional wisdom has decreed that “detox” is a myth. They’re not even sure if toxins even exist, as far as I can tell. On the other side, you’ve got detox gurus prescribing cayenne-maple-lemon tea and glasses full of charcoal water as cures for essentially everything. Where’s the truth lie?
First, detoxification does exist. It’s an established concept, after all, with its very own spot in the dictionary. When we come into contact with toxins—compounds that pose a threat to our healthy homeostasis—we must remove or nullify them. That’s detoxification.
Read MoreLast week’s post on coffee generated lots of questions. Today’s Dear Mark will answer some of them. First up is a two parter exploring whether L-theanine can make coffee work even better than it already does and if pre-ground coffee beans are lacking in the polyphenol content. Second, is coffee bad for your bones? It’s “common knowledge” that caffeine leaches calcium and inhibits absorption of it, but how true are the claims? And finally, caffeine can increase insulin resistance. What about coffee? Is this a problem for people following the Primal eating plan?
Let’s go:
Read MoreCoffee is serious business. We Americans drink about 400 million cups of it per day and spend several billion dollars on it each year. It’s the most popular drug on earth, and certainly the most socially acceptable. In many ways, coffee’s the closest thing we’ve got to a universal, daily ritual, as just about every morning, billions of people across the planet prostrate themselves before the holy, energy-giving legume. It also hails from the same place the earliest members of our species do: East Africa (Ethiopia, to be exact). That the most industrious animal ever to walk the planet and the psychoactive legume that fuels said industry both hail from the same place on earth is pure poetry.
Coffee’s also delicious. I’d say you’d have to pry my coffee from my cold, dead fingers, only the ensuing struggle would slosh it all onto the floor, and that would be such a waste.
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