Thursday, 29 October 2020

Drink Your Breakfast Coffee Later for Healthier Metabolic Control, Science Confirms

One hot drink and aroma comes into mind when we think of breakfast, coffee. Starting your day with a cup of coffee is the cliché we hear in coffee ads. But they didn’t mention if you should drink it on an empty stomach. Arguably, this is practiced in intermittent fasting. A recent study proved that you should drink coffee after breakfast, not before.

Early Meal Coffee

Professor James Betts, Co-Director of the Centre for Nutrition, Exercise and Metabolism at the University of Bath and author of the mentioned study, explains this. “Put simply, our blood sugar control is impaired when the first thing our bodies come into contact with is coffee especially after a night of disrupted sleep. We might improve this by eating first and then drinking coffee later if we feel we still feel the need it. Knowing this can have important health benefits for us all."

 

WHY IT ISN’T RECOMMENDED

Drank before breakfast, coffee can fix a bad night's sleep. It may eliminate sleepiness but can limit your body's ability to tolerate the sugar in your breakfast. Apparently, caffeine has the potential to cause insulin resistance.

 

1. Cortisol Production

Consuming caffeine first thing in the morning increases cortisol which wrecks ovulation, weight and hormonal balance. In surplus, it can lead to weight gain, sleep problems and compromised immune response. More important, it can lead to increased blood sugar, consequently increasing unnecessary insulin production, leading to insulin resistance. It is fluctuating but is generally high in the morning and low in the evening.

Morning Meal Coffee Increases Cortisol, the Stress Hormone

“Drinking caffeine first thing in the morning, when cortisol is high, blunts the hormone’s production and shifts the timing of the cycle,” Carlyn Rosenblum, MS, RD explains. “This can cause you to produce cortisol at times when it would normally drop (like at night).”

“Consuming caffeine when cortisol is high can actually cause you to produce more cortisol,” she says.

 

2. Stomach Acidity

Coffee before brunch stimulates acid production in the stomach though it is proven to improve the gut flora. If you’re prone to acid reflux or related ailments, observe if pre breakfast coffee makes it worse. Surely, exploring how your body works is worthwhile.

Rosenblum recommends eating a breakfast of calcium-rich foods to help neutralize both the acidity of the coffee and your stomach acid. She remarked that cold brew has about 70 percent less acid than hot coffee.


FUNCTION OF METABOLIC CONTROL

Enzymes govern physiology by maintaining cellular conditions, a process called homeostasis. This allows response to stimuli and signals, and interact actively with dynamic environments.

For example, glycogen phosphorylase is specific in catalyzing the breakdown of polyglucan into smaller glucosyl units. Glycogen (energy) in animal tissues is a product from the activity of glycogen phosphorylase that’s carefully controlled to manifest this fuel’s consumption according to the demands of the organism.


WHY WE NEED TO MONITOR BLOOD SUGAR LEVELS

Carbohydrates from diet are transformed by our bodies into readily absorbed glucose, changing your blood sugar level abruptly. Keeping it within a safe range prevents conditions such as diabetes and heart disease (from disturbed glucose homeostasis). This regulation is precisely insulin's main role. Considering the global popularity of breakfast coffee, implications extend to many aspects since it concerns the efficiency of the workforce, an important resource. 



 

Wednesday, 22 July 2020

What is the Best Fitness Program

Ever feel you're not getting closer to your dream body? Wondering what's the secret of celebrity athletes flocking on Instagram? Having dreadful feelings toward working out? Well you're not lost, fitness junkie. Read on for a quick fix.

Workout programs exist in many variations but they all have one common goal, which is to make you a better version than yesterday. Each of these, whether it be yoga, resistance training, cardio, pilates, or dancing, has its own advantages. 

If there is one limiting factor that you should be worried about, it is energy expenditure. You do not burn all your calories on your trip to the gym or conditioning at home. Spare for your daily chores, work, walking, talking, or cooking. There is still energy spent on digesting food, breathing, hormone production, homeostasis, and many more.

The key to success in fitness is an overall balance. This prevents burnout in your system. We're not superheroes as our bodies have limits too. Don't be afraid to take risks as each one of us is different. What works for your friend doesn't necessarily mean it will for you.

My honest advice is to take time to explore your body's demands. Move at your own pace. Your competition is not the strongest lifter or fastest runner on the treadmill, but your body's limits and capacity. Try to experiment, track your body measurement, or modify your diet. For instance, you may be following a strict diet but your water intake is insufficient.

Hence, a fitness instructor's job is to design a good workout plan you'll enjoy and will surely contribute to your fitness goals. A training coach can provide you a detailed and personalized fitness nutrition program. But you can do the research to save money.

Running outdoors will neither make you too flexible nor too strong. This is because cardiovascular training specializes on improving your heart's aerobic endurance, elasticity, pump rate, etc. There are also other benefits such as enhanced sleep, increased hormone activity and production, alertness, and enhanced responsiveness to stimuli. 

If you inject yoga into your wellness program, the flexibility of your legs will improve tremendously leading to enhanced workout performance and recovery. It means you can run an extra mile with minimal risk in doing so. Yoga aids in loosening and releasing stress from tight muscles, which are more prone to inflammation and injury. 

If you do strength training, you'll lead a sustainable weight loss journey since muscles are more metabolically active than fats. Muscles are primarily used for movement, hence growing them should be worthwhile if you lead an active lifestyle. Also, shock from falling down or being pushed away is absorbed (i.e., minimized) by strong muscles.

Through time, you'll notice some small improvements on other aspects of well-being; because they are interconnected somehow. Focusing on strength training will be beneficial for your cardiovascular training too, because your muscular endurance also improves in doing such workouts. Our body is designed as a system after all. 

The road is long and tough. But trust me, it's a rewarding investment. Successful athletes did not train overnight to score and win trophies. Frankly, feeding the mind is the best beach body workout. You'll be surprised that values culminated in exercising, dieting, and sleeping on time, also apply in making tough decisions in real life situations. In troubled times, a fortified mental health in the workplace is your treasured weapon.

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