Just the other day we were at a coffee shop eating steamed pork buns while we watched a man adding at least 5 teaspoons of sugar to his already sweetened coffee.
Three months ago we volunteered at a home that served hot coffee and hot meals to the homeless and displaced of New York City. A man came in and asked, “How much sugar do you have in the coffee?” I said one pack. He said please add two more.
Can coffee help you lose weight?
Probably not if you add sugar like the man we saw at the coffee shop.
Having a high-calorie frappucino, cappuccino or anything ending with “-cino” won’t help you lose weight either. The fact is coffees loaded with sugar and cream should not be in your weight loss plan.
Alternatives to sugar, such as artificial sweeteners are not healthy either. These artificial sweeteners are made with unpronounceable chemicals and other unnatural ingredients. According to an article on Dr. Hyman’s website:
artificial sweeteners induces a whole set of physiological and hormonal responses that actually make you gain weight!
And when you add a dose of non-dairy liquid coffee creamers to your coffee, you’re adding trans fat, corn syrup, thickeners and all sorts of chemicals to your body.
So, a cup of coffee with unnatural sweeteners and creamers is not going to help you or us lose weight.
An article on Mayo Clinic website has this to say:
Caffeine may slightly boost weight loss or prevent weight gain, but there’s no sound evidence that increased caffeine consumption results in significant or permanent weight loss.
The good news is the same article quotes that caffeine is an appetite suppressor and a calorie burner. Drinking coffee may briefly reduce the desire for food and stimulate thermogenesis, which is one of the ways our bodies generate heat and energy from digesting food.
The truth is coffee may not help you lose weight but it would certainly make you and I happier each day. And that’s important since any form of depression or stress will control our mood, thinking, behavior and appetite. According to shape.com, high stress levels cause our body to release cortisol, which makes us crave energy and comfort food. And the article continued:
This leads to a sugar-induced dopamine high, then the inevitable crash that causes you to seek even more dopamine, and so on. All those extra empty calories are then stored in your body, most commonly in the form of—you guessed it—belly fat.
Will coffee help us lose weight?
Here at coffeesphere.com, our answer is yes because coffee makes us happier and more satisfied. We drink 2-3 cups of black coffee (no sugar or cream, often with a little Half and Half) per day and we stop drinking coffee usually by 3 pm.
I’ve heard some rumors that coffee can help you lose weight. I didn’t know that it was true! It makes sense that adding sugar would effect that. I’ll be sure to find some alternative!