Mixing Caffeine and Sugar - It can take its toll

A few weeks ago I wrote a post about the excessive amount of coffee we (or I) drink on a regular basis. It was a bit spooky to realize that many of us (me in particular) drink several times the daily recommended caffeine intake before lunch most days.
 
As if that wasn't enough to encourage me to curb my coffee drinking habits, I've come across quite a few articles over the past few days which suggest that drinking coffee with foods high in fat can actually slow down our bodies' metabolism levels and force to take even longer to burn off those extra calories.

According to some of these studies, drinking highly caffeinated beverages alongside foods high in sugar and saturated fats can interfere with our bodies' natural process of creating insulin and distributing the sugar to the right places in our system. The problem with this is that a) we are not properly metabolizing the sugars, and thus not "burning it off" as quick as we should and b) our bodies generally try to burn away sugars as fast as possible, so consistently having sugar in our bloodstream for too prolonged of a period can eventually take a toll on our organs.

That's some pretty frightening stuff, especially as I sit here drinking a mug of black coffee with a croissant.

The study itself was primarily aimed that the emerging trend in which most fast food outlets now serve coffee (a move made popular by McDonalds a few years ago). Fast food french fries and hamburgers are loaded with sugars and saturated fats, as are the donuts we often consume alongside with our coffees.

I'm not telling everyone to stop drinking coffee, or to avoid every single sugary snack for the rest of your life, but maybe instead just to think twice sometimes. I'm sure for quite a few of us, buying coffee and a snack to go with it is just part of our daily routine. If you grab a coffee everyday at breaktime, try cutting back on the snacks a day or two a week. I know its fun to have something to go with a drink, but try a healthier alternative, such as some of the snacks we offer through our lifestyle menu. I'm sure your body will thank you in the long run ;)