You hear the alarm go off…your tired and tolled body refuses to rise. A few cups of coffee are your trick to get up and stay on your feet in the morning. Unfortunately, for those of you who are trying to lose weight, this crutch could be what is holding you back. Your goal is to shed fat, but is there a chance that caffeine is your secret enemy?
Studies show that caffeine, whether in the form of soda, energy drink, coffee, tea, or pills cause increased appetite. Not only that, but the appetite caffeine leaves you with is an unhealthy one full of cravings for sweets and non-nutritious foods. When caffeine or stress is involved in your life, your blood contains more cortisol. Cortisol actually is a culprit of increasing abdominal fat and increased appetite.
Food cravings are just one of the side effects that caffeine gives. Caffeine can also set off your body to produce hormones that cause stress. When trying to lose weight, stress is something you want to limit. Many people fight stress by eating “comfort food,” also known as sweets and fatty foods. When elevation of stress hormones such as cortisol, epinephrine and norepinephrine increase, fat cravings come knocking. Your mood will change when caffeine is in your system, and the side effects of hormones will not help your goal of losing weight.
Caffeine also interferes with the binding of your calming neurotransmitters called Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA). GABA is naturally produced in the brain, nervous system and heart. These calming neurotransmitters help with stress management and play an important part in the mood and well-being of a person. When GABA is not fully working because of caffeine intake, physiological and psychological stress can occur. This in turn can lead to overeating, and make losing weight very difficult.
Insulin is also something that is affected when caffeine enters your body. Caffeine actually encourages insulin resistance, which is not only a precursor to type 2 diabetes, but bad news for your metabolism. It will be like trying to swim upstream into a rough current. Many overweight people, specifically those who have often dieted and lost weight only to gain it right back, are insulin resistant. Unfortunately, many people are insulin resistant without even knowing it.
Blood sugar levels are another thing that becomes affected when you allow caffeine into your system. Caffeine activates dramatic rising and falling of elevated blood sugar, also known as glucose. When your blood sugar is high, your pancreas will start to produce insulin, which moves the sugar to the cells. A surge in insulin tells your body there is plenty of glucose and to start storing it. The potential problem is that your body will store up too much sugar, and in the end it will be converted to body fat. This happens through a process of having too much sugar in your system; you feel tired, hungry, and crave sugar. In the end, you end up eating more than your body actually needs.
Caffeine is a diuretic, meaning that it makes you dehydrated. Some think that coffee is the trick to losing weight, when in all reality; they are just losing water weight, not fat. This type of diet is not sustainable and very unhealthy and could lead to a dangerous potassium deficiency. It is also a false idea that drinking coffee will help you lose weight. Actually, coffee contains carbs! In a 6 ounce serving of coffee, there are .8 grams of carbohydrates. If you make the choice to avoid caffeine in time your metabolism will increase.
When trying to lose weight, you want to limit the possible foods that are holding you back. Caffeine does not help you lose weight, it hinders you. The spike in glucose, the increase in appetite and hindrance of GABA all take away your chances of shedding those extra pounds. You have nothing to lose by taking caffeinated substances out of your diet…but weight.
Kelly Shertzer works in Web Marketing at Medical Support Products Inc. On the side she enjoys a life full of health and fitness.
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