Nowadays people are following health tips to make their busy schedule with small changes in their diet. Many methods to improve your health are pretty straightforward: to lose weight, eat less and exercise more; to boost your energy, get more sleep; to prevent dehydration, drink more water. Others, however, are totally counterintuitive. The following tips really do work—but they may leave you scratching your head.
Drink coffee to have a better nap
In a Japanese study that examined how to make the most of a nap, people who took a “coffee nap”—consuming about 200 milligrams of caffeine i.e., the amount in one to two cups of coffee and then immediately taking a 20-minute rest—felt more alert and performed better on the computer tests than those who only took a nap.
Why does this work? A 20-minute nap ends just as the caffeine kicks in and clears the brain of a molecule called adenosine, maximizing alertness.
Dr. Allen Towfigh, medical director of New York Neurology & Sleep Medicine, said “Adenosine is a byproduct of wakefulness and activity,”. “As adenosine levels increase, we become more fatigued. Napping clears out the adenosine and, when combined with caffeine, an adenosine-blocker, further reduces its effects and amplifies the effects of the nap.”
Don’t brush after eating for healthy teeth
Don’t brush your teeth immediately after meals and drinks, especially if they were acidic. Howard R. Gamble, immediate past president of the Academy of General Dentistry said that acidic foods—citrus fruits, sports drinks, tomatoes, soda (both diet and regular)—can soften tooth enamel “like wet sandstone”.
Brushing your teeth at this stage can speed up acid’s effect on your enamel and erode the layer underneath. Gamble suggests waiting 30 to 60 minutes before brushing.
To wear a smaller size, gain weight
Muscle weight, i.e., if two women both weigh 150 pounds and only one lifts weights, the lifter will most likely fit into a smaller pant size than her sedentary counterpart. Likewise, a 150-pound woman who lifts weights could very well wear the same size as a 140-pound woman who doesn’t exercise. The reason behind this is that although a pound of fat weighs the same as a pound of muscle, muscle takes up less space, said Mark Nutting, fitness director of SACO Sport & Fitness in Saco, Maine. He said, “You can get bigger muscles and get smaller overall if you lose the fat”. “The bulk so many women fear only occurs if you don’t lose fat and develop muscle on top of it.”
To eat less, eat more
Amy Goodson, RD, dietitian for Texas Health Ben Hogan Sports Medicine, said that grabbing a 100-calorie snack pack of cookies or pretzels may seem virtuous, but it’s more likely to make you hungrier than if you ate something more substantial.
“Eating small amounts of carbohydrates does nothing but spikes your blood sugar and leaves you wanting more carbs.”
Goodson recommends choosing a protein such as peanut butter or string cheese with an apple.
“They are higher in calories per serving, but the protein, fat and help you get full faster and stay full longer—and you end up eating fewer calories overall,” she said.
Skip energy drinks when you’re tired
Goodson says that energy drinks contain up to five times more caffeine than coffee, but the boost they provide is fleeting and comes with unpleasant side effects like nervousness, irritability, and rapid heartbeat. Plus, energy drinks often contain high levels of taurine, a central nervous system stimulant, and upwards of 50 grams of sugar per can (that’s 13 teaspoons worth!). The sweet stuff spikes blood sugar temporarily, only to crash soon after, leaving you sluggish and foggy headed—and reaching for an energy drink.
Drink a hot beverage to cool off
Two recent studies say the latter—and so do others where drinking hot tea in hot weather is the norm, like in India. When you sip a hot beverage, your body senses the change in temperature and increases your sweat production. Then, as the sweat evaporates from your skin, you cool off naturally.
Healthy coffee drinking tips
Organic coffee beans
Choose organic beans, which are good for health. The healthier coffee drinking starts a day for most of the Indian people. Some of the organic foods such as equal exchange, dean’s beans and Indigo coffee roaster are best to get coffee. This is the best way to get a flavored coffee with natural organic beans, which are not artificial flavorings.
Buy whole beans and freshly grind them at home
Coffee beans begin to break down to become once the inner contents and are exposed to oxygen and moisture. The process is of naked eyes that is cut open with an apple and let’s see what happens. The white flesh starts turning brown pretty fast due to heavy exposure to oxygen and moisture. They’re also the enemies of anti-oxidants that create stability and health in living systems and ward off disease. Those anti-oxidants start to oxidize immediately after grinding that tastes fresh anymore.
Drinking coffee after a meal
This is the habit of most people who would be breakfast and drink coffee after a meal. But, it is better not to drink coffee on an empty stomach, drink it after eating some food. Caffeine causes your body to release sugar into your bloodstream that turn causes the pancreas to release insulin. This causes a sharp drop in blood sugar that can set up more sugar cravings. The caffeine in coffee suppresses your appetite causing longer without feeling hungry. This can lower blood sugar and further leads to coffee and sugar craving. The food in your stomach helps to modulate this blood sugar and response to keep those cravings at bay.
Cut down sugar in coffee
Cutting down sugar in the coffee is the most important tip for a healthier coffee drinking. I was really craving to have my coffee was the sugar more than the caffeine. But I ditched the sugar, due to palette became more attuned to various types of roasts and regional variations. Try to add cream instead of sugar in your coffee. This helps to get the sugar out once and for all. The fat in the cream will cut the bitterness of coffee. Cream is a natural sweetness that helps you wean off the refined white stuff.
One cup of coffee per day
One cup is not a starbucks, twenty plus ounce mega grande French vanilla frappuccino with whip cream and chocolate syrup. It can resemble a giant caramel coffee coolatta from Dunkin Donuts, which is eight ounces. You need to handle it with a few people who drink coffee all day long with 5, 10, 15 cups. Reduce slowly and cut it down to one cup. Reducing caffeine content includes a second brewing from the same beans that includes half decaf in each cup.