As a coffee drinker, I am always alert to the benefits of the drink. The papers and media are always reporting the findings of scientific groups that have discovered new things about coffee. The ‘rush’ that coffee gives you, is all that the majority of coffee drinkers crave, what else is there, that you need to know about?
Arabic coffee
As far back as 1100 bc there is evidence that green coffee beans were used to make a beverage, in the Arab world it is still popular today. Although science had not explained the reasons, it is clear that some of the benefits were known about even back then.
Caffeine
That buzz we get when the first coffee of the day goes down is the caffeine. To get the benefits you would have to drink far more coffee and therefore consume far more caffeine than is good for you. As it is addictive and can affect some people adversely, it is best to extract the beneficial elements and use it as a supplement.
Does Green Coffee Bean Supplement Work?
Well lets get this out straight away, if you think taking green coffee bean supplements are going to make you slim, on their own, without some other major change…. forget it, BUT there is strong evidence that they do help slimmers achieve their goals, when taken as a supplement to a good diet and reasonable exercise regime. One thing to be careful of though, when reading into the subject, some of the work done to produce the reports and findings will be funded by interested parties, which are obviously going to be biased, so you have to search around and read the studies done by neutral organisations.
A bad diet and inactive lifestyle, continued over many years, which I guess covers most people now trying to reverse the process, will hit you in several areas leading to
- High Blood Pressure
- Heart disease
- Diabetes
- Reduced metabolic rate
- Increased cholesterol
So anything that can help to reduce all that lot, has got to be a winner!
In a nut shell then, this is why these supplements have become so popular – Unroasted coffee beans contain high amounts of chlorogenic acid. This is an antioxident, which is known to increase metabolism and control the release of glucose from our food. So calories are burnt faster, the risk of glucose accumulation is much reduced and therefore blood sugar levels can be kept in check.
Exercise
There are things that you can do, which don’t make a major impact on your everyday life, yet day by day they will add up to a big benefit health wise. You don’t have to join a gym. In fact if you are borderline obese, lead a sedentary life and have done for years, then I can think of nothing more likely to land you in hospital! Instead consider making small steps toward your goal, such as, taking the stairs instead of the elevator. Use the outlying spaces in the supermarket car park. Get off the bus one stop before your workplace. If you have a dog, take him for one extra walk a day, he will love it! Get smaller plates and cut down a little on the carbs, potatoes, pasta, rice and bread. You get the idea, small steps add up, if you keep it up you WILL lose weight and decrease ALL the risks above, I know because I’ve done it, I never noticed some of the changes, I just cut out biscuits, some carbs, and increased walking every day, I lost a stone ( 14 pounds) in the first month, without really trying and it continued to fall off in the months after.
Add Beans
In addition to these small changes of habit, you can accelerate your weigh loss progress by taking the green coffee supplements. The main active ingredient is chlorogenic acid. A substance known to affect the processing of carbs in the gut. By reducing the absorption of glucose, the risk of diabetes is lowered. Reducing sugar levels in the blood is going to help lower fat storage, the mechanism is explained here. Chlorogenic acid can massively reduce cholesterol and triglyceride levels . These are very important factors in heart health , plus when tested on individuals with high blood pressure, chlorogenic acid in sufficient dose, reduced BP. Lets face it, standard medication for BP reduction has so many bad side effects, it would be worth taking the green coffee supplements for this alone!
The most qualified and independent evidence is probably the Japanese studies from 1995 and 2005 which concluded that the effects seen with chlorogenic acid keeps blood vessels open through improved release of Nitrous Oxide – this induced vasodilatation, improves vasoreactivity, controls hypertension, reduces the risk of atherosclerosis, and thus reduces the risk of stroke and coronary heart disease (Suzuki et al., 2002; Saito et al., 2002; Ochiai et al., 2004; Kozuma et al., 2005).
The beans are also loaded with antioxidents, so any help reducing cancerous substances is always welcome. The raw green beans contain the full strength compounds, the levels are much reduced when the beans are roasted to make the familiar brown coffee beans . The best way of taking the required levels, would be as a dietary supplement or can be added to instant coffee
Conclusion:
The Green Coffee Supplements won’t make you slim overnight, nothing will, but used in addition to a good diet plan and exercise there are many benefits to be had and it will almost certainly speed up your weight loss