Before You Take a Sip...
Most Americans like to start their day with a hot cup of coffee, and who can blame them? A single cup of coffee is packed with anti-oxidants and other nutrients that are good for your heart, brain and liver, and the small jolt of caffeine can improve alertness, enhance mood, and speed circulation of oxygen to your muscles.
Like many foods, coffee is a healthful beverage that gets dragged down by what you add to it. A one-cup-a-day latte habit from your favorite coffee concession can be the opposite of a healthy routine when you consider the amount of sugar most people add to their beverages. Making the trendy switch from cream to soy milk can also weigh down that coffee with more harmful effects on your health.
The Price of Convenience
To avoid the hassle, health risks, and cost of coffeeshop lattes, you may prefer to make your coffee at home. The old-fashioned percolator method was replaced with less time-consuming coffee rituals in recent decades. The latest, and perhaps the fastest, is the Keurig coffee maker that infuses hot water with ground coffee beans almost instantly.
The secret to this coffee brewing system is the K-cup, the little plastic pod sealed with a foil topper that contains the convenience. Inside that k-cup is a portioned amount of coffee grinds surrounded by a tiny filter, a plastic cup and foil – attaching the foil to the k-cups is glue. When your coffee maker forces steaming hot water through the pod, there is no guarantee the components of these elements don’t mix and end up in your coffee cup.
Dangers of K-cups
The coffee you are consuming is full of nutrients, but it may also be full of chemicals from the k-cup. The biggest offender is the plastic pod. Even PBA-free plastics can leech harmful chemicals when heated. Chemicals from plastics act like estrogen in your body. When you add the soy milk to your home brew, you are doubling your dose of estrogen and throwing your natural hormone balance off balance. Besides throwing off your natural hormone balance; these chemicals have a negative impact on your endocrine system, in particular your thyroid.
The fresh ground coffee is sealed into the k-cup with a foil top. The aluminum in that top can also end up in your coffee. Excessive exposure to aluminum is associated with Alzheimer’s. Nervous system problems, brain diseases, and respiratory issues can all be linked to aluminum toxicity.
Naturally Healthy Coffee
In addition to the health dangers of k-cups, they are expensive to purchase and a strain on the environment because they cannot be recycled. Coffee is a simple morning ritual that brings joy and health to many. Why complicate it with plastic and aluminum chemicals and turn it into a health risk?
Avoiding unnecessary chemical exposure is an easy way to protect your health and still enjoy your coffee for all of its health benefits.