Hmmm, imagine that! Are there any good ‘instant’ decaf coffee brands out there? I’m sure my workmates will notice a pot of decaf over regular caf and I’d be flogged.
If you’ve been following my advice of including a good portion of your daily carbohydrate intake at breakfast, you might want to skip your morning coffee, unless it’s decaf, that is.
Why?
Well, the recommendation to consume ample carbohydrates at breakfast is due to the fact that glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity are at their peak in the morning – basically, your body is primed to “deal” with carbohydrates quite well during the first few hours of the day, and that ability continues to wane as the day goes on.
So where does coffee come in?
Well, quite a few studies have shown that caffeine intake acutely decreases glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity, sabbotaging your generally “good” ability to process carbohydrates in the morning.
Here’s just one of many studies:
Caffeinated coffee consumption impairs blood glucose homeostasis in response to high and low glycemic index meals in healthy men.
Moisey LL, Kacker S, Bickerton AC, Robinson LE, Graham TE. Am J Clin Nutr. 2008 May;87(5):1254-61.
Department of Human Health and Nutritional Sciences, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada.
DESIGN: Ten healthy men underwent 4 trials in a randomized order. They ingested caffeinated (5 mg/kg) coffee (CC) or the same volume of decaffeinated coffee (DC) followed by either a high or low glycemic index (GI) cereal (providing 75 g of carbohydrate) mixed meal tolerance test.
CONCLUSION: The ingestion of caffeinated coffee with either a high or low GI meal significantly impairs acute blood glucose management and insulin sensitivity compared with ingestion of decaffeinated coffee.
In the end, decreased insulin sensitivity and glucose tolerance = more insulin, less fat burning, and more fat storage; three things you DON’T want if you’re looking to shed those unwanted pounds.
Suggestions: If you’re going to consume coffee or caffeine in general, it’s best consumed at times in which you are not consuming substantial carbohydrate. This means ditching caffeinated coffee with breakfast in favor of decaf, and also avoiding energy drinks and other caffeine boosters during workouts in which a carbohydrate recovery beverage is being consumed.
Speaking of workout nutrition, my buddy Jayson Hunter just wrote a killer report about what you should NEVER eat after a workout – and you can download it for free here:
What to NEVER eat after a workout <——- Free Download
Question/Comment? Drop it below!
Talk to you in the comments section!
Joel
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64 comments - add yours
Hey Joel,
What about teas? They’re usually naturally caffeinated, right?
I’m a coffee addict, so it’s hard for me to think about giving it up. But I might just have to attempt to quit now in hopes of accelerating my fat loss. Nothing ventured, nothing gained I guess, but this is kind of bad news to me. Still I’m going to try to give up coffee and see what happens. Wish me luck.
I was with you when you encouraged me to get rid of my sweet cereals . And it was okay when you told me to skip the favored yogurt . I even didn’t mind losing bread heavy sandwiches to lose those pounds but now you’re telling me to drop the coffee !?!
Hi, I was wondering whether this goes for caffeine with carbs in general, or really just coffee. I usually drink a few cups of green tea in the morning. Any thoughts? Thank you so much!
I also want to know if Tea is included in this finding. Plus I usually add 1/2 cup black coffe to my mid morning protein shake . What about this combo?
I guess I’m safe as I drink coffee when I first get up and a meal an hour or so later later. Never with a meal! Oh, and I’m a women. Yay!
Joel,
What if your not eating anything with your coffee, stevia, fat free Coffee Mate,
is this combination hurting my insulin sensitivity? I am diabetic and insulin dependent.
Thanks,
Dave
Hi Joel,
I really appreciate the tips you give, usually very common sense. However, as far as the coffee study you cited, I would like to make the point that results can’t be generalized with such a low sample of participants – even if they are selected randomly. It also would not necessarily apply to women, since the study does not appear to have included them.
I would be interested to see results of the same type of study with a larger sample of both men and women of a variety of ages.
Thanks again – I enjoy reading the blog!
~K
Hi Joel,
This is in complete contradition with my experience. I normally avoid coffee in the morning but for the opposite reason. I always make sure that I take coffee after a heavy meal to avoid hypoglycemia. What I know is that caffine results in more insulin secretion. How do we compare this with the low glucose tolerance reported here?
Hi Joel
The article cited is of low level evidence, even if the question is just related to caffeine and it’s effect on glucose metabolism rather than the more important question: Does coffe make you fat? To answer that you’d need a randomized controlled blinded trial of probably something like 50 subjects in each group testing coffee intake against a placebo for an outcome like fat percentage changes.
so are you saying drinking coffee black is bad? or with stevia in it is bad too? cuz i drink coffee with that in it. i don’t drink too much just one cup a day.
If you are so afraid of raising insulin levels in the morning then why not replace the calories from carbs with calories from fat.
Then I can have my coffee and keep insulin low!
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Hey, it’s Joel! So you want to know a little more about me, huh? Well, I’d be happy to oblige :-)
I guess it all started back in 2001 (my freshman year of college) when I was just a “skinny fat” 19-year old kid. At the time, I was spending close to 2 hours a day in the gym (now my workouts last about 30 minutes), and despite my efforts, you’d probably never guess I worked out a day in my life by looking at me...