Your Morning Joe Destroying Your Glow?

Ok, let’s be honest. Most people in the world cannot live without their morning cup (or three) of coffee. According to the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (ODPHP), more than 95 percent of adults consume caffeine on a regular basis- largely from tea and coffee. With all that caffeine consumption one must ask if your morning kick actually friend or foe? It may save your dragging bum from the depths of morning fatigue…but what is it doing to your body and your skin? Well let’s dive in. 

Coffee has caffeine. Caffeine is a diuretic. In terms of skin care this is a BAD. Maintaining adequate hydration allows your body to efficiently flush out toxins. If you aren’t peeing enough, those toxins build up over time. This wreaks all kinds of havoc on the body and your skin. Mild cases may include break outs and acne. Severe toxin buildup is a whole other animal and, in extreme cases, can damage your liver. A damaged liver means you may end up with jaundice. No one wants to look like an oompa loompa. Drink your water. 

Aside from caffeine, there may be other additives in your coffee that are not your friend. If you frequent the specialty drink menu at Starbucks you are certainly getting a hefty dose of sugar. Sugar spikes insulin. Insulin spikes cause systemic inflammation. This inflammation produces enzymes that break down collagen and elastin, resulting in sagging skin and wrinkles.  

With all this said, I do not believe that any one of us will stop drinking our morning cup of coffee. They key here is to know our limits and know how to minimize the damage. Here are some options one may consider:

• Switch to half caff or decaf
• Drink more water
• Swap the sugar for flavored stevia
• Switch from creamer to grass fed butter or coconut oil
• Convert to herbal teas

Life is all about moderation and slow changes over time. If your ritualistic morning cup of coffee is something you just cannot give up, then don’t. Just be sure to hydrate and get in some healthy snacks along the way. Your skin is the biggest organ. When you take good care of your body internally your skin will show it.

Here are my favorite herbal teas that helped me convert!

This Bengal Spice Tea tastes like horchata when mixed with nut milk or regular milk.

This Hazelnut Teeccino tastes like a hazelnut coffee latte. It also helped me kick my coffee habit. 

*Dehydration does not cause liver damage or jaundice. Liver damage is caused by ingesting too many toxins over an extended period of time as well as many different underlying illnesses. It is important to drink plenty of water to help flush toxins out, but water alone will not heal liver damage.