Coffee: it's the delicious energy that gets us started in our mornings and tries to carry us through our eventful days. But did you know that drinking coffee on an empty stomach might be causing damage to our gut and hormone health?
“If you drink coffee first thing on an empty stomach, stop what you’re doing and listen. You are messing with your hormones,” American nutritional therapist Olivia Hedlund posted on TikTok.
“Coffee is not only acidic, so it’s hard on our stomach in the morning, but it literally causes our bodies to go into a stress response, to shoot out cortisol, and to put us in kind of a fight or flight state.”
This effect often causes that feeling of being "jittery or "shakes", but it also leads to that “really good feeling where we feel like we can conquer the world”, she explained.
So while we believe it's energy, in fact, our body is feeling stressed out, especially to a woman's hormones.
“I used to drink multiple cups of coffee on an empty stomach, feel like I was on top of the world, and then I would have a bunch of hormonal acne and wonder why."
“It’s because your body is stressed out. Have something small before you have a coffee, make it your goal. I promise you will notice a difference.”
Olivia says since making that change to have something to eat with coffee, her skin has improved, she doesn't have that afternoon energy dip and notices improvements in her digestion and bloat.
Her followers were on board with her suggestions, with one sharing her own experience "1000% yes. I start my day with water, a light breakfast, and then coffee. Game changer."
And if you're wondering if decaf is better - Olivia is firm when she responds "Nope, get something in your tum."
She personally chooses a balanced breakfast with greens, eggs and meat. As an alternative, she chooses chia seed puddings, smoothies, or a ginger and squash soup that is "supposed to be really good for digestion."
"Just get something little in your stomach before you have coffee, and see if you feel better. I felt so much better."
