Posted on 01/04/2016 8:08:11 PM PST by SamAdams76
"Harry, I'm going to let you in on a little secret: every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don't plan it; don't wait for it; just let it happen. It could be a new shirt in a men's store, a catnap in your office chair, or two cups of good, hot, black, coffee."
Never thought I'd say this but after decades of having a little coffee with my cream and sugar, I started drinking my coffee black as midnight on a new moon.
This was no gradual transition. I did it cold turkey and on the spur of the moment. A couple months ago, I had taken the train to Grand Central and went to my usual coffee place where I buy my coffee and then usually jockey for space at the tiny messy counter with a million other people reaching for half & half, cream, sugar, spenda, honey, and all that other crap that most people put in their coffee.
Instead, I went straight to my office with a scalding hot cup of black coffee and as I situated myself in my office to start my day, I determined myself to drink the coffee as is.
It was not easy, I confess. The taste was incredibly bitter and I gagged a few times. But I forced myself to drink the entire cup black.
I then repeated the process later in the day and in subsequent days. Nothing but black coffee. Why did I do this? I have been on a strict diet since November and have a goal to lose all my excess weight by the beginning of summer. And I realized that all that cream and sugar in my coffee (2-4 large cups a day) was adding to my waistline.
After a week or two, I started to actually look forward to my cup of black coffee. As well, I cut my coffee intake to just two cups a day. One in the morning and one around 10am. Then I'm done with coffee for the day. I also cut my daily calorie intake by 400+ calories!
I am now burning fat.
Now for some mysterious reason, I have developed a craving for dark chocolate that I have at night. I'm talking 88% cacao chocolate with only 5 grams of sugar per serving. Dark chocolate (not the milk chocolate!) is actually very beneficial for your health and contains flavonoids and other vitamins and minerals that are great for the body. But most people cannot stand the bitter taste of this very dark chocolate. But having developed a taste for black coffee, I now find this dark chocolate irresistible and I have an ounce or two every night after dinner. I even pack it on business trips.
As a result, my blood pressure has also decreased to ideal levels of 110/65 where it used to be 140/90. My doctor says it is because of the lost weight and exercise (I walk at least 5 miles a day now) but also in small part because of the dark chocolate.
So black coffee and dark chocolate. There you go.
Dark chocolate goes well with a good Highland Single Malt, too.
Very smooth coffee and zero sludge in your cup. It's wonderful. And very fast clean-up.
Find somebody that sells goodcoffee.
And dark chocolate? the darker you can stand it, the better. It contains phenylethanolamine, the compound your brain cuses your body to make when you think you are falling in love. Eat a bar of it when depressed, and you'll feel a little bit happier a couple of hours later.
Try it. You'll see.
But for every cup of coffee, drink a glass of water; otherwise, since caffeine is a diuretic and removes more water from your body than it adds, you'll get dehydrated, and maybe your blood pressure might dip, making you feel kind of weak. Cocoa has caffeine in it, too.
With Mocha Java . . .
I like mine ground up and in the freezer.
Ghirardelli Baking Chocolate. No sugar and a square in the evening is a ‘reward’ after you 86 sugars.
Sugar and creams in coffee is for little boys and women.
Straight black is by far the best. Hands down
I did a lot of taste testing a few of years back, actually when Maryland Club or Maxwell House (can’t remember which) switched from Arabica to Robusta coffee, (many mainstream supermarket brands all did) and found out that robusta is crap, and most Arabica is good. If the brand that you drink is non-specific, it’s almost guaranteed to be robusta, because the manufacturers know that Arabica helps sell the product. I also just recently found a very good Colombian Coffee, Arabica, from Costco (Kirkland) that is great and costs $8.99. That is for three real pounds. It is roasted by Starbucks. It is also available on Amazon for $16.00.
http://www.purelycoffeebeans.com/kirkland-coffee.html
I have no financial interest in Costco or the Amazon sellers, or the above website.
Once I tested the ph of 2 hour old coffee. It was about 2.7ph, right close to being a strong acid. Never tested it fresh.
My stomach gets upset if I don’t add cream and sugar to my coffee first thing in the morning.
My best place is owned by a Turk, and the coffee there flows so rapidly that it is almost always really "just made."
At Panera's, the pressure-feeding coffee jugs have a ticket hung on the neck showing the time that jug was made. When it gets to be 30 minutes it has started to become sort of bitter.
I limit myself to 1 cup of coffee a day... Of course, it’s a 52oz insulated mug.
Mark
In regard to ph, I did this somewhat on a lark. I didn’t set it up scientifically. I would have to do this over with better qc/qa.
Some writing about coffee, a.k.a. javascript.
French Market brand coffee and chicory.
With a teaspoon of coconut oil.
Real men don’t use milk and sugar in their coffee.
Black coffee?
This article must be racist. ( /s tag in case it is needed.)
Any stimulant can have that effect. When I tried to quit smoking using nicotine patches, I had the most vivid dreams (and nightmares), because you are supposed to leave the patch on 24 hours a day. So I was actually getting stimulants not just before bedtime, but all through the night.
Though, the dreams would usually be so vivid I would start getting night sweats and sweat the patch right off!
Definitely there is an element of that. If you keep a “dream journal”, and write down what you remember in the morning, you will soon find that you remember more details all the time.
I think it is because when you don’t do that, your brain dismisses the dreams as useless information, white noise, and just “deletes” them from your short term memory. If you start keeping track, your brain learns that the dream must have some value to you and stops doing that, or not as much.
Dark and bitter
Like my women.....
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