Is Coffee GOOD or BAD For Weight Loss?

September 17, 2018
Ann Louise Gittleman, PhD, CNS

Ann Louise Gittleman, PhD, CNS

Award-winning nutritionist and New York Times bestselling author.

If you want to lose weight, boost your energy, and slash your risk for diabetes and heart disease, then coffee may be just the secret weapon you’re looking for.

Just pour yourself a cup of coffee or brew a cup of oolong tea and read on.

First, I’ll let you in on a little secret. My new Radical Metabolism plan is turbo charged for weight loss and overall health benefits and coffee is a mainstay in the plan.

Radical Metabolism is chock full of polyphenols like chlorogenic acid from coffee that not only boost your metabolism to lose weight for good, but also dramatically reduce your disease risks and whole body inflammation, while energizing you and increasing your overall sense of wellbeing.

Found most abundantly in coffee, chlorogenic acid is a polyphenol plant compound that’s also found in much lesser amounts in tea, tomatoes, eggplant, sunflower seeds, sweet potatoes, carrots, apples, pears, blueberries, mulberries, and many other fruits and vegetables. This powerful antioxidant not only cuts cravings and induces fat loss, but also lowers blood pressure and cholesterol, and has antiviral effects as well. But its health and weight loss effects don’t stop there.

Drink Coffee and Lose Weight with Chlorogenic Acid

Coffee has a secret weapon—chlorogenic acid, which is its most abundant polyphenol. CGA stimulates weight loss through several mechanisms, which come together in an ingenious way to stimulate your metabolism and melt the extra pounds off.

  • Chlorogenic acid, or CGA, is thermogenic, so it instructs your body’s fat cells to burn their fatty acids for fuel. The mechanism it uses to accomplish this is the same one the statin drugs use to lower your cholesterol, only without all the side effects.
  • CGA cuts your cravings and suppresses your appetite so you eat fewer calories.
  • It activates the liver to produce more bile and increases your fat-burning metabolism.
  • CGA helps the liver process fats and glucose more efficiently, lowering triglyceride levels and stabilizing blood sugars.
  • Its effect on blood sugar balancing decreases the risk of metabolic syndrome and diabetes.
  • The potent antioxidant effects of CGA inhibit the growth of new fat cells.
  • Chlorogenic acid works together with the caffeine in coffee to reduce belly fat by increasing the number of fat cells that are opened up and burned for energy.
  • CGA also ramps up fat burning while you’re sleeping – a Norwegian study reported that women who drank high-CGA coffee dropped three times more weight than women who consumed lower CGA brews.

The Health Benefits of CGA

Chlorogenic acid isn’t just for weight loss. This powerful antioxidant free radical scavenger has received a lot of attention in recent years due to its many positive health effects, and more are being discovered daily as more research is done:

  • Weight loss and appetite reduction
  • Strong antioxidant that fights free radicals
  • Recovers and regenerates kidney tissue
  • Binds opioid receptors in the brain and is neuroprotective
  • Lowers the risk of certain cancers, including breast and colon
  • Protects DNA, fats, and proteins from oxidative damage
  • Protects against cellular and tissue injury from ischemia and loss of blood supply
  • Protects the liver from damage
  • Slows progress of chronic hepatitis
  • Protects the intestines from oxidative injury
  • Lowers cholesterol and triglycerides
  • Lowers blood pressure
  • Antiviral, antibacterial, and antifungal
  • Fights insomnia and helps you fall asleep faster

Brew Your Way to a Better Metabolism with Coffee

Chlorogenic acid levels depend on where coffee beans originate and how they’re roasted. Coffee plants grown at high altitudes with extreme climatic conditions (temperature fluctuations, wind, etc.) will produce more polyphenols to protect themselves. Look for beans from Ethiopia, Kenya, Mexico, Colombia, and Brazil, especially higher elevations.

If you’re a dark roast fan, dial it down a notch to medium or even light. Once beans are roasted beyond medium, they’ve lost 75 percent of their fat-blasting, pant-size-lowering polyphenols like CGA.

Learn to enjoy your brew sans dairy because it makes polyphenols 28 percent less bioavailable. What about decaf? Even the best ones have 25 percent fewer polyphenols. I recommend Purity Coffee because it contains the highest level of antioxidants of any coffee beans available today. Purity Coffee is organic and has zero contaminants, including mold. Save 20% off of your FIRST order with code: DETOX20.

If coffee doesn’t agree with you, consider oolong tea. The metabolism-boosting benefits of oolong tea are well established. Oolong tea has twice the belly fat-burning capacity of green tea, and is richer in polyphenols. It also decreases hunger, lowers LDL cholesterol, and increases energy. If you have thyroid issues, I would avoid tea altogether to eliminate the potential for fluoride exposure. Unfortunately, tea is a hyperaccumulator and soaks up contaminants like fluoride like a sponge, and can decrease thyroid function and slow your metabolism.

Check out Radical Metabolism today to join our exclusive Facebook group when you go to RadicalMetabolism.com

Related Articles and Podcasts

Ann Louise Gittleman, PhD, CNS, is an award-winning New York Times bestselling author of more than thirty books including The Fat Flush Plan series and her latest book, Radical Metabolism. She’s been rewriting the rules of nutrition for more than 40 years and is internationally recognized as a pioneer in the field of diet, detox and women’s health issues. 

For a FREE daily dose of tips and strategies for maintaining healthy weight, conquering insomnia, and much more…check out my Radical Health Tips.

I’d like to meet and greet you on my Facebook groups, so won’t you check us out at the Radical Metabolism RevolutionFat Flush Nation, or my Inner Circle!

16 Comments

  1. Maryann Fleming

    So I have your book. I’ve only just started it. Your view on coffee seems to have changed so much and what about dandelion tea? Is oolong replacing dandelion? When in a day do you have these different liquids in addition to the cranwater, which I don’t know if you’ve changed that or not.
    Thanks,
    Maryann Fleming

    Reply
    • Ann Louise Gittleman

      Dear Maryann — One cup of coffee per day has always been my stance and now I am confident, with all the latest research, how healthful coffee actually is. Have you read my new book which details the most current science and now offers many alternatives to regular tea? Variety in beverages is just as important as a varied food diet.

      Reply
  2. Dr. Paul Collins

    Your message about coffee was confusing to me … especially the part about oolong tea and the thyroid. Help.

    Reply
    • Ann Louise Gittleman

      Dear Paul Collins: Thank you for your post. I am not sure what is confusing regarding the suggestion about oolong tea if you can’t tolerate regular coffee. The caveat with oolong – as with ALL teas – is that it contains thyroid-inhibiting fluoride and so may also be contraindicated with unresolved thyroid issues. That being said, there are plenty of other substitutions in Radical Metabolism – from which this blog was derived.

      Reply
      • Jill

        There are some very valuable teas that do not contain the thyroid-inhibiting fluoride component, such as with homemade, fresh ginger teas. Now, let’s not forget those beauties, as far as teas go. Also, does Rooibos tea, for certain, contain the fluoride component because many here, who really enjoy the Red Rooibos?

        Thanks so much.

        Reply
        • Ann Louise Gittleman

          Jill — You are SO right. Thank you. I wholeheartedly suggest that you all pick up a copy of Radical Metabolism to get the full story and suggested fluoride-free teas.

          Reply
  3. Michelle Edwards

    I enjoy your articles, short yet packed with helpful, healthful, and impactful information and application. Thank you.

    Reply
    • Ann Louise Gittleman

      Michelle: Thank you so much for your kind words.

      Reply
  4. Lisa Love

    Impressive list of coffee benefits. I’ve kept myself from drinking it in the past because of the caffeine but this list has changed my mind. Thanks.

    Reply
    • Team ALG

      Lisa: We SO agree — and a DECAF Purity coming out soon.

      Reply
  5. Alexandra Farly

    Hi there! I’m really loving the new lifestyle of eating I’ve begun with Radical Metabolism, I feel much better overall and am amazed at how delicious and rich all the clean food tastes now that I’ve reset my body. I’m almost through the book and wanted to get a more in depth answer from you on your thoughts on alcohol, CBD oil, and CBD with THC. How they effect metabolism, what types are better than others, or if it’s just something to learn to live without. Thank you and I can’t say enough good things about the book and the recipes and how simple it is to follow along successfully!

    Reply
  6. Team ALG

    Alexandra, So glad you are loving Radical Metabolism and are enjoying the benefits. When you are detoxing the liver you don’t want to include toxicity from alcohol, especially mold-contaminated choices like beer and wine. While CBD has shown some health benefits, Ann Louise as chosen to include the supplements and foods that she feels, based on research, produce the best weight loss results.

    Reply
  7. Tere

    Will the diet still work if you do only 3 days, rather than the 4 Day Plan? Also, can you have olive oil on Phase 1 ?

    Reply
  8. Team ALG

    Hi Tere: Yes, you can do three days. IF you are referring to RM, then olive oil is OK if you include an Omega 6 and 3 source. Thank you.

    Reply
  9. Deborah

    I have a number of food sensitivities; dairy, eggs, lettuce, garlic, pineapple, pecans, rice and corn gluten. It’s so challenging to eat much less follow a diet with these restrictions. Would your program work for me?

    Thank you,

    Deborah

    Reply
    • Team ALG

      Deborah, You will still have lots of foods to choose from on this plan, even with your restrictions. There’s every reason that the program will work for you.

      Reply

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