photo by niculina

I love coffee. I love the smell of it, the dark rich taste of it, and the way it feels when I cup it in my hands. I carry my favorite green coffee cup around with me in the morning like a security blanket, so I can sip from it often. And it is regular. The caffeine works for me…in the morning. Of course, everyone’s different.

Take my husband. I keep the real stuff away from him. He has some sort of chemical reaction to it, that make a great day turn stressful and dark. I know many people opt for decaf, some even touting that caffeine is simply not good for you. That the stimulant is like a drug which clouds your consciousness. Hey, everyone’s entitled to their opinion.

But is caffeine really bad for you? My personal opinion is that it not bad for me. In an article By Sid Kirchheimer, WebMD Feature, the evidence actually shows that your health will improve if you drink it. According to his Harvard study which followed 126,000 people over 18 years, “Downing one to three cups of caffeinated coffee daily can reduce diabetes risk by single digits. But having six cups or more each day slashed men’s risk by 54% and women’s by 30% over java avoiders.”

According to Kirchheimer, in the past few decades there have been about 19,000 studies done on the effect. of coffee. That alot of interest in this drug of choice for a growing number of Americans. And in a time where we are hearing everything under the sun (like many fresh veggies) are bad for you, it is refreshing to hear scientific evidence that this popular beverage make your body healthier.

In another study,Tomas DePaulis, PhD claims “Overall, the research shows that coffee is far more healthful than it is harmful,” says the research scientist at Vanderbilt University’s Institute for Coffee Studies, which conducts its own medical research and tracks coffee studies from around the world. “For most people, very little bad comes from drinking it, but a lot of good.”

In addition to helping the effects of diabetes here are some other diseases that coffee has been discovered to help:

Parkinson’s Disease, Colon Cancer, Headaches, Depression, Cirrhosis of the Liver, and Asthma.

And, according to other studies, besides the caffeine, regular coffee is also loaded with another goodie which leads to longevity: “Coffee is loaded with antioxidants, including a group of compounds called quinines that when administered to lab rats, increases their insulin sensitivity. This increased sensitivity improves the body’s response to insulin.”

If you are wondering about how much coffee to drink, the consensus seems to be about 2 mugs a day. Works for me. But, I’m still keeping it away from my husband. We are definitely a 2 coffee pot household.

We are all wired differently, and we each have our set of ailments (mental and physical) to deal with. So why not live and let live – stop feeling guilty about enjoying your joe-enjoy. That is, of course, if you are not an Olympic athlete.

Did you know… Caffeine is on the International Olympic Committee list of prohibited substances. Athletes who test positive for more than 12 micrograms of caffeine per milliliter of urine may be banned from the Olympic Games. This level may be reached after drinking about 5 cups of coffee.

Just an amateur athlete? Or just a regular joe? Then kick a few back, get stimulated, and be healthy. And, as in nature, mind your own business, do the things that make you grow, and add to the environment by your simple way of being…

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Kim McGinnis, Be Like Nature

photo by Green Wellie

Are you Balanced? Do you feel motivated yet relaxed? Intelligent with a sense of humor?
Confident yet humble? Not sure? Me neither. While I was pondering these questions I did a little research to find out what how this whole balancing thing works and where it came from? Apparently it depends on a couple of things.
This is what I came up with for us humans:

• We try to work to hard, but (Don’t want to die of a Heart attack)
• We want to find time to play, but (Don’t want to be a narcissist)
• We feel it’s important to develop some kind of spiritual side, but ( Don’t want to be a fanatic)
• We struggle to exercise our body everyday when we have time, but ( Don’t want to be an egomaniac)
• We study and learn new things to exercise the mind, but (Don’t want to be a know-it-all)

Read more…

photo by, love_child_kyoto

Hi everyone. I feel I have not been operating on all cylinders when it has come to this Be Like Nature blog. The truth is I have been spending an inordinate amount of time and energy on developing my new website, a zen gift.

So, in an effort to walk the talk, I have been trying to search for ways that I can be more like nature…thereby alleviating any excess stress (that would be the “bad” kind of stress).

So, what’s a girl to – a girl trying to beat the Google Adwords game, turning hard earned money into clicks, and hoping for the sight of the heavenly conversion. As I write this, I know the answer instantly. Just like a tree does not demand or try to grow, it just grows.

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