The coffee diet is a relatively new diet plan that’s rapidly gaining popularity.
It involves drinking several cups of coffee per day while restricting your calorie intake. Some people have reported short-term weight loss success with the diet. However, it has some significant downsides.
What is the coffee diet?
The coffee diet was popularized by the book “The Coffee Lover’s Diet” by Dr. Bob Arnot. In the book, Dr. Arnot claims that drinking coffee several times per day can boost your metabolism, burn more fat, block calorie absorption, and decrease your appetite.
He was inspired to write the book after studying the people living on the small Greek island of Ikaria, which has a large population of healthy elderly people. He believes their health and longevity is a result of their high intake of antioxidant-rich coffee.
How it works
The coffee diet plan involves drinking a minimum of 3 cups (720 ml) of light-roast coffee per day. Light roasts tend to be richer in polyphenol antioxidants than darker roasts. Dr. Arnot places particular importance on the type of coffee you choose and how it’s brewed. He recommends a lightly roasted, whole-bean coffee that you would grind at home and prepare using filtered water.
On the diet, you can have as much coffee as you want — caffeinated or decaffeinated — as long as you reach your 3-cup (720-ml) minimum. However, you should avoid using sugar or cream. He also recommends you replace one meal per day with a homemade, high-fiber, green smoothie. Suggested smoothie recipes are featured in the book.
Your other meals and snacks should be low in calories and fat and rich in fiber from whole grains, fruits, and vegetables. The author also encourages readers to avoid highly processed foods, such as frozen meals and refined snack foods, in favor of whole foods.
In the book, Dr. Arnot’s sample meal plans contain about 1,500 calories per day, which is likely much fewer calories than a typical person consumes. Appropriate meals for this diet would include tofu and vegetable stir-fry over brown rice or a grilled chicken salad with a vinaigrette dressing.
Some people have reported weight loss success with this diet, likely due to the calorie restriction involved. In addition, some evidence suggests that coffee may aid weight loss
Potential benefits
Coffee is rich in caffeine and antioxidants called polyphenols, which have several health benefits, including decreased inflammation and free radical damage. When it comes to boosting weight loss, coffee appears to have two potential benefits — decreasing appetite and increasing metabolism.
Read more at Healthline