10 Healthiest Hospitality Drinks
June 19, 2009 by Kitchen Table Medicine
Filed under Diet Tips, Kitchen Sink, Recipes
By My Uncle Ron is a great guy, and at our last get-together he said, “You always are sharing all this wisdom from your Dad and even your brother-in-law on your blog…..don’t you have something wonderful to say about your Uncle Ron?”
Of course I have a ton of wonderful things to say about my Uncle Ron! First and foremost, anytime you go over to visit Uncle Ron he is quick to make you feel welcome by offering you a drink. He always has a great variety on hand.
In honor of Father’s Day I would like to recognize all the great father figures in my life, along with my own fabulous dad. Thank you all for being such amazing role models, and for always just being there. My Uncle Ron wins the hospitality award!
©KitchenTableMedicine.com, LLC ™Why Buy Organic Coffee?
October 27, 2008 by Dr. Nicole Sundene
Filed under Caffeine, Coffee, Diet Tips, Kitchen Sink, Organic
By What is organic coffee? Why would you buy organic coffee? Does it really matter? Is coffee good for you or bad for you? These are some of the things we will take a look at in this post.
Often we only hear about how coffee is bad for us, regardless of whether it is organic or not. Some might even say, “If coffee is bad for me anyway, why would I even bother to buy organic? While I’m certainly no doctor, there’s a principle that generally holds true: Too much of a good thing can be bad. Certainly research suggests that there are many health benefits of coffee. We will take a look at just a few of those before moving on to the subject of organic coffee.
Health Benefits of Drinking Coffee
While there are certainly other health benefits, WebMD list these benefits of drinking coffee:
- Decreased risk of type 2 diabetes (oddly enough, the more the better for this – so they say), colon cancer, Parkinson’s disease, cavities, and gallstones
- It can also increase your mood and help with headaches.
- “Overall, the research shows that coffee is far more healthful than it is harmful,” says Tomas DePaulis, PhD, research scientist at Vanderbilt University’s Institute for Coffee Studies.
- I’m sure Dr. Nicole could list some more for us, and she even gives us this great latte recipe: Perfect Dairy Free Latte, so there must be something good about coffee!
What is Organic Coffee?
As you would likely expect, organic coffee is coffee that is grown and processed without the use of artificial fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides or fungicides. Read on to learn the details.
Why Buy Organic Coffee? What are the Benefits?
1. Environmental benefits:
The agricultural techniques used to grow organic coffee need to work with the coffee plant’s natural preferences. Since coffee plants naturally love shade often organic coffee is shade grown and bird friendly. What does that mean exactly?
Shade grown and bird friendly coffee is, as you would expect, grown in the shade. Organic bird friendly coffee is grown under a canopy of rainforest trees. In these trees are numerous varieties of birds that feed off the insects under the canopy so there is not as great of a need for insecticides. Also, the tree roots prevent erosion and leaves from the trees help provide natural fertilizer so there is not a need for chemical fertilizer. In bird friendly coffee growing environments nature remains and the earth unharmed. The main problem with this process is that the natural process takes longer for the bean to mature than the processes which use chemicals.
2. Health benefits:
Coffee farms which use chemicals in the farming process do harvest more beans, but the chemicals strip the beans on the plants of many of their natural antioxidants and health benefits. Chemicals also strip the soil of its nutrients so there are less nutrients going into the plant and thus the bean. So if you want the real health benefits of coffee organic is the way to go. Plus, it helps take away the guilt! Go ahead and enjoy the benefits (in moderation of course).
3. Taste benefits:
If you’ve never had a cup of organic coffee, boy, are you in for a treat! Chemicals not only wash away the nutrients, but they also deplete the tastes. Coffee beans in an organic natural environment mature slowly allowing the taste to fully develop. The result is a rich smooth coffee. And yes, the smell is out of this world!
Top 3 Organic Coffee Favorites:
Dr. Nicole asked me to share my favorite organic coffees from my coffee shop. So I’ll end with my top 3 and why they are my favorites:
Organic Peruvian Decaf. This was the first Raven’s Brew Coffee© I ever tasted. It is very very smooth with just the right amount of sweetness and chocolate. I instantly became a Raven’s Brew organic coffee drinker because of my first sip of this one.
Organic Nayarit Decaf. This soon became my favorite decaf variety. Again, very smooth - silky like feel in the mouth. Hints of toffee with a light citric taste.
Organic Mahogany Sweets. Very smooth, sweet and chocolaty. (In my opinion, chocolate goes with just about everything.) Its description is “certified organic bliss.” I couldn’t say it any better.
Jennifer regularly blogs at Principles for Peace. The focus of her site is on inner peace and it is set in a bookstore/coffee shop environment. There you will find regular posts about obtaining inner peace, books recommended for inner peace and her coffee shop. Don’t forget to subscribe to her posts once you get there.
Check out these other great reads by Jennifer Abbott: “A Simple Formula with a Big Life Impact”, “How to Stop Negative Thinking”, “The Art of Peaceful Bill Paying”
©KitchenTableMedicine.com, LLC ™