Day 53 – Anticipation

53/365 (February 22, 2011) – This is a dangerous machine. It makes a mean cappuccino, a fabulous latte, and a great espresso. All at the push of a button. I had more or less given up coffee…this brought me back to the Dark Side.

I have an irregular heartbeat, that combined with a high stress personality type used to get my heart racing when I drank too much coffee. And when I used to be in hairdressing, I would drink a dozen or more cups a day. Towards the end of my PhD I gave it up altogether and switched to chai lattes. Yummy, I still start almost every day with one. But since this sweet machine came along, coffee has been creeping back into my life. Not a lot, but when the weather turns warm and I stop wanting a hot drink in the morning, an iced Americano become a part of my blood stream and the nervous system vibrates a little more than usual.

Like everything, they tell us it’s bad for us, then suddenly it’s good for us. The most recent studies seem to argue that coffee can help reduce incidence of Parkinson’s Disease, type 2 diabetes, dementia, lower cases of certain cancers, strokes, and…heart rhythm problems? There is no solid proof, no definitive cause and effect link (there rarely is), but it could have something to do with antioxidant properties in brewed coffee.

(Reference – http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/features/coffee-new-health-food)