Category: Health and Wellness

Coffee is one of the most popular beverages in the World. In fact, it is said that over 50% of the American population drinks at least a cup of coffee daily, which means over half of you reading this enjoy your morning cup o’ Joe. While it’s all well and good to drink a cup of coffee daily, it’s important to make sure you are drinking quality organic coffee as opposed to conventionally grown coffee. Here at SurfBerry we only serve organic coffee, so we wanted to take some time to explain the importance of Organic vs. Conventional Coffee.

Organic vs. Conventional Coffee: Health Benefits

The biggest difference between organic and conventional coffee beans is that organic coffee beans don’t use any toxic pesticides during the growing process. Pesticides kill so many of the health benefits that coffee can provide, such a high levels of antioxidants. The antioxidants found in coffee may be able to help fight off cancer, heart disease, and diabetes, so it’s important to have those antioxidants in tack. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, “30 percent of insecticides, 60 percent of herbicides and 90 percent of fungicides are carcinogenic, or cancer-causing. Pesticides and other conventional farming chemicals accumulate in body fat, and can cause damage to the nervous and reproductive systems. These chemicals can also disrupt hormone and immune-system function.” (Source)

Coffee can offer an array of other health benefits, too. It is known to increase alertness, speed up your metabolism, and enhance your memory. Just make sure that you purchase good quality, organic coffee so that the benefits aren’t outweighed by toxic pesticides.

Organic vs. Conventional Coffee: Environmental Benefits

Because coffee beans are readily grown in many parts of the world, it’s important to keep the environment healthy and bountiful for future generations – organic farming practices do just that. By not using toxic pesticides, combined with a variety of organic farming practices such a building up the soil with nutrients and crop-rotation, organic coffee beans are grown in a much more sustainable way.

Many of the areas where coffee is grown are lush, tropical environments like Latin and South America, and Southeast Asia. Organic farming practices, and the farmers who abide by them, take the overall environment into consideration, which conventional coffee farms tend to de-forest these tropical areas. Deforestation takes all of the nutrients out of the soil, increases the use of pesticides, and makes convention coffee far more damaging to the environment. (Source)

Not a coffee drinker? No problem! Here at SurfBerry we don’t just serve organic coffee, but we serve plenty of non-coffee alternatives that will give you a boost of energy morning, noon, or night. Some of our favorites are our organic juices, superfood smoothies, and acai bowls.

by Amy Beausang, PharmD and certified health coach

Ever notice that many common expressions contain the word “gut”? Phrases like “trust your gut”, “gut instinct”, and “gut feeling” connote that sometimes you just KNOW something is right, even if you don’t know WHY. It’s almost like your gut is some kind of brain or something.

Not almost. Your gut actually is a kind of “brain”. In fact, scientists often refer to the gut as “the second brain”. And the impacts of this second brain on everything from digestion to dementia are becoming vividly clear and largely dependent on…wait for it:

GUT BUGS. Yep, turns out your second brain contains some 100 TRILLION microbes, mostly bacteria. And you didn’t think anything could make our national debt look small—ha! What’s more, these gut bugs—now fashionably referred to as “the microbiome”—play a big role in your ability to:

• Lose weight and keep it off
• Fight infection
• Digest food and absorb nutrients
• Control inflammation, a major culprit in many chronic diseases
• Be happier and handle stress

But I have some bad news. Our belly bugs tend to be all out of whack, thanks in part to massive overuse of antibiotics. Antibiotics—even when they are appropriately prescribed—may eradicate the bugs that are making us sick, but also lots of the good guys, too. Ever gotten a yeast infection after a round of antibiotics? This pleasantry occurs because antibiotics don’t discriminate—the good guys die, too, and those non-susceptible nasties shout “PARTY IN DA HOUSE!” and just proliferate like crazy.

But antibiotics aren’t entirely responsible for our imbalanced bellies. The standard American diet (SAD) of low-fiber, high sugar, highly-processed food is feeding our highest obesity rates in history while paradoxically starving our microbiomes. Why is this and why should you care?

In his latest awesome book, Brain Maker: The Power of Gut Microbes to Heal and Protect Your Brain—For Life, board-certified neurologist Dr David Perlmutter tells us (and repeats it because it’s IMPORTANT, people!) that “Diet has the dominant role in shaping our gut microbiota, and changing key populations may transform healthy gut microbiota into a disease-inducing entity.”

Ahem. In normal, non-doctor speak: “Those belly bugs you got brewin’ up in there are largely a result of what you put in your mouth, so when you eat or drink sugar, refined carbs, and highly-processed food, you give the bad bugs license to thrive.” Why is this a big deal? Becuase an imbalanced microbiome is now linked to a host of maladies including obesity, type 2 diabetes, depression, anxiety, Alzheimer’s, autism spectrum disorder, eczema, asthma, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, and atherosclerosis.

On the flip side, enjoying a variety of high-fiber veggies, healthy fats (avocados, olives, nuts, chia seeds, pumpkin seeds to name a few), and fermented foods (such as live-cultured yogurt, kefir, tempeh, kimchi, sauerkraut, and kombucha) can help your probiotics flourish. The good bugs love this stuff, and incorporating these foods into your everyday life will give you love in return. If you need a little extra help in the happy bug department, supplementing with probiotics is a widely available option. To ensure a smart purchase, Dr Perlmutter recommends checking with a reputable store and choosing supplements that contain at least the following probiotic species:

• Lactobacillus plantarum (immunity and inflammation regulator)
• Lactobacillus acidophilus (also found in yogurt, yeast infection fighter and healthy cholesterol maintainer)
• Lactobacillus brevis (brain bug extraordinaire)
• Bifidobacterium lactis (aka animalis; digestive comforter and immune booster)
• Bifidobacterium longum (antioxidant, free radical scavenger, anxiety reducer) 

I would be remiss in my duty if I didn’t mention prebiotics. Prebiotics are “fuels” that promote probiotic growth. Dandelion greens, garlic, leeks, onions, and asparagus are great sources. AND, you can also use a prebiotic supplement daily to nurture your microbiome. I settled on a product made from acacia fiber that easily mixes with water. I purposely avoided psyllium fiber because it can cause bloating, cramping, and gas. Got no time for that.

So, if you’re a reverse reader, here’s the 5-point summary:

Wishing you happy bellies,

Amy