This month’s focus is going to be on all things glorious about winter!
It is important that we can look at certain situations and reframe them to help us achieve whatever our goals may be; whether it’s going for a run, getting out of bed on a cold morning to go to the gym, or making a brunch date.
So for me, the best thing about winter is coffee! I’m not the biggest coffee drinker. (No wait, that’s a lie!) I drink a fair amount of coffee – in moderation of athaathlete blogathlete blogacourse!
Now, I know there will be some people who agree with me that coffee is quite glorious, and then others will not be fans of coffee. So, I thought I would read up a bit on coffee and see if I could find some facts that could help everyone who is a fan enjoy their coffee just a little bit more.
Did you know?
Cut the pain: Two cups of coffee can cut post-workout muscle pain by up to 48% (Journal of Pain, 2007).
Increase your fibre intake: A cup of brewed coffee represents a contribution of up to 1.8 grams of fibre of the recommended intake of 20-38 grams (Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry)
Lowered risk of Type 2 Diabetes: Those who consume 6 or more cups per day have a 22% lower risk of diabetes (Archives of Internal Medicine) (link). A recent review of research conducted by Harvard’s Dr. Frank Hu showed that the risk of type II diabetes decreases by 9% for each daily cup of coffee consumed. Decaf coffee decreased risk by 6% per cup.
Lowered risk of Alzheimer’s disease: There is considerable evidence that caffeine may protect against Alzheimer’s disease (European Journal of Neurology).
However, at the start of the blog I mentioned glorious “things” – plural. So, apart from coffee, the other things which make winter glorious are:
The new training gear you get to use that wouldn’t normally come out in summer.
Snuggling up with a blanket and watching movies.
Snow. Not that I see it often, but I know a lot of people who love the snow!
So keep warm, keep coming to the gym, keep active and we will see you soon!
-Next blog I’ll fill you in on how my build up to the Commonwealth and Oceania championships is going and my progress on qualifying for the Commonwealth games!
