Did you know that coffee is a powerful aid in enhancing athletic endurance and performance?  In fact, caffeine in coffee or other forms was once deemed a "controlled" substance by the Olympic Games Committee, meaning athletes were under coffee control!

So what exactly does it do to enhance performance?  What caffeine likely does is stimulate the brain and nervous system to do things differently, from signaling you to ignore fatigue to recruiting extra units of muscle for intense athletic performance. And this can be quite a benefit for those looking to burn a bit of extra fat and probably explains why you’ll find lots of it in so many popular diet pills.  Its probably one of the only ingredients in those pills that really works!  Caffeine may even have a direct effect on muscles themselves, causing them to produce a stronger contraction.

All of this does clash a bit with the recent info that claims that the caffeine in coffee has an insulin-raising effect, which is not so great for weight loss, unlike green tea which does quite the opposite and helps you regulate your insulin levels.  The solution as I see it?  Drink one cup before your workout and sip green tea the rest of the day.  As an added bonus, coffee also makes you more alert, which can boost your concentration, which most of us could use some help with.

In fact, coffee-drinking kids may even do better on school tests because they're more awake.  One recent study from Brazil found that children who drink coffee with milk each day are less likely to have depression than other children!  (Contrary to popular belief, studies show that coffee in reasonable amounts is not in any way harmful to children).  But with all these benefits, do be aware–in excess doses, (i.e. more than what your body can tolerate) coffee can increase nervousness, hand trembling, and cause rapid heartbeat and it may also raise cholesterol levels in some people and contribute to artery clogging.