Many of us will skip breakfast and decide to grab a cup of coffee instead. Did you know that this practice could be doing more harm than good, though?
TiTok user Olivia Hedlund took to the app in a video to warn against drinking coffee on an empty stomach.
According to her, if you are drinking coffee each morning without having some breakfast first, you are placing yourself in more danger than you may have realized.
Her TikTok went viral, as she explained why we are actually putting more stress on ourselves with this common practice. “If you drink coffee first thing on an empty stomach, stop what you’re doing and listen. You are messing with your hormones,” Hedlund says. The video was initially posted back in September and has already gotten over half a million views.
“Coffee is not only acidic, so it’s hard on our stomach in the morning, but it literally causes our bodies to go into a stress response, to shoot out cortisol, and to put us in kind of a fight-or-flight state,” she says.
The jitters and shakes that take place after we drink coffee on an empty stomach are a stress response that we are better off avoiding. Hedlund also says that this practice could have unintended consequences from a personal upkeep standpoint.
“I used to drink multiple cups of coffee on an empty stomach, feel like I was on top of the world, and then I would have a bunch of hormonal acne and wonder why,” she shares. “It’s because your body is stressed out. Have something small before you have a coffee, make it your goal. I promise you will notice a difference,” she continued.
Check out her video below:
@liv.ingwell We love a good coffee but not on an empty tummy ☕️ #coffeetiktok #coffeetok #hormonalimbalance #guthealthtips
Of course, it’s always best to take nutritional advice from professionals so if you’re planning to make any dietary changes, be sure to consult a registered dietitian.