Tag

kaffee

Browsing

Do you have an afternoon slump? We’ll tell you why pumpkin seeds can help you better against slackness than a cup of coffee.

After eating during the lunch break, tiredness quickly sets in in the office. Our eyes hardly want to stay open and the midday slump hits us between 12:00 p.m. and 2:00 p.m. This is mainly due to the fact that our body needs a lot of energy after a meal to digest the food. As a result, oxygen-rich blood flows into the abdomen and not as much into the brain. In addition, we don’t move that much in the office and we rarely get to go for a stimulating and refreshing walk after a meal. In this case, coffee is the solution to the problem for many people. The caffeine contained in the aromatic hot drink takes effect after about 30 minutes and is distributed through the blood throughout our body. It also crosses the blood-brain barrier. The tiring messenger substance adenosine is blocked and the nerve tracts do not receive a signal to slow down and instead simply continue to work. Sounds good? But regular caffeine consumption quickly leads to habituation and the effect decreases considerably. In addition, coffee never replaces sufficient sleep. So what to do?

Pumpkin seeds: That’s why they work against tiredness

If you don’t necessarily want to grab a coffee during a midday slump, you definitely have a very healthy and delicious alternative: pumpkin seeds. They help in many ways. For one, they improve dompamine uptake. The messenger substance controls the emotional, mental and motor reactions. It is therefore also called the “lucky messenger”. On the other hand, the cores contain a lot of magnesium. This keeps our blood sugar stable so that it cannot drop and cause a midday slump.

These ingredients of the seeds help us against tiredness without caffeine. In addition, the kernels generally contain many essential trace elements, vitamins and nutrients. They keep you full for a long time and provide the body with healthy fats.

Pregnant women in particular benefit from the activating and revitalizing effect of the seeds. Since caffeine consumption can also affect the growth of the child, pregnant women should consume as little coffee as possible. It therefore makes sense to reach for pumpkin seeds, which also provide the body with valuable ingredients.

Conclusion

So if you want to drink less coffee, don’t tolerate it that well or fancy a healthy and invigorating snack, you should include pumpkin seeds in your lunch in the future. No matter whether pure, in a salad or in yoghurt, the small seeds cut a fine figure everywhere!

When you finally have your favorite coffee blend at home, the first question that arises is how to enjoy it for as long as possible. Because the aroma of a good coffee is fleeting and grandma’s old coffee tin may look nice, but it’s not necessarily the best place to store the fine powder. And if you don’t have your trusted roaster right around the corner, you often have to buy larger quantities of coffee. So how do you still keep your favorite beverage fresh while storing it at home?

First of all, you should know a few “enemies” of coffee powder that you should avoid. Heat, oxygen, moisture, odorous substances and light must always be kept away from the coffee. The complex flavors of coffee come from the oils in the bean. At room temperature, these oxidize faster and can become rancid and lead to an unpleasant aftertaste in the coffee.

Keep coffee in the fridge?

Contrary to a widespread recommendation, however, it is not advisable to store them in the refrigerator. Because food is stored here and, accordingly, different smells and aromas, which the coffee should not take on as far as possible. Since coffee practically “attracts” odors of all kinds, it should generally not be kept near other foods or herbs. However, if the temperature fluctuates too much, condensation can also form, which can penetrate the powder and thus rob it of its aroma. Storage in a dry place that is slightly below room temperature is therefore ideal.

Coffee is best stored as whole beans

If you have the opportunity to grind your coffee yourself, it is best to store the beans and only grind them immediately before preparation. The innumerable aromas unfold during the grinding process, among other things, and the shorter the interval between this and the brewing of the coffee, the more intense the subsequent enjoyment. Of course, it’s not always possible to store coffee as a whole bean – after all, not everyone has a coffee grinder and maybe doesn’t have the time to freshly grind their coffee every morning.

Coffee cans for ground coffee or coffee beans

An opaque ceramic box with a rubber seal is recommended, especially if you buy ground coffee, but also for storing coffee beans. This keeps light, moisture and oxygen away from the coffee. Material that may have an odor of its own, such as Tupperware or other plastic containers, is therefore not suitable for storage. Finally, the coffee tin itself should always be kept in a cool and dry place. If you want double protection, you can store your coffee beans in a bag in such a tin – they are practically doubly “flavor-protected”.