Coffee Makes Me Sick 🤢 6 Tips to Avoid Becoming Sick While Drinking Coffee

As coffee lovers, we look forward to that first morning cup to get our day started. For many, it’s the most important part of the morning – even more important than breakfast. It stimulates our minds and gets us ready for the challenges that are coming our way. If you find that you’re constantly asking yourself does coffee make me sick, instead of experiencing a welcome boost of adrenaline, there are some things you can do to change that. Here’s everything you need to know to avoid becoming sick while drinking coffee.

Drink Coffee with Meals

Coffee is a rich beverage with a complicated chemical makeup that gives it the flavor we enjoy, but it’s also a highly acidic drink that can be hard on the stomach. It’s the acidity of the coffee that can cause nausea and diarrhea. Eating while drinking coffee will counteract the acidity of the coffee and it will help to prevent you from feeling sick when you drink coffee. 

If you find that eating food before taking a drink of your coffee doesn’t seem to help, there may be other issues causing your negative reaction. Coffee allergies are rare, but they do exist and that means for some people, avoiding coffee is the only solution. Allergies to coffee are often caused by caffeine so switching to decaffeinated or a low -caffeine alternative can help. 

Coffee shouldn’t be Your Only Beverage 

There isn’t universal agreement that coffee leads to dehydration, but some experts believe that it can. It does have diuretic properties and that means you will go to the bathroom more often when you drink it. A good rule of thumb is to make sure you drink a glass of water for every cup of coffee to keep you properly hydrated.

Darker Roasts are Better

Dark roasts are less acidic than traditional coffee beans and that makes them easier on the stomach. There’s actually an ingredient in dark roast coffees that prevents the buildup of acid, making it less likely that you’ll get sick from drinking a cup. 

Avoid Artificial Sweeteners and Creamers

Unless you drink your coffee black, there may be other ingredients you’re adding to your coffee that are making you sick. Artificial sweeteners are one ingredient that can cause problems.  They’re known to react negatively with stomach bacteria in some coffee drinkers and that can cause an upset stomach. If you often feel sick after drinking coffee and you use sweeteners, consider giving them up.

Creamers can also be an issue for coffee drinkers. They’re loaded with sugar and vegetable oils that may not react well in the digestive system. Using real cream or milk is a better alternative and they won’t make you sick unless you’re lactose intolerant. 

Cold Brew Your Coffee 

Cold brewing coffee is becoming more popular and it’s also easier on the stomach. According to a leading manufacturers of cold brew coffee systems the beverage is 67% less acidic than coffee brewed by traditional methods. That makes it much easier to digest and prevents symptoms such as diarrhea. 

No More than 4 Cups

If nothing else seems to be working, you can always try cutting back on the coffee you drink. Most experts recommend drinking no more than 4 cups of coffee a day. If you limit yourself to 1 or 2 cups a day, drink lots of water and make sure you drink your coffee with food, there’s less chance you’re daily coffee will make you sick.