They say that hot dogs are bad because they contain nitrates. They say you should limit your egg yolks because they're high in cholesterol. Stay away from too much soy - it causes impotence, milk chocolate causes pimples and coffee's just plain bad for your system.

Why is it that "they" always seem to find something wrong with the foods that I like? The foods that we've been eating for hundred of years and now suddenly we find out are bad for us? Why the need to ruin a good thing?

Well lucky for us, "they" have decided that coffee is in fact healthy, and that despite the negative effects attributed to it in the past, coffee is good for you! Yes, it may have some flaws, but so do most good things in life. I prefer to focus on the good and overlook the bad (like my mom taught me to!)

So looking for an excuse to drink that extra cup? Well keep reading, below are 11 great ones!

1. Antioxidant Rich - coffee, due to its high caffeine content, is a great source of antioxidants. Antioxidants are cancer preventative and help fight the negative affects of aging.
2. Magnesium Rich - unfortunately studies have proven that many American's are magnesium deficient, a mineral necessary to many of the enzymes in your body in order to catalyze reactions.
3. Anti Bacterial and Anti Adhesive Qualities - believe it or not, Italian researchers discovered this interesting little fact as they were conducting experiments regarding their favorite national drink that was getting a bad rep by health researchers ("them"). Practically speaking, this means that coffee is proven to prevent cavities (provided you don't dump an ocean of sugar into your drink).
4. Promotes Digestion - because coffee is a diuretic, it generally speaking, sends people straight to the bathroom. When I was doing my research for IBS articles, although some doctors claimed coffee may irritate the stomach, other doctors recommended it as one of the natural tricks to "help move things along" and prescribed drinking a cup or two a day.
5. Improves Athletic Endurance and Performance - Believe it or not, coffee has recently been labeled a "controlled" substance for athletes participating in the Olympic Games due to the unfair performance advantages large amounts of the drink provides. Coffee has proven to increase athletic endurance as well as general coordination and performing abilities in serious athletes.
6. Decreases Depression - studies conducted on school age children in Brazil demonstrated that children who drank a cup of coffee before going to school had a much lower instance of depression later in life than those who didn't drink coffee.
7. Decreases Your Chances of Developing Parkinson's Disease - 6 separate studies conducted by researchers have proven that people who drink large amounts of coffee on a regular basis are 80% less likely to develop Parkinson's disease then those that don't.
8. Decreases Your Risk of Developing Colon Cancer - studies have shown that people who drink 2 cups of coffee on a regular basis have a 25% reduced risk of developing colon cancer.
9. Offsets the Damaging Effects of Smoking - coffee has proven to offset some of the negative side effects of heavy smokers, such as heart disease and liver damage.
10. Treats Asthma and Headaches - asthma and headache medicines contain large doses of caffeine in them due to the substance's ability to treat their symptoms. The caffeine found in coffee, although present in smaller amounts, has proven to have the same positive affects on alleviating headaches and treating asthma.
11. Reduces Your Risk of Liver Disease - studies have shown that people who drink 2 cups of coffee on a daily basis have an 80% reduced risk rate of developing liver cirrhosis

So what else is left to be said folks - Drink Up!

*Note - all good things must be ingested in moderation. I am not suggesting you drink 6 or 7 cups a day, as an overdose of caffeine is definitely not a good idea. Most of the positive effects listed above were based on a study of 2 - 4 cups a day.