For many, the first cup of coffee every day is a signal to start the day. A staple at any breakfast table, a fresh cup of coffee could be considered as American as apple pie, but like its pastry counterpart, coffee may be hiding darker secrets within the cup. Coffee and breakfast, once thought to be the greatest of breakfast allies, have since been proven to be enemies.

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day for a reason. Your metabolism when you first wake is at it’s most ravenous. Able to devours carbohydrates like no other point during the day, large breakfasts are excellent for setting your metabolic rate and fueling up for a productive evening. Coffee, especially heavily caffeinated coffee, impairs the production of blood glucose and hinders your glucose tolerance. Compounded by increasing your insulin sensitivity, coffee basically throws a wrench into your body’s most productive time of the day.

If you’re worried about giving up your cup of joe, don’t worry just yet. Scientists were able to discover that the culprit was not the coffee, but the caffeine packed into each cup. A recent study conducted on ten healthy men, where half were given caffeinated coffee and the others were given decaf, showed a marked difference in blood glucose management and insulin sensitivity. Insulin, as we know, directly contributes to the burning of fat. The more insulin in our system, the more a body will store fat, making it very difficult to combat an expanding waistline.

Beyond switching to decaf, a preposterous proposition to the millions who look to their morning fix for fuel, there are other options. If you need your morning rocket fuel, try drinking your coffee without consuming carbohydrates. Though you’ll need to compensate for the lack of food in the morning, you’ll at least have what you need to get out the door.