If you’re like me, you know nothing says “good morning” like a fresh hot cup of coffee. You’re probably already thinking, “Emily, you better not mess with my coffee, girl. Java is my soul mate!” But I tell you friend, hear me out. You can keep the coffee, but we may need to make some tweaks. Back in the days of my not-as-healthy past, my go-to coffee order was a Starbuck’s grande non-fat vanilla latte. Full of creamy, sweet, delicious yumminess, I considered this to be a “healthy choice” at the ‘bucks because it lacked the whipped cream or syrup swirls I saw topping the beverages of others. But when I got serious about reading the ingredients of the food I was consuming, I took a closer look at what was in my morning cuppa joe.
What I found was shocking! According to the Starbucks’ website, their vanilla latte gets FOUR pumps of vanilla syrup to make it taste so daggum delicious. Hmmm, I wondered, what’s in a “pump” of vanilla syrup? Investigating further, I was shocked to learn each syrup pump has 5 grams of sugar and 20 calories, meaning my coffee had an extra eighty calories and was chock full of TWENTY grams of sugar!
Do you know that the recommended daily sugar consumption is 24g for women? That meant I was getting 4/5 of my daily sugar allowance before 9 AM! Talk about a sweet start to the day! If you’re like me, you’ve probably experienced the phenomenon that once you eat sugar, your body then craves more of it. No wonder I was constantly battling an all-day sweet-tooth hankering. It was then I realized my coffee order needed a revamp, and pronto!
It took a while, but I was able to break my super sweet coffee addiction by devoting conscious attention to it. I admit that an adherence to a month of Whole 30 nutrition helped me get there. In case you’re unfamiliar with Whole 30, it’s a pretty hard-core elimination eating plan that helps to highlight foods that may be causing you food sensitivities and digestion issues. Added sugar is one of the foods on the list to eliminate. While following Whole 30, I discovered that I can drink my coffee black, but truthfully, I don’t like to. So I found options that make my coffee creamy, but have no added sugars. While my favorite least processed option is canned coconut milk, I also enjoy Nutpods as a no sugar added option. The key is whatever you add, the ingredient list should be short and all the items on it should be easily pronounced and identified by you. But that’s for another post!
Maybe you don’t start your day off with coffee. How do you begin—what foods or beverages do you consume first? Take a good look at them. Are they laden with sugar? What’s on the ingredient list? Can you pronounce those words? If not, it means you’re starting your day with a bunch of added chemicals. Not cool. You’ve got to decide: Does your first choice of the morning set you on the path to success or lead you down the path of destruction? If it’s the latter, I urge you to begin with making changes. You don’t have to do it all at once, but make a small tweak and see where it leads. And let me know how it goes—I’d love to celebrate a success with you!
