Simply beautiful...

Simply beautiful...

Monday, October 25, 2010

A Little Less Sugar Please!

My husband and I are both coffee LOVERS... this means that there is no time of day that we would turn a cup down. This is especially true now that we have a newborn in the house. We join countless other tired parents who rely on coffee to get them through the day. However, I would be lying to say that this affection for coffee began with parenthood. No, I admit that we have both been drinking coffee like addicts for years. Over those years of cup after cup, latte after latte, we have tried to make our drink choices a little healthier.
When my husband and I order a drink from someplace like Starbucks, we always order it with nonfat milk in order to watch our saturated fat intake. I have also always tried to order a tall or small drink since I don't want to be drinking my calories or wasting them on so called "empty nutrition". We also have tried to watch our sugar intake in our coffee drinks. We are well aware that as Americans, we consume an embarrassing amount of sugar each year (contributing to many deep-rooted problems like obesity and diabetes). In any sweet drink we order, we aways ask them to use half the amount of syrup that they normally do. For example, one of our favorite drinks at Starbucks is a "tall, nonfat, caramel macchiato". This drink contains 23 grams of sugar (12 grams coming from the milk), but when we ask them to cut the syrup amounts in half it reduces it by about 6 grams of sugar. It may not seem like a lot, but when you start adding up all those lattes and mochas you consume month after month, it adds up quickly. Others may think that their drink just wouldn't taste as good without all the sweetness. I would argue that , yes, it may take adjusting, but half the sugar is sweet enough - we just have to bring our taste buds down off the sugar high they're so used to. I challenge you... next time you order your favorite coffee drink, just ask for a little less sugar please!

1 comment:

  1. I like to get my non fat caramel machiattos with sugar free syrup. That way I'm cutting the sugar rather than flavor. Just another thought. :) Erin Collins

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