With the continuation of this winter weather, you may be feeling the need to warm up with a hot drink. While this sounds like a comforting way to get you through the cooler temperatures, you may be unexpectedly consuming extra calories through your beverage. Unfortunately, these calories don’t have the same ability to fill us up as whole foods with fibre and protein do.
If you want to enjoy a warm drink and save some extra calories, try out some of these tricks at your next cafe order:
𝟏. Opt for black tea or coffee. Cream and sugar have the ability to add more calories than you may expect. For example, a medium black coffee at Tim Horton’s provides 4 kcal and 0g of sugar. With the addition of cream and sugar it amounts to 110 kcal and 11g of sugar.
𝟐. Skip the whipped cream. A dollop of this will add 60 kcal to your drink. Ask for little to none or reduce the frequency that you opt for this topping.
𝟑. Avoid the sweeteners. Specialty drinks with a specific flavour (ex. White chocolate mocha or caramel macchiato) almost always have at least one type of sweetener added to them. Depending on the size, the amount of sweetener will change, resulting in anywhere between 15 to 76 g of sugar per drink. That is equivalent to 4 to 19 teaspoons of sugar! Ask for half sweet or ½ to 1 “pump” of sweetener.
𝟒. Reduce the size. Are you in the habit of ordering a large or extra large coffee or latte? The larger the cup, the more calories and sugar it contains. Try downsizing to one size smaller and notice how you can still enjoy it without feeling deprived.
