Friday, March 11, 2011

Coffee - Everyone's Morning Ritual

An innocent cup of coffee can become a morning ritual, right? Well it has probably happened to you! However, it's important to know the facts!


A cup of plain black coffee contains around 10 to 15 calories tops! And moderate intake of coffee - a cup or 2 per day - provides you with rich antioxidants and is actually linked with lower risk of diabetes type 2, heart diseases and Alzheimer's! But be warned, this is only linked to plain black coffee!


BUT - Ordering from the fancier side of the menu, say at Dunkin Donuts perhaps, you decided to go to a coffee coolatta with cream. Well, sorry to burst your bubble, but this contains 400 calories, 23 grams of fat and 43 grams of sugar! Even if you chose the skim milk version, you will end up with 210 calories and 49 grams of sugar!


So let's say you dropped by Starbucks:
If you go for its Frapuccino, we are talking about 450+ calories and even if you decide to go for "lighter" or simpler options such as the iced falvored Latte with only 2% fat milk, this is more like 250 calories with 6 grams fat and 34 grams of sugar! Cocoa whole milk (venti) is 600 calories, Mocha whole milk (venti) is 500 cals, caramel Machiato whole milk (grande) is 300 cals, mint Mocha chip frappucino (grande) is more like 500 cals and white chocolate mocha with whipped cream is 470 cals, I mean just to name a few!


So now you're probably asking "What can I order then?"
  • First of all, stick to one cup a day! Skip all the rituals of one cup in the morning, one on the break and another in the afternoon! You don't need this much caffeine in your body. Keep in mind that too much caffeine is linked to bone loss, fertility problems, headaches, irritability, little sleep, back pain, heartburn and ulcerpain! Moreover, try to avoid other caffeinated foods and beverages throughout your day such as carbonated sodas, tea and chocolate
  • Watch your order size, always go for the smallest cup
  • Ask for skim milk or 1% fat milk (low fat)
  • Avoid adding sugar
  • Avoid the whipped cream topping
  • Avoid sugary syrups like the chocolate/caramel/vanilla ones!
  • AND, lay off the extra doughnuts, croissants, muffins, brownies, cookies and cakes that may accompany it! Just think of the blueberry muffin at Starbucks: it's 360 cals, apple bran muffin 470 cals, apple fritter 490 cals, butter croissant 350 cals and vanilla cupcake 340 cals!
So enjoy a good warm cup of coffee without those fancy mixings and extra calories, fat and sugar!


Source: Everyday Health

15 comments:

  1. Great tips Paty! I have a question.I usually have one cup of coffee in the morning and one cup of green tea in the afternoon. Is this bad because I've heard that green tea has as much caffeine as yellow tea (Lipton). Which types of teas have caffeine and which don't?

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  2. Great post as usual!

    What about the Nescafe? 3 in 1?

    Waiting for a post about Tea :)

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  3. Lovely post - Enjoyed reading it :) Love my one cuppa dilute 1 % milk coffee in the morning and my 2 cups of green tea in the afternoon - Gives me just about energy to keep up with my very active 2 yr old :) Have a great weekend!

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  4. Hey Sareen, don't worry much is you are having just one cup of green tea in the afternoon, it has less amount of caffeine compared to other types. White coffee contains the least, then comes green tea then the black tea has the most among teas. Kamen, make sure not to soak the sachet more than 2 minutes tops in warm water, this way less caffeine will infuse into the water. Another thing, buying your tea loose (falet) has less caffeine than in tea bags. Either way, ill sure post more details about tea and another about caffeine in general:)

    Marie thanks a lot! Well to start with, 3 in 1 is 90 calories bel sachet, which is fine but more importantly is 1- fi lcoffee mate = no milk, no calcium, no protein, 2- lsachet is high is hydrogenated fat (the fat u want to avoid) so even though calorie wise it is considered ok, its composition is not, so I say if you want to have yourself a nice cup of coffee, prepare it from 2 tbsp 0 or 1 % fat milk (not the 2% cz it's similar in saturated fat like the whole)+ nescafe or any other type of instant coffee (decaf & 1 tsp)+ if you want sugar have 1 small spoon or go with artificial sweetners (they are ok in small amounts) and since they are too sugary, u will only need small amounts, hek you will have calcium, an "ok" dose of caffeine and less calories from sugar! And I will sure post something soon about tea :)

    And Priya, thanks a lot, your 1% cuppa coffee is perfect and green tea is surely fine as well! Thanks!

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  5. Thank you for the informative post Paty jan :D

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  6. ...I knew my love of black coffee was totally justified! :)

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  7. tab ade fi calories bel sugar?

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  8. 1 teaspoon leveled (bala jabal:p) is 15 cals, if heaped (with jabal) it's 25, a sugar cube is 25 calories and 1 tbsp s 48 calories.
    And don't be fooled with brown sugar, it's just sugar with molasses (debes) to give it its brown color

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  9. Krik thanks as always, and Kat, yea it is quite rich in antioxidants and its benefits are much enjoyed when it's taken i moderation so try to stick to 2 cups per day to limit your caffeine intake

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  10. Woww!!! purply these info are sooo helpful!! Thanks a lot my dear! keep up the great work:)

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  11. jeez... even non-political bloggers use censorship... what the heck did I say wrong to get my comment deleted?

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  12. If you are the "Jack" person, well i don't want ads on my blog so sorry if i deleted ur comments, if not i have no idea who u r :p

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