The Truth About Coffee

Here it is, one of my favorite topics. COFFEE. Before you go rolling through the Dunkin Donuts drive-thru, there's a few things you should know. First of all, just like the world of yogurt, I am a new found coffee lover. Sophomore year in college took a toll on me and my sleeping schedule, and I needed to call for backup. The answer to my call: coffee. I have to blame my addiction on a friend who ordered me a coffee similar to his on a trip to Florida last spring... A medium french vanilla iced coffee with caramel swirl, EXTRA EXTRA. I can feel my arteries hardening as I type this. After the first sip, I was hooked. At the time, I had NO idea what I was putting into my body.

As some of you may or may not know, coffee has zero calories. Yes, that's right, I said it, NONE. But this is only true if you drink coffee black. I don't know too many people who do that, so here's a little word of advice to those of us who like our coffee with a little something extra. A medium french vanilla iced coffee from Dunkin Donuts ordered regular (about 3 sugars) runs at about 190 calories. Now, you may be thinking, "that's not too bad". What you need to consider, however, is how that cauliflower basil pizza I posted yesterday was only about 300. You're consuming about 2/3 of the amount of calories that you could for a whole MEAL, just for a short beverage that might last you an hour if you're lucky. After doing a bit of research and interrogating the girl behind the counter making my coffee, I learned just how much sugar I'm getting when I order my coffee with cream and sugar, AKA "regular". I was informed that "regular" is about 3 heaping tablespoons of sugar. There's about 45 calories per tablespoon of sugar. Yikes! That's approximately... 135 calories right there. Boom. A tablespoon of cream runs you about 20 calories a tablespoon. You do the math!

Now, I understand that all of you coffee lovers aren't going to go out and start ordering your coffee black. I get it, trust me. It took me so long to accept coffee as a beverage, so it has taken me a while to truly acquire and appreciate the flavor of it for what it is. In the last few months, I have taken a long, hard look at my coffee order and decided to reevaluate. Each month, beginning in November-ish, I have started ordering my coffee with one less sugar. This is the best way to do it. If you're used to ordering your coffee regular, believe me when I tell you DO NOT just try to order it black. You'll probably react similar to how I did and end up spitting it across your car. The best way to try to cut back on your sugar consumption in coffee is to ween yourself off of it. Try what I did. Every month, ask for 2 sugars, 1 sugar, etc until you get to none. It will grow on you. I'm down to one sugar in my coffee, cutting down my almost 200 calorie treat to right around 95 calories.

If you find you're not a candy lover, yet you're having cavities... It's time to take a closer look at how you take your coffee. It's not something that everyone thinks about, but all that sugar? It makes sense!

Good luck!