I’m Shawna Kaminski and it’s been one day since my last Starbucks coffee…
Yes, coffee is a favorite of mine. I actually gave it up for a month. I tried to replace it with a healthy alternative: green tea.
But, I got tired of having no reason to live, so I decided that the one cup of coffee I have before my workout isn’t too unhealthy after all.
Seriously, I have more reasons to live that coffee alone, but I do enjoy it and I know that you do too.
And I love the ‘coffee experience’ of going to a coffee shop to meet with friends. Aaaand, I know you do too, so I thought I’d give you some insight into what’s your best bet to order so that you can stay on track with your fitness and fat loss goals.
Here’s me at a local Starbucks:
I wanted to summarize some of the healthy choices there…
As far as baked goods go, there’s pretty slim pickin’s as far as health is concerned. Most choices are well over 300 calories per serving with double digits in fat and carbs. There are a few choices like the low fat cranberry muffin that weigh in at 1 g fat, but it has a whooping 65 g of carbs (lots of sugar!).
The egg white spinach and feta wrap that’s a fav of mine is a good choice: it has 18 g protein, 33 g carbs, 10 g fat, 6 g fiber and 280 calories. You can’t go wrong with the oatmeal as well with 5 g protein, 25 g carbs, 2.5 g fat, 4 g fiber and 140 calories.
The reduced fat turkey bacon egg white English muffin has 18g protein, 43g carbs, 7g fat, 3 fiber and 320 calories. I’ve never tried it, but healthwise, you could do a whole lot worse!
Now, as far as your drink choice, you really need to pay attention here. You could totally sabotage your fat loss efforts with one drink! I know they taste yummy, but how does 400-600 calories sound? Do you really want to drink that many calories when that could be a filling nutrient filled meal for the same number of calories?
Brewed coffees and teas are generally fine, watch the sweetener and cream you put in (you can ask for a pump of non-sugar sweetener and ask for a ‘skinny’ or non fat milk). It’s when you get into the frappinccino’s and other blended drinks that are made with full fat dairy and full of sugar that you need to back away from the barrista. (You can cut down calories to 100-300 if you get the Tall and go for non-fat milk with the frappiccinos.)
The moral of the story is this: use moderation and common sense, and when in doubt, ask for their nutrition guide. Also, if it tastes too good to be calorie free (or low cal) it just may not be, so use caution.
And enjoy! Enjoy your coffee and your coffee experience. Life is so busy, anytime you can take a few minutes to relax is well worth it. Just don’t relax your nutrition program too much.