Sure, coffee isn’t the best beverage to be putting into my body every morning.
I should choose green tea. Or water. Or fresh-pressed juice from my juicer.
But I don’t.
I. Choose. Coffee.
Yes, I’m OWNING IT.
(And frankly, at this point, it’s a good thing I’m not reaching for the vodka at 9am. Because anyone who’s raised two boys under 2 1/2 years old knows that sometimes, you just “wish” you’d just accidentally poured Kahlua into your mug, instead of creamer.)
But, I HAVE made a conscious effort to make my morning coffee fix a little (tiny bit) healthier.
First off, I used to be that person who had some “coffee with her creamer.” You know what I mean. The coffee’s basically a blonde color by the time I’m done dousing it with straight half & half, and sugar that I’d pour directly from the sugar bowl into my mug. (Why dirty a spoon when I don’t need it? And, I assure you, I didn’t need it when I was consuming 5 tablespoons of sugar per cup. Ewwwwww.)
When I started becoming more health conscious, I switched to fat-free half & half, and Splenda. It seemed like a better decision because there was less fat, and I wasn’t consuming straight sugar. Fair enough. I never had an issue with it.
But then, I signed up for a body transformation challenge through my boot camp, and among the requirements were quitting sugar substitutes and almost all dairy.
BOOM.
So I tried it. Like many healthy diet changes, you have to ask yourself: what do I REALLY have to lose? (The answer is: nothing.)
I’m glad I had a go-get-it attitude because, as it turns out, I felt AMAZING when I had no dairy and no sugar substitutes. In all honesty, I don’t really know why. (I could Google it right now and come up with an extra paragraph or two on why fat-free half & half has so many chemicals and Splenda is so unnatural. But I want to be authentic. So I’m not going to pretend to be an expert on any of that. Because I’M NOT.)
But I do know this: I FELT SO MUCH BETTER.
I’m not an afraid-of-chemicals kind of gal, but feeling better was enough for me. So I went with it!
How I made my morning coffee a little healthier
First off, 1 to 2 cups of coffee instead of 3 to 4. I stick to this. Well, most days. Like I said, I do what I can.
Instead of fat-free half & half, I use coconut milk. I buy the 2-pack at Sam’s Club, and it’s not even that expensive (like $2.50 per half gallon). Plus, I can also use coconut milk for smoothies, so it’s a win-win!
Instead of Splenda, I try to use coconut sugar
The combination of the coconut milk and coconut sugar
(Now, I gotta keep it real and tell you that I don’t always get coconut sugar. For one, I go through a bag a week, and I can’t be spending $48 a month on the stuff. That and I can barely get my main grocery store shopping done each week, much less a special trip to Fresh Market with two kids. But hey, I’m owning it. And you know what? I DO WHAT I CAN. That’s all I CAN do.)
Do you have any other tips for making your morning beverage routine a little healthier? I have a few friends who started juicing daily and no longer have a need for caffeine in the morning. I’d love to work toward that. Please share in the comments section below.
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