Starbucks or big butts?
It's just a drink, right? Coffee doesn't contain any calories, right? Right. But, it's not the coffee you have to worry about, it's all the additions. We take a look at how your diet may get more than a kick from your coffee
OK, calculators to the ready. All you cappuccino-coveting, latte-lovin', mocha-maniacs have some sums to do before you catch that waiter's attention.
Start with the sweet stuff
Pass the sugar? or maybe pass on the sugar. There are an innocent enough 20 calories in a teaspoon of tiny white grains. So what's the problem? Maybe you have two teaspoons per cup (c'mon, be honest), that's 40 calories. Maybe you have, what, three or four cups per day? Let's give ourselves the benefit of the doubt and call it 100 calories a day. Maybe you drink coffee every day for a year. That's 36,500 calories. Each additional 3,500 calories gives you an extra pound of body fat if you're overeating. Being a slave to the sweet stuff could theoretically set you back 10-and-a-half pounds a year. That is a whole clothes size for most people.
What about those Italian syrups?
Vanilla, hazelnut, orange, mint, liquors, chocolate, almond, cinnamon. Mmm, mmm, mmm. For a level teaspoon - add 23 calories, for a heaped teaspoon of these delicious Italian flavours - add 51 calories. Doing that five days a week adds around 1,000 calories a month and could add around three-and-a-half pounds to your otherwise perfect bod within a year. That's half a stone in two years and a whole stone in four.
What about those cafe mochas?
My favourite, I confess. A heady combination of espresso and hot chocolate. Heaven. A mug of that frothy delight will dent my diet by 180 calories if made with whole milk. But hey, I could ask for semi-skimmed and save 40 calories, or even skimmed milk and save as much as 66 calories. I feel virtuous already. On the other hand, I could order it with cream (a whopping 134 calories per tablespoon) and a few marshmallows for good measure (16 calories each). Depending on how I order it, my mocha could provide me with as few as 114 calories or as many as 330.
Size does matter
So you skip the sugar. What then? You want a cappuccino or a latte. Well once again, size matters. Your average 200ml cappuccino made with whole milk gives you around 100 calories and six grams of fat. Make that a tall one (this can vary, but let's say 300 mls) and it's now up to 165 calories and ten grams of fat. You have a hard afternoon ahead of you, so you decide to blow your head off with a whopping grande (around 400 mls). Blow your calorie intake by 231 calories and 14 grams of fat, more like.
Boost your calcium intake
The advantage of these milky delights is that they can be a real boost to your calcium intake. Caffeine can cause your body to excrete more calcium rather than retain it to strengthen your bones, but drinking milky coffees can combat this. So, it's not necessary to skip the milk but just as size counts, the type of milk you take will also matter. Swapping your grande cappuccino for a 'skinnychino?' (skimmed milk) of the same size will help you out by 115 calories and reduce your fat intake to zero. A regular 'skinny' costs you only 50 calories.
So is this the end of a beautiful long-term relationship with the only friend you have who looks good in the morning? No why! All you have to do is be a little choosy with those tall, dark temptations...
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