Brooke Alpert is a nutritionist and the founder of B Nutritious, a private nutrition counseling practice based in New York City. She blogs for us about how to stay healthy, fit, and centered during even the craziest of work weeks.
As if you needed a new reason to drink coffee: a recent Swedish study, published in Stroke, a journal of the American Heart Association, found that women who drank at least one cup of coffee a day had a 24% reduction in stroke risk over a decade. (It should be noted that drinking more coffee didn’t lower the risk of stroke any further, and that the study is silent on how coffee intake may affect men’s risk of stroke.) Such a limited study isn’t a reason to start drinking coffee if you don’t already, but it can put you at ease if you consider coffee a coworker and a friend.
I’m fine with my clients who like their coffee, and I have no shame that I pray at my Nespresso machine every morning. Coffee has antioxidants and other compounds that can lower inflammation as well as improve insulin sensitivity. But–and this is a Venti’s worth of but–when done wrong, coffee might as well be dessert. When I ask my clients how they like their coffee, I’m often surprised at what they put in it. Between the cream, the whole milk, sugar (or artificial sugars), syrups, and whipped cream, we can certainly not expect much in the way of heart-healthy or waist benefits here.
Take a look at these numbers before you make a Starbucks run on your next break. Here are the nutritional breakdowns for Grandes (16 ounces) made with whole milk:
- Caffé Latte: 220 calories, 11g fat
- Caffé Mocha: 290 calories, 12g fat
- Eggnog Latte: 480 calories, 22g fat
- Iced Caramel Macchiato: 260 calories, 10g fat
So how can you make a better coffee choice without simply drinking it black?
- Stick to smaller sizes–get either a Tall at Starbucks or 12 ounces everywhere else (Don’t get me started on the Trenta, which is 31 ounces.)
- Opt for skim milk–if you normally dislike skim, you might find that you can handle if fine when it’s foamed.
- Watch out for syrups and sugar. Flavored coffee is ok, just not syrups.
Coffee can be a healthy drink option–and yes, it may prevent strokes. But watch what you put into it, watch the size, and don’t forget to drink water, which should always be your drink of choice.
How do you drink your coffee?
[Image: hyoin min/flickr]
