Low sugar morning beverages!

Does your commute to work consist of a daily stop at one of the well-known high street coffee shops? Well the morning pick-me-up that you can’t live without might be doing more damage to your workout routine than you realise. 

Obviously this all depends on what your standard coffee order but with some beverages having up to 95g of sugar, we really do need to be careful. Usually we are all more concerned with calories and at the big coffee shops the calories are usually listed right next to the price so you know exactly what you are about to consume. Finding out the quantity of sugar can be a little more tricky. It’s not that they won’t tell you, it’s that hardly any of us think to ask.

What about everything else that goes with the coffee too? I’m sure everyone of us has been guilty of getting chocolate sprinkles or whipped cream as an occasional treat. And if it’s not that then it might be the sausage roll that you get to have for breakfast. The point is that when we are rushed for time in the morning there is always a danger we just opt for whatever is convenient, not what is good for us.

So what do we need to look out for? Chocolate is always a big clue that you might be having a sugary drink. Hot chocolates and mocha drinks are clearly the worst culprits for this. Then the next big no-no is syrup. This seems to be a rather new craze with coffee but I often hear people ordering an extra shot of this syrup and that syrup when I’m in the queue. Unsurprisingly these can all have loads of sugar in them and be contributing to your extra sweet drink.

As if that wasn’t enough you then get all the sugar that we choose to add ourselves. I’m pretty sure everyone realises that those sachets of sugar aren’t the same as a spoonful and that means that we all tend to have far more sachets than you might have teaspoons. So much so that it isn’t uncommon to find someone loading their coffee up with four or five sachets. Needless to say all this sugar adds up.

I’m not suggesting that we all ditch coffee though. In fact, the benefits associated with drinking coffee is something that you hear a lot about in the health and fitness company. What I’m saying is that we need to be more careful with deciding what to order. Like espresso for example. It’s perfect if what you want is a drink to wake you up and it’s got far less sugar. And if you think that isn’t enough to drink you can always go for an Americano, great flavour and no sugar.

I don’t feel properly awake until I’ve had my morning coffee but not everyone is the same. You might be fine switching to another morning beverage. If you just can’t stand coffee without the sugar then switching to tea might be the answer. And green tea is particularly good for us as I’m sure you have realised if you live to train!

So it isn’t all doom and gloom if you need a morning beverage because there are plenty of low-sugar options out there. And none of this means that you can’t treat yourself to your favourite drink every now and again.