For most of us, our day cannot get started without our routine cup of coffee. In Costa Rica, that would be Costa Rican coffee, though lately coffee from Colombia has been making its way on supermarket shelves.
The good news (no, not the Colombian arrival) is that coffee is actually a healthy drink to have in the morning because it is rich in fiber and helps prevent diseases like diabetes or heart disease.
But, not everything about your daily cup of coffee is good for you. You might be surprised to learn that one of the most popular coffee additives is actually wreaking havoc on your body.
Stop Putting Sugar In Your Coffee.
If you’re putting sugar in your coffee, you are hurting your body more than you realize. Sugar can wreck your metabolism, cause inflammation and spike your blood sugar to send you crashing in just a few hours.
Researchers have discovered that the average coffee drinker is adding three teaspoons of sugar to each cup of coffee, which is way more than the recommended limit.
According to the American Heart Association, women should consume up to 6 teaspoons of added sugar each day. For men, the recommended amount is no more than 9 teaspoons of sugar per day. This means that you’re halfway to your recommended sugar intake limit after just one cup of coffee, or that you reach the limit if you have two cups of coffee per day.
What You Can Try Instead Of Sugar?
Me, I have been drinking my coffee sugar-free for many years, be it an espresso or an “americano”, which is basically a really strong black coffee, in my case a looonng espresso – it’s the same dose of caffeine as those small cup espresso, just more water.
It turns out, I have been doing a good thing to my body all the time.
The best thing you can do for yourself and your morning cup of coffee is to eliminate the added sugar completely.
It will take some time to get used to it, one way to start off is using less coffee in the espresso machine, to lighten the strong and bitter taste that over time you will come to love and even miss.
If black coffee is not your thing, you can add a spot of milk (a macchiato in Italian). You can even try some cinnamon (not my favorite in coffee) or dark chocolate – I stress dark. Milk chocolate defeats the sugar-less.
Artificial sweeteners are an option, but believe me getting used to having your coffee black will be rewarding, and healthy. Take it from a lover of coffee. On my second cup of “americano” and not even 7 am.
Espresso. Possibly the least understood and most mispronounced way of making coffee.
