Morning Coffee

[jessie]

In the morning on my way to work I usually stop at Starbucks once or twice a week. I usually have a skim hazelnut latte w/ that's sugarfree. I've noticed now that I've started eating differently, my body rejects foods that it doesn't like, such as sweets, french fries, and Starbucks! Sometimes I need that extra kick in the morning to get going, any other suggestions that won't turn my stomach inside out? Is there any way to make a vanilla chai a little healthier?

[Cynic]

How about good ole' Columbian with 1/2 and 1/2 and sugar? Juan Valdez wants to expand his business to add a second mule.

[Aoife]

Diet Pepsi.

Eh, works for me...

Really just a plain coffee with skim milk and some splenda should suffice, shouldn't it?

[jesca]

I love Arizona Iced Tea - Sugar Free Green tea. It tastes wonderful and I have no problems with it with my stomach. Sometimes I have problems with coffee, but never with teas.

[feralBoy]

Is the problem with the coffee, or the milk in the coffee? I had some crazy problems with coffee after starting to workout, as well. I switched to tea.

While tea normally doesn't have as much caffeine as coffee (matcha probably does), you can drink more of it, atleast I can. And it's a different type of caffeine. It's water soluble, which seems to get rid of all of the bad side effects of caffeine, while keeping the good ones. Plus there are like a gazillion types of tea. You can probably find one you like.

[Phaedrus49er]

I used to do the specialty coffee drink fairly regularly but weened myself over to regular coffee with just a creamer of some sort. Much fewer calories, no sugar crash (just the caffeine one), and a developing palatte for appreciating variations in different beans and blends (read: Starbucks blows goats, so after trying a few other franchise dark roasts, I went to a local coffee house's darkest beans and haven't looked back, though I still experiment). Like feral said, poke around with different ingredient combinations to see where the problem lies (could be coffee itself ) and adjust accordingly. That or time it just right and enjoy the cleansing benefits, preferably like clockwork when the boss makes the rounds in the morning

[rixatrix]

Could you do just a regular latte, no SF hazelnut? You might also try just doing the espresso shots alone. In every coffee shop but Starbucks, a macchiato is a shot or two of espresso with 1/2" of milk foam on top. Toss it back; instant caffeine. Don't try to savor it - it can be pretty harsh, especially if the espresso isn't that great to begin with. But it's low in calories and an instant fix.

I also drink brewed green tea, which is good for you in a million ways. And it's pretty gentle, I think...

Technically, you know, caffeine has a sort of laxative effect, so I'm not surprised you're having trouble with it now. But best of luck trying to find ways to get that energy kick when you need it.

[Emoore]

I can't stand that nasty sugar-free syrup, but a plain old skim-milk latte is pretty good. I have an espresso machine and make them at home.