The Truth About Coffee
I love coffee, anyone who knows me well will tell you it is one of my favourite parts of my day; so first off this is NOT an article telling you to stop drinking coffee.
There is nothing I enjoy more than sitting down with a long black in a café watching the world go by (which I do regularly). But while I sit here sipping my delicious long black I can’t help but notice what people around me order.
‘Skinny Cappuccino’
‘Soy Milk Latte’
‘Almond Milk Flat White’
Now each to their own, but I wonder how many of these people are currently trying to lose weight or be healthy and don’t realize the damage their one, two (or maybe even three or four) flat whites could be doing to them each day.
I am not here to judge, so please don’t shoot the messenger; I am merely here to educate you into making more informed decisions about your health and wellbeing. So if you care about either of these things (and lets be honest who doesn’t) then I suggest you read on (that’s all of you by the way).
First let me give you a little background on myself. I used to hate coffee, but I taught myself to like it by drinking the most un-coffee coffee I could get my hands on (because it looks cool right?!) so started drinking weak skinny flat whites, progressing to soy flat whites, flat whites, long black with cream and now here I am a self confessed coffee snob who will only drink long blacks….this process took me a good 1 - 2 YEARS (I was massively in denial!), but if I can do it so can anyone else.
Many of my clients are horrified at the thought of cutting out their 2 - 3 ‘coffees’ a day (we’ll call it coffee when in reality it is some sort of warm milk in a cup with some type of chocolate sprinkled in for good measure), until I ask them to change to a long black….they can’t possibly imagine having their beloved coffee on its own! News flash…if you can’t imagine drinking a long black then you don’t like coffee, you like everything else that goes in it! If you need to ask me what you can add to it to make it taste good then you don’t like coffee, simple (trust me I have been there!).
Why I don’t Drink Flat Whites (or Skinny Flat Whites, Lattes or Cappuccinos for that matter)
Milk, delicious protein filled milk. A controversial topic I could write a whole article (or two) on, but for now I will just stick to the basics.
Milk is made of three components, lactose (milk sugar), and two types of protein whey and casein.
It goes without saying that those who are lactose intolerant should not drink milk as they can't break down this milk sugar leading to digestive distress.
The casein protein found in milk can also cause inflammatory responses in people with diary intolerances, basically meaning our bodies immune response kicks in when we have it, damaging the body both in the short term and long term.
People tend to think of the calories not the nutrition and opt for low fat or skimmed versions. Yes its lower in calories, but it also has a higher concentration of white sugar water (which plays havoc with your insulin levels) with none of the benefits of high fat milk such as vitamins A/E/D and K.
Milk is often full of hormones and antibiotics due to poor farming which can also make it highly inflammatory to the body.
And if that was not enough if you are trying to loose weight you could be consuming a high amount of extra hidden calories a day without even realizing….putting all those perfectly measured and prepared meals out the window!
Soy Lattes
So no diary, how about soy? Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but soy is not a healthy alternative to dairy either.
The soy bean is inedible and actually toxic to humans in its raw and natural state.
Soy is estrogenic which means it comes from a plant that resembles human estrogen. These compounds can mimic and block estrogen in the human body reeking havoc with our hormone balance. They have also been shown to disrupt endocrine function, which can lead to infertility and may promote breast cancer in women.
It can interfere with protein digestion.
It can interfere with mineral absorption such as calcium, magnesium, copper, iron, vitamin D and zinc in the body.
It can decrease testosterone in men.
Almond Milk Flat Whites
Almonds are a good source of fat so therefore almond milk is a good source of fat right and the best choice right? Wrong!
Almond milk gives you none of the benefits (or very little) of regular almonds.
The majority of almond milk has around 25-33% almonds, the rest consisting of water and other ingredients such as cane sugar, xanthan gum (a form of sugar known to cause digestive problems) and an indigestible thickening agent called carrageenan.
The almonds themselves hold little nutritional value…to make almond milk these almonds are ground up, drained of all the good stuff (proteins and fats) and added with thickeners and fillers to make it taste and look good.
These thickeners have been known to produce side affects such as bloating, gas, diarrhea, and fatigue.
So no more lattes? Let me make this clear, I am referring to mainstream produced varieties of the above. If you have raw dairy, soy or almond milk the story is slightly different. But don’t forget…either way you will still be adding a significant amount of calories to your daily calorie intake which if you are trying to loose fat is going to be highly counter productive!
The best thing you can do? Become a coffee snob and learn to love a real coffee – once you have black you never go back ;)