Hidden Problems with Coffee.

 Earlier, we uncovered why coffee is actually not bad for you (and studies say it's good for you!).

But when talking about all the benefits of coffee, we've got to remember that for many of us, we drink more than just coffee.  For a lot of us, especially with the popularization of coffee shops, drinking coffee also means drinking creamer or half-and-half or sugar (or, worse, artificial sweeteners).

Like Dr. Ron van Dam explains, "Also keep in mind that the research is typically based on coffee that's black or with a little milk or sugar, but not with the kind of high-calorie coffeehouse beverages that have become popular over the past few years. A 24-ounce mocha Frappachino at Starbucks with whipped cream has almost 500 calories—that's 25 percent of the daily calorie intake for someone who requires 2,000 calories a day."

Coffeemate Belgian Chocolate Toffee creamer is my poison of choice.  What's yours?

I've given it up more times than I can count.  And then, inevitably, I come running back to it.  It's like an addiction.  Yep, I'm a Belgian Chocolate Toffee addict.

But these ingredients are BAD. Have you ever flipped over your bottle of creamer and taken a good, hard look? 

Sugar is the second ingredient.  That's never good in and of itself.  Michael Pollan, in his book Food Rules, says to avoid food that has any form of sugar in the first three ingredients.  Ingredients are listed according to quantity.  So, in this example above, there is more water than anything else in the creamer, and more sugar than everything but water.

The third ingredient is partially hydrogenated soybean oil.  Partially hydrogenated oils are a major danger to health, but unfortunately are in a huge percentage of the packaged foods on the market today.  Read more about why I avoid these as much as possible here.

Natural and artificial flavoring is something I am trying to stay completely away from for many reasons.  Rather than pretty much re-word this great post, I'll just link to it.  Go read it!  It's a great, simple explanation about why this stuff is something you should be on the lookout for and avoid (and, in turn, you'll find that you can consume almost no processed foods now because it's used in so. many. things.).

The rest of the ingredients include things I can't pronounce and have no knowledge of, and that's just not a good idea in general.

So, common sense tells me to kick this bad habit for good.

And if you think Starbucks is healthy, think again!  This might be one of the hardest pills to swallow for me, because I love me some Starbucks (and Caribou Coffee and pretty much any other coffeehouse in existence).

I'll post any and all healthy and yummy creamer or coffee drink recipes I find as I play around with finding a healthier alternative without forcing myself to choke down black coffee.