Make your coffee a healthy one

Susan Aldridge, PhD

You can get the health benefits and enjoyment from a coffee without adding calories, fat and sugar.
A cup of coffee is one of life's little pleasures and many people now opt for a latte or a cappuccino instead of a plain filter coffee because shops offering these are now so widespread. The milk content of latte and cappuccino can provide you with much needed calcium - but might also add as many as 570 calories to your daily intake, warn doctors at the Mayo Clinic.

But you can still enjoy a coffee without consuming the calorie and fat equivalent of a whole meal. Go for small or medium, rather than giant, sizes, if you are having a milky coffee. In many coffee shops you can have skimmed milk or non-fat milk as an option. Use a sweetener rather than sugar - especially if you have several cups of coffee a day. Two sugars in each serving and you could end up with as much as 150 extra calories a day. It goes without saying that whipped cream and marshmallow topping should be kept as an occasional treat. The same goes for flavored syrups - for they're loaded with sugar.

Source
Mayo Clinic Women's HealthSource February 2003
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