How to quit having sugar in your morning coffee
Many of us love sugar in our morning cup. A nice hit of carbs and caffeine can give us a great boost so we're ready for the day ahead. The only problem is that aside from the obvious negative health effects of consuming too much, sugar really knows how to change a great cup of coffee.
Now don't get me wrong, this article isn't a bash on sugar, I actually have a sweet tooth myself that way too well developed! However when it comes to coffee, you could be missing out on a complex mix of flavours when you choose to sweeten it up.
Perhaps many of us began drinking coffee in our teens, when it seemed we just couldn’t get enough of the white stuff. Or maybe in the past we’ve used sugar to counteract the bitterness of bad coffees and we’ve never been able to break the habit.
For some of us, our penchant for refined sugar could even be linked to poor diet. Right now it may be hard to imagine how coffee could improve without sugar, but just remember that our taste buds are designed to develop and adapt. Many people find that after a period of drinking coffee without sugar, drinking it with sugar tastes all wrong!
These simple steps are all you need to get you on your way:
1) Make sure you’re eating a balanced diet.
An uncontrollable desire for sugar in coffee can be a sign that you’re not getting a range of satiating foods elsewhere in your diet. The type of sugar fruit contains is thought to be less harmful than refined sugar, so next time you wake up try swapping that teaspoon of sugar for a banana and see how you feel.
2) Slowly decrease the amount of sugar you put in.
Going cold turkey is rarely advised. Breaking any habit so abruptly only causes cravings to skyrocket, offering you little or no chance of beating them. The most popular method as advised by dietary specialists is slowly reducing the amount of sugar you consume in incremental amounts. This way, you give your body time to adapt to the changes.
3) Try coffee roasts with 100% arabica beans.
If you think coffee’s too bitter without sugar, perhaps it’s because you’re used to drinking coffee with a high robusta content. Arabica beans tend to produce a sweeter coffee with less bitterness, so try sticking to 100% arabica roasts while you're making the transition.
4) If you’re still struggling, try jazzing up your coffee with healthy alternatives.
Cinnamon is a great sugar substitute. This sweet spice will certainly help to keep those sugar cravings at bay, and its anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties are believed to work wonders.
If you’re not a fan of cinnamon, we recommend experiment with things like nuts, peppermint oil, turmeric and ginger. Some of these can add real complexity to your daily cup, as well as bring out many of the subtleties in coffee that you might not have been able to pick up on before.
Follow these steps, be strong-willed and soon you’ll wonder how you ever put sugar in your coffee. Good luck!