Here are 5 ways that I personally utilize to stop using coffee creamer and decrease sugar in my diet.
5 ways to break your coffee creamer habit
Adding coffee creamer to your coffee or hitting up Starbucks/the local coffee joint (if that’s more your jam) on a weekly/daily basis can reek havoc on your health/fitness goals & your money goals. Since I love creating discipline/making progress in my health/fitness + keeping around as much money as possible so I can stress a heck of a lot less, I thought I’d share a few tips that’ve helped me + my fitness girl squad make their coffee routine fit their budget & their healthy lifestyle.
Here’s a few stats for you…
The average coffee creamer has approximately 5 grams of sugar per teaspoon added & MOST of us are adding MORE than 1 tsp to our coffee. I mean I don’t know about you, but every time I pull out a teaspoon I am SHOCKED at how small it is. Let’s be honest, most of us are putting like an inch of coffee creamer in our coffee, not 5 drops. Even if you grab a coffee creamer with LESS sugar, wouldn’t it be cool if there was something that actually could ADD nutrition to your coffee instead of just being “extra calories?!” I think so!
As far as the budget goes, grabbing a coffee with a friend at your local coffee shop (here in WA state the coffee is AMAZING & I’m super spoiled) should be a TREAT. The average under 35 year old has $1500ish in savings right now (insert “I’ve seen a ghost emoji face”). I remember my VERY FIRST savings goal after graduating PT school was to save 5k and NOT TOUCH IT. I did this by living with a married couple for four months and paying the least amount of rent I possibly could. Then, I left it alone. A few years later, when my car literally DIED by having a seizure while stopped at a red light because of a previously unknown transmission problem (which I had recently paid $600 to “fix”) I had 5k to put toward my next car. While I wouldn’t recommend totally draining your savings account, basically ever — I didn’t have a choice because the trade in value of my car was $800 (WAY more than I thought I’d get btw). Long story SHORT — if the average 35 year old has less than 2k in savings, WE collectively should NOT be spending $5/day or $5/wk on coffee that is NOT as good as something we could make at home (more on that later).
Here are my FIVE TIPS on saving money + having a healthier coffee habit
Switch Out Your Coffee Creamer For Almond Milk: Almond Milk has TONS of nutritional value. I typically buy Silk Almond Milk with 30 calories & no added sugar. It has 52% of your calcium intake compared to 29% from dairy milk, and 0g of sugar. It does have low amounts of protein compared to other non-dairy milks, but it does GREAT in an at home milk frother, much better I’ve found than my previous fav cashew milk. If you’re not ready to up your game with a frother yet, I would recommend cashew milk since it’s creamier and has a much closer “heaviness/creaminess” to regular milk. It also has 45% of your calcium intake, which is pretty close to almond milk.
Buy Quality Coffee: I love my parents A LOT, but they almost NEVER buy high quality coffee. One of my favorite memories is finding a tin of 8 o’clock coffee & creating a really catchy song about it with my cousin Allison. By that time, they had transitioned from 8 o’clock coffee (which for full disclosure I’ve never actually tried) to folgers. And while, in a total pinch I will 10000% drink folgers coffee over nothing it’s not something that EVER finds its way into my grocery cart. These days, I am 100% converted to a Lavazza Coffee Snob. When I initially made the switch after being converted by my “only drink high quality coffee” friend Katlin, ironically while drinking coffee in Nepal — I had a HARD time switching from $4/bag coffee to $8/bag coffee. In my head that was a DOUBLE the price jump that was hard to swallow. When I did the math though, one bag of coffee lasts me roughly one month, which is 27 cents per cup of coffee. A CRAZY DEAL + I’ve realized that my neighborhood safeway does 2 for one deals on Lavazza coffee monthly, so I only buy them when they’re about 5.95$/bag. If you don’t have Lavazza coffee at a store near you, you can grab it on Amazon here (medium roast, dark roast, espresso roast -my favorite!, 4 bag variety pack, k cups). Don’t forget you can also grab bags of coffee at your favorite local spot to support them in a more financially minded way!
Get An AT HOME Milk Frother: I have wanted an at home milk frother for YEARS. Basically since 2016 when my fancy coffee friend Katlin told me they are life changing magic. For some reason, I often have a REALLY HARD TIME buying things my brain determines are “frivolous.” I can spend TONS of money at target or staples on organizational stuff, drop money on courses like it’s my job, but clothes shopping + kitchen shopping are not things where it’s easy for me to spend money on. That being said, if I had a bit of advice for my 2016 year self it would be BUY THE DANG MILK FROTHER RIGHT THIS SECOND. Milk frothers are THE BOMB. They give you that foam that I have no problem paying $5 for someone else to do and it’s EASY. My boyfriend, Batman, bought me this milk frother for Christmas & I haven’t stopped using it since. It’s awesome because you can microwave the milk in the glass, then pump it & put it straight into your coffee. Almond milk is BY FAR a better frothy milk than cashew milk, but those are the only two I’ve tried. Since I’m a rebel, I pump it like 30 times instead of the 10 or whatever the instructions say, good news: no consequences.
Calculate How Much You’ll Save By Drinking Coffee At Home: Every time I have that feeling that I want to buy coffee out in town I ask myself a few questions. Is it possible to go home & make my favorite coffee instead? Would the coffee I buy be better than the coffee I can make myself at home? What else would I rather do with the $5 I’m about to spend to get this coffee? and will having this coffee get me closer to or further away from my money goals? Sometimes, I’m exhausted & I legit NEED THAT COFFEE to function. In those times, about 15% of the time, I buy the coffee. Otherwise, I either buy the coffee & try to figure out how I could’ve planned better to have avoided buying the coffee OR I don’t buy the coffee. During work, I often have bags of tea in my bag so I can make black tea (usually chai) if I need an extra pick me up. Or if you’re really struggling to kick your habit, buying a gift card in advance for your “monthly coffee budget,” can totally help you stick to it better. That way you still get the freedom to buy coffee, but you’re doing it in a strategic manner instead of just by impulse! I’m ALL — ABOUT guilt free spending! Plus sometimes, you can buy a gift card with points from your credit card or spend $15 get $20, which is a way to make your money go further.
Get Your Coffee Fix + Up Your Nutrition Game At The Same Time: I used to grab a bagel + cream cheese & eat it on the way to work in the morning. My steering wheel had cream cheese on it, I had cream cheese on me, and I was always crashing by 10am starving and wondering how on earth I was going to make it to lunch. Four years ago I found a different way to do breakfast, & I haven’t looked back since. I now have a superfood filled smoothie each morning that takes me just as much time as a bagel (2 minutes max) that I blend with 2-3 ice cubes, almond milk, & a packet of cafe latte shakeology. When I’m feeling extra wild, I add in 2-3 drops of peppermint extract and/or some chocolate protein powder to give it that peppermint mocha feel. Shakeology is an awesome way if you’re looking to curb cravings, kick bloating, have an awesome quick breakfast that tastes amazing, & to fuel your body from the inside out with HIGH QUALITY ingredients. There’s vegan OR regular whey (I switch between both, but if I had to pick I’d say the whey one is my fav). I drink it daily because I didn’t like how my belly felt when it was bloated (before shakeology) & it curbs my mad crazy totally obscene chocolate cravings (I love the cafe latte but I ALSO keep chocolate on hand at all times, so I go with the barista pack — regular — vegan).
At the end of the day, having healthy eating habits is a lifestyle. It isn’t about perfection, it’s about small, simple changes that ADD UP to BIG results. It’s about doing things a little differently each week, each month, and noticing three years later that you’re craving mushrooms which is crazy because when you started you didn’t even LIKE mushrooms. It’s about learning about nutrition & living a healthy lifestyle, creating confidence that in fact you ARE TOTALLY CAPABLE OF IT, & then surrounding yourself with other women who are doing it too, so you don’t feel so alone or overwhelmed.
So, girlfriend, here’s to enjoying our coffee & drinking it too ;)
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Photo by Brigitte Tohm on Unsplash