Healthy Living: How I Kicked My Coffee Creamer Addiction!

Happy Wednesday Friends! Did you hear about the recent "Fed up" challenge? It was featured on the Katie show and based on the documentary of the same name. I have been a long time label reader where it concerns fat and calories but I have to admit sugar has been my last hold out. Can you relate? What has been shocking to me is how many foods have added sugar that I would not even consider sweet. Even more of a revelation is that my usual two iced coffees with my favorite creamer adds 24 grams of sugar which is actually the recommended allowance for the whole day! That really put my unhealthy habit into perspective for me. On my quest to consume less added sugar, I came up with a healthy alternative for my morning routine with zero added sugar!

I should start by saying my iced coffees are actually lattes and I like a latte of milk in my coffee! For my alternative to creamer, I use unsweetened vanilla almond milk--no saturated or trans fat, cholesterol or added sugar. Plus, it has lots of potassium and I actually prefer the taste. Now for the sweet and this girl needs some sweet! Are you familiar with Monk Fruit in the Raw ? Legend says the name comes from monks that cultivated the small lemon sized fruit long ago for its healthy properties and sweet taste. In case you are interested, luo han guo--no idea how to pronounce that-- as it is called in China, has been used in herbal medicine. It is sweet without the bitter after taste sometimes associated with Stevia.

It is sweet, so start with less--you may want to try 1/2 a packet first and add more if needed. The creamers I used always had some kind of chocolate flavor, so I wanted to experiment with a healthy alternative. I decided to try organic raw cacao powder. Like cocoa, it only takes a little. The best recipe I came up with after tasting a few days is two tsps of cacao powder to one cup of monk fruit. Then I added 1/2 tsp of cinnamon. Experiment to see what you like best. You may prefer just the monk fruit or to omit either the cacao or the cinnamon I store my new concoction in an apothecary jar by my Keurig. For my iced coffee, I stir in 1 1/2 tsps before adding my almond milk, then pour it over a tall cup of ice. Delish and no added sugar!

Have you purposed to make healthier choices? I would love to hear your thoughts!

MY HEARTFELT THANKS TO THE FOLLOWING FOR FEATURING THIS POST:

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Danielle @ Poor and Gluten FreeJuly 15, 2014 at 5:05 PM
Coffee creamer is so addictive, but glad you kicked the habit! I like to flavour my coffee with spices, too. I mix it in with my grounds to make pumpkin spice coffee (I wrote a post about it here: http://poorandglutenfree.blogspot.com/2013/11/natural-homemade-pumpkin-pie-spiced.html). Thanks so much for sharing this on Waste Not Want Not Wednesday, I'm featuring it this week and pinning it to me WNWNW board :)
Melissa French - The More With Less MomJuly 15, 2014 at 7:20 PM
I, too, drink coffee with my milk. And chocolate. Thanks for sharing - hello from Waste Not Want Not Wednesday!
MorganizewithMeJuly 19, 2014 at 2:56 AM
Oh I love that you are giving a great alternative to coffee creamer, they are typically not a very good addition. Thanks for sharing and linking up!
Jennifer JuniperJuly 21, 2014 at 1:03 PM
I feel llke I was reading my own story because coffee creamer was killing me! I was trying to kick sugar, but my morning coffee would wreck my whole day!
UnknownJuly 22, 2014 at 7:33 AM
I have cut most refined sugar out of my diet over the past year, but I haven't been able to find anything to replace coffee creamer that I like. I'm definitely going to give this a try, thanks for sharing!! ~Amy
Vintage BelieverDecember 31, 2014 at 8:07 AM
Wonderful idea!

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