Day 4 - Clean Eating Stripped

So I'm a little behind on this post…but here it is...

This week I've been a little more tired than normal...with my own doing, I will say. I've stayed up later and continue waking up early at 5am to have some quiet time and workout early.

All that to say, even though my Shakeology really helps me with more energy throughout the day, I think some catching up on sleep is in my future. 









As I was thinking about my tiredness this week, and I have to admit, I've had an extra cup of coffee the last couple days in the afternoon. Now, that's not the habit I'm going to be getting into. But sometimes it's just really comforting to me.

Now, you've got to understand, when I was a kid my mom used to let us have "coffee milk" every so often because at that time my dad didn't drink coffee and my mom wanted to have someone to drink coffee with as she got older. So, needless to say, I love my coffee in the morning. I don't need anything fancy, just my cup of warmth.


Let me paint a picture of how I USED to drink my coffee. I was a 1/2 & 1/2 and artificial junkie. I'm embarrassed to say it, but I used to have about 3-4 packets of Splenda in my coffee each morning (depending on the size of cup) PLUS I would pour 3-4 tbsp of 1/2 & 1/2 each morning.  In case you were wondering...that is not "clean" or healthy for you.

About 8 months ago, I read a post about the amount of calories a person would consume each year by drinking 3-4 tbsp of 1/2 & 1/2 each day. WOW that totally opened my eyes to how bad that was for me. And because of that post I completely cut out my use of 1/2 & 1/2.

So here's the stats...

If you have 4 tbsp of cream in your coffee each day you will consume 29,120 calories from 1/2 & 1/2 and 2,184 grams of fat per year.  That equals out to be an extra 8 lbs a year on your body!  EIGHT POUNDS... That's a lot!  This totally blew me away.

After I realized that I could be gaining an extra 8 lbs a year from just having cream in my coffee I decided to stop drinking that!  No, I can't do coffee black, I did try, but now my favorite is to have unsweetened vanilla almond milk in my coffee each morning, which in turn, makes my calories per year drop to 218 calories per year. Almond milk (unsweetened vanilla) only has 30 calories per CUP, and I only use about a 1/4 cup on my coffee. That's worth the switch!

I'm also happy to say that my Splenda consumption has gone from 3-4 packets or more per day to ZERO packets per day. (Artificial sweeteners is a whole other topic I'll address tomorrow). But, I'm very proud if myself that I'm no longer dependent on the sweetener like I used to be.

Alright, now in going to challenge YOU!  Do you tend to have too much creamer it sweetener in your coffee? If so...cut back a bit each day ... Or you can go cold turkey and totally get rid of the nasty coffee additions you are adding to your coffee. Now, I'm not at all saying to give up your daily cup of Joe, but think about what you're putting into your coffee and see where you can cut back!

Go ahead, make a change in your daily habit!