We all love waking up a little earlier for class, so we can stop and grab our favorite Starbucks drink. Now that stores/restaurants are opening up, we can treat ourselves more often (like we used to). Unfortunately, drinks on the Starbucks menu aren’t always the healthiest choices for our bodies. So here are a few small tips and changes you can make to make your Starbucks a little healthier!
Easier Than You Think
- Order a smaller size I know that when we all go to Starbucks and order our favorite drink, we love it so much that we want to order the biggest size. Unfortunately, bigger sizes mean more calories, grams of fat, and sugar. You can easily cut down on the intake of those three things. I know four-ounce differences don’t seem like a lot, but I promise in the long run its healthier plus its saving your money!
- Change up the milk you’re putting in your drink! Luckily, for me, I am lactose intolerant, so I can’t order regular milk in my iced coffees or any handcrafted Starbucks drink I order. Overall, whole milk has more calories than the other five kinds of milk that Starbucks offers. Making a small switch it something like coconut milk would cut down on calories and sugars that whole. Something as simple switching your milk could instantly make your drink healthier.
- Switch to sugar-free! I, along with many college students, love sugar. What most people don’t know is that Starbucks offers sugar-free syrups to put in your favorite drinks that contain zero calories! Yes, you read that right, ZERO calories. When adding normal sugary syrups into your drink, you are adding an additional 20 unneeded calories. This makes me rethink getting regular syrups. By making a small switch to sugar-free sugars you automatically making your drink healthier plus it tastes the same!
- Be OK without whipped cream. I know that sounds horrible. Not getting your favorite drink with whipped cream? Who would ever do that? By not adding whipped cream you cut the calories of your drink down about 60-100 calories. That is a huge drop just by doing something so similar. Personally, I think cutting calories is worth not getting whipped cream. We, as college students eat plenty of sweets as it is, cutting out whipped cream is ok… the world won’t stop spinning, I promise!
As much as I love my Starbucks drinks, I love being healthy even more. I have used some of these tips while ordering my own drinks and I feel better by just making the move toward a healthy life. I hope you enjoy these tips and hopefully, you’ll try one of them next time you order your Starbucks drink!
Written by GUADS intern Samantha with contributions from www.cheatsheet.com
Episode 31: Religion, Faith and Virtue