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Black coffee is one of the best beverages to start your morning off with ample energy, kickstarting your metabolism and even satiating your appetite for an easier time losing weight. Low in calories, black coffee is packed with antioxidants which are great for improving your overall health, but the flavor is admittedly an acquired taste.
However, it’s when you begin to load your coffee with additives such as sugar and creamer that your drink can skyrocket in calories and even provoke worsened bloating and inflammation when consumed on a regular basis, leading to continued discomfort in your body. If you often find yourself struggling with chronic bloating and are looking to streamline your diet to improve your overall health, there’s one coffee order that you should never opt for when it comes to kicking bloat to the curb, according to experts.
It’s no secret that dairy can be an incredibly inflammatory food item on the stomach, even if you aren’t lactose intolerant. On top of that, sugar as an additive is high in calories and can irritate the stomach lining, slowing down your metabolism with regular consumption. While on its own black coffee is rich in antioxidants, adding creamer and sugar to your beverage can bog down an otherwise healthy drink.
“A large amount of dairy can cause a mild sensitivity if not consumed on a regular basis and is also inflammatory, causing excess mucus production, both of which can lead to bloat,” warns nutritionist Lisa Richards. “Refined sugar used to sweeten your coffee will lead to gas and bloating as the bacteria in your gut work to digest it and produce gas as a byproduct.”
With all of this in mind, it’s coffee orders dependent on dairy which you should avoid in your day to day routine, particularly if you struggle with chronic inflammation and bloat. “The worst coffee drinks to order are full-dairy cappuccinos, mocha lattes, and white chocolate mochas. They all have excessive amounts of dairy, sugar, or both,” explains Richards.
“Frozen coffee drinks like caramel lattes and Starbucks' famous Frappuccinos will also likely lead to bloating,” she warns. In simpler terms, coffee drinks that could be passed off as dessert are unsurprisingly the primary culprits for bloat, and if inflammation tends to be a common issue for you, it could be made worse by your daily trip to Starbucks.
When you buy coffee out it’s often much more tempting to purchase a sweeter variation than you might regularly make at home, but when this becomes a habit your body can begin to suffer. Instead, the next time you head out to purchase a coffee, consider keeping the dairy to a minimum.
This doesn’t necessarily mean cutting your sweet drinks out permanently, instead it can merely entail finding simple switches to make them work in moderation. “Opt for a plant based milk and natural sweetener alternative. One great option is a cappuccino made with almond milk or your favorite plant based milk,” suggests Richards. “This removes the dairy and the refined sugar that could be aggravating your gut and causing bloating.”
Altering your coffee order likely will not be the cure all to your bloating woes, but making small adjustments in your diet incrementally over time will begin to soothe your stomach as you target particularly irritating foods to your digestion. From dairy to sugar, cutting back on these additives in your coffee is a great place to start, and while you may not be a black coffee fan, even switching to plant milk and natural sweetener can be a great solution to saving calories and limiting the number of irritants you’re consuming each morning. As delicious as they may be, dairy packed cappuccinos and specialty drinks are better left in moderation if you want to do away with inflammation for good.
