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A healthy diet can be an important component of keeping your metabolism running properly. One of the easiest ways to do so is to incorporate metabolism-boosting hot drinks into your diet; teas and coffee can both play a vital role in speeding up your metabolism.
However, you should keep an eye on what sweeteners you are adding to these hot drinks since they can change how these drinks affect your metabolism–and can even slow your metabolism down.
Sweetened Coffee
Coffee is a healthy morning beverage on its own, and can help improve your metabolism. In fact, according to Healthline, "Caffeine, partly due to its stimulant effect on the central nervous system, both raises metabolism and increases the oxidation of fatty acids."
However, if you start adding sugar, flavored syrups, and cream to your coffee, those metabolism-boosting properties are no longer as effective. Rather, the added sugar can have the reverse effect on your metabolism.
Ordering a specialty coffee drink can add a lot of sugar and calories to your diet, which can mean trouble for your metabolism.
Healthline explains, "Added sugar is arguably one of the worst ingredients in the modern diet. Sugar, mainly due to its high amount of fructose, is linked to all sorts of serious diseases like obesity and diabetes."
Since refined sugar is full of empty calories, there is little nutritional value in these sugar-filled coffee drinks.
Plus, too much sugar can make you crave even more sweets, making it difficult to keep sugar in moderation and negatively impacting an otherwise healthy diet.
Instead, try to keep sweeteners to a minimum. If you cannot stomach black coffee, add a milk or dairy alternative to your morning cup.
Alternatively, if you have a sweet tooth, you could try a healthier sweetener--like stevia, honey, or even syrup--to sweeten your coffee with more natural sugars. You could also add a dash of cinnamon to your coffee, which has its own metabolism-boosting benefits.
