I am a girl who loves to run and loves to keep active. Whether its kayaking, pond skating(!!), hiking, biking, or walking to a nearby coffee shop, I do my job to keep fit. But I also love to eat… and drink. And like most runners, I am cautious about what and how much I consume. Sometimes, however, I throw the what right out of the window, like every September when pumpkin spice lattes are back in season. If you are like me and love pumpkin spice but don’t love the calories, I have a few tips for you.
1. Know what you’re drinking.
Spend ten minutes and browse the nutrition section on the Starbucks website. Find out not only how much calories, but how much sugar and fat are in your favorite drinks. For example, a grande 2% pumpkin spice latte with whipped cream has 380 calories and 50 grams of sugar! (There are only 4.2 grams in a teaspoon of sugar.)
2. Cut the whipped cream, you don’t need it.
The drink is sweet and milky enough as is. Save whipped cream when you’re trying to sweeten up a snack like strawberries. You just saved 60 calories, but we’re not done.
3. Go fat free.
I wouldn’t always suggest this, since in a normal latte or cappuccino I think the milk makes all the difference. However, when something is as sugary as this drink your taste buds won’t even know you tricked them. This tip just saved another 50 calories, bringing the drink to a total of 260 calories.
4. Go one pump.
In a normal grande pumpkin spice latte there are three pumps of pumpkin spice flavoring. Each pump has 30 calories. Cutting the pumps, though, actually does change the tatse of the latte. Unlike the above tricks, if you order one pump you’re probably going to be disappointed.
5. Latte-less.
To get my pumpkin spice fix, I usually order a plain iced coffee with one pump of pumpkin spice flavoring. It’s delicious and WAY less caloric (around 50 calories in the whole drink), and you still get that sweet pumpkin flavor that reminds you it’s fall!
6. Don't be fooled.
Like I said before, I am not only cautious about how much I eat, but what I eat. If you like sugar in your coffee, have it! Just don’t drink it as often or maybe have a half of a cookie with it instead of a whole one. Whatever you do, DON’T use artificial sweeteners or sugar-free syrups. They may be less caloric, but many studies show that artificial sweeteners can be just as bad as sugar when it comes to how it affects your weight. Your best bet is to use unrefined sugar if you can, but unfortunately you can’t get a pump of pumpkin spice made with unrefined sugar because it doesn't exist. So be smart about it. Don’t make a grande pumpkin spice latte part of your morning routine, but you can bet that when I wake up on my birthday in October it will be the first thing I get!
Showing posts with label Starbucks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Starbucks. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
LivingSocial + Starbucks
UPDATED at bottom
DC's very own non-political, non-government, non-non-governmental-organization LivingSocial is to partner with the word's leading coffee shop: Starbucks.
Whether you:
Remember though, these national and popular daily deals sell out FAST. You may remember when LivingSocial partnered with Whole Foods? It was a $10 for $20 deal and sold out of 1 million deals in just a few hours.
Just make sure to read the small print. Often times, the deal has to be used in one sitting. So if you normally order a $2 coffee, then buying the $5 for $10 deal to Starbucks this week wouldn't be your best bet.
This deal just got much more awesome. The deal will be a $10 gift card, so it is not unnecessary to use all at once. Also, it is likely to be released TONIGHT. So make sure to keep tuned in to LivingSocial.com.
DC's very own non-political, non-government, non-non-governmental-organization LivingSocial is to partner with the word's leading coffee shop: Starbucks.
Coming later this week, LivingSocial will be offering a $5 deal for $10 worth of Starbucks.
- love Starbucks;
- hate Starbucks;
- love the coffee but hate buying from "The Man"; or,
- hate the coffee but love the convenience...
Remember though, these national and popular daily deals sell out FAST. You may remember when LivingSocial partnered with Whole Foods? It was a $10 for $20 deal and sold out of 1 million deals in just a few hours.
Just make sure to read the small print. Often times, the deal has to be used in one sitting. So if you normally order a $2 coffee, then buying the $5 for $10 deal to Starbucks this week wouldn't be your best bet.
This deal just got much more awesome. The deal will be a $10 gift card, so it is not unnecessary to use all at once. Also, it is likely to be released TONIGHT. So make sure to keep tuned in to LivingSocial.com.
September 2012
I. LOVE. FALL.
And while Fall may still feel far away here in DC, it was beginning to bloom while I was home in Massachusetts for the Labor Day weekend, which gave me hope for the District.
Before I moved to DC, the brisk air and dewy mornings of Fall began in September. The start of school meant the start of the Season. Well, I have been down here for a while now and the feeling of Fall doesn't truly come until the last few days of October, which also happens to be my BIRTHDAY so it works out quite nicely.
With all this uncertainty over when Fall starts, it's lucky we have big corporations and marketing experts to tell us when the start of Fall is and, according to Starbucks, Fall is NOW.
PUMPKIN. SPICE.
Pumpkin Pancakes
Pumpkin Crepes
Pumpkin Kisses
Pumpkin Cream Cheese
Pumpkin Whoopie Pies
Pumpkin Ale
Pumpkin Biscottis
Pumpkin Gelato
Pumpkin Pie
Pumpkin Bread
And last, but most certainly not least,
PUMPKIN SPICE LATTE
Monday, November 14, 2011
Cream, Sugar, and Salt?
I can say with great certainty that I never ever thought I would have salt in my coffee. And I can say now with certainty that I never ever WANT to have salt in my coffee.
There has been a new flavor trend flooding the market recently, and that is salted caramel or salted mocha.
It started with toffees:
And certainly enough it ended up inserting itself into a cup of coffee:
I have had friends say, “Samantha give it a try and blog about it,” and my response has always been EW!
But last Friday was Veteran’s Day, and since I live in D.C. everyone had the day off, except for me because I work for dirty corporate lobbyists. (Disclaimer: I say that with the utmost sense of sarcasm because for all those who know me – and for all those who don’t, oh boy are you missing out – I have spent my last three years researching the ethical behavior of corporate lobbyists and loathe the negative connotation that is attached to the profession. Feel free to engage me in a conversation if you wish to learn more.) And now back to the story. I was at work on Friday with butt-loads to do and my boss offered to pick me up a cup of coffee from the nearby Starbucks – very sweet of her to offer. I said a small latte would be wonderful. She came back and handed me my cup o’ jo and it smelt a liiitttllle bit funky. It turns out she ordered one of those fancy new salted drinks, a salted caramel latte, and the barista made two of those instead of one plain milk and espresso. I was tempted to hand it off, but, since so many of my loyal blog followers have asked for it, I figured now is a better time than any to try out this salted caffeinated obsession. Here is what I thought:
The taste, although I almost don’t even want to admit it, wasn’t half bad. I can at least understand why people might enjoy the drink. Though, for me, just the thought of all that salt in a coffee cup is enough to give me a heart attack, never mind consuming the thing itself. But I am trying to be fair, and the initial taste didn’t want to make me puke as much as I thought it would. As I continued to drink, reluctantly, (but I am doing this for you *cough* Zack Schwartz) I liked it less, and less, and less. Mostly because the more I drank the dryer my moth would become. Soon I felt like a fish out of water.
It was rather unpleasant.
There has been a new flavor trend flooding the market recently, and that is salted caramel or salted mocha.
It started with toffees:
Which led to cupcakes:
I have had friends say, “Samantha give it a try and blog about it,” and my response has always been EW!
But last Friday was Veteran’s Day, and since I live in D.C. everyone had the day off, except for me because I work for dirty corporate lobbyists. (Disclaimer: I say that with the utmost sense of sarcasm because for all those who know me – and for all those who don’t, oh boy are you missing out – I have spent my last three years researching the ethical behavior of corporate lobbyists and loathe the negative connotation that is attached to the profession. Feel free to engage me in a conversation if you wish to learn more.) And now back to the story. I was at work on Friday with butt-loads to do and my boss offered to pick me up a cup of coffee from the nearby Starbucks – very sweet of her to offer. I said a small latte would be wonderful. She came back and handed me my cup o’ jo and it smelt a liiitttllle bit funky. It turns out she ordered one of those fancy new salted drinks, a salted caramel latte, and the barista made two of those instead of one plain milk and espresso. I was tempted to hand it off, but, since so many of my loyal blog followers have asked for it, I figured now is a better time than any to try out this salted caffeinated obsession. Here is what I thought:
The taste, although I almost don’t even want to admit it, wasn’t half bad. I can at least understand why people might enjoy the drink. Though, for me, just the thought of all that salt in a coffee cup is enough to give me a heart attack, never mind consuming the thing itself. But I am trying to be fair, and the initial taste didn’t want to make me puke as much as I thought it would. As I continued to drink, reluctantly, (but I am doing this for you *cough* Zack Schwartz) I liked it less, and less, and less. Mostly because the more I drank the dryer my moth would become. Soon I felt like a fish out of water.
It was rather unpleasant.
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