Trust me I know the lure of a latte. I myself used to get grande green tea lattes thinking I was doing something good for myself. Boy was I fooled. Why?

1. Sugar: I used to think the matcha focused my mind and gave me energy. Well maybe it was all that sugar in the matcha powder ‘mix’. Little did I know that my ‘unsweetened matcha latte’ had a not so subtle ingredient.

2. Soy milk: Full of weird chemicals and preservatives and sugar. Not to mention that soy contains antinutrients like goitrogens; chemicals that actually slow down your thyroid function and trypsin inhibitors which reduce protein digestion. (If oyu are going to have soy products stick to fermented ones like miso and tempeh. The fermentation process reduces the antinutrients)

3. Caffeine: Matcha tea has many benefits but also contains some caffeine. Caffeine taxes our adrenal glands. I’m not saying don’t have a matcha latte just maybe cut back. Your adrenals will thank you! Caffeine causes the adrenals to produce adrenalin. Perfect if we are running from our bosses but not so good when we are pretty stationary all day at a desk. This causes insulin to spike which stores  the free floating sugar circulating in our blood stream into our cells. No sugar in our blood causes us to crave sugar, feel irritable and fatigued. The fatigue makes you want more caffeine. Essentially we are robbing our body of energy by keeping it in ‘alert mode’. After time that causes exhaustion, dark under eye circles and craving more caffeine to keep us going!

Read more about caffeine here.

What can you do?

It was a sad sad day when I decided that all the cons outweighed the pros for my latte. I didn’t want soy in my diet, and all that hidden sugar really hurt me. I might have shed a tear. I have tried finding the perfect latte but most mixes contain sugar or the cafe will not have almond milk (a much more healthier alternative to soy). So in an effort to get my fix I came up with a few lattes of my own!

And there is always the option of tea so you can still meet your friends at a cafe to enjoy the ambiance and not the hidden sugar, anti-nutrients and caffeine:)

If you opt to stay in, try this latte:

Ginger spice latte

Ingredients

• 1 inch of fresh ginger, peeled and grated
• 1/8 teaspoon pumpkin spice mix
• 1/8 teaspoon allspice
• 1 cup almond milk
• 1cup water
• sweeten with honey, maple syrup or stevia

Directions

1. In a saucepan heat up 1 cup of almond milk. You can opt to add 1/2 cup almond milk and 1/2 cup of water.
2. Add the freshly grated ginger, and spices.
3. Stir and let it simmer for a few minutes.
4. If you are new to using ginger opt for a smaller amount depending on your taste. I love ginger!
5. Once warm enough strain mixture and add additional almond milk or water. I usually use a milk frother, I love bubbles in my milk.

This drink will definitely warm you up on those cold nights, mornings, and middays.

~Michelle

Holistic Nutritionist.