Is Your Skinny Latte Making You Fat?

For the first time in about a year, I had tall a Starbucks Skinny Vanilla Latte on Monday. It tasted like a warm hug on a cool Beaver Creek day. It was the perfect balance of sweet and toasty with a nice touch of cinnamon. It was heaven in a cup. 

There's a reason, though, it was the first one I had in a long time: consuming lattes regularly, even skinny ones, can be a fat pill. 

A tall skinny latte has 100 calories and 15 grams of carbohydrates. That's not a lot BUT skim milk is a carbohydrate that your body breaks down into glucose AKA sugar. If you drink too much of it, it's stored as fat. When you drink a skinny latte, you're adding more simple carbs to your diet. The fatty acids in full-fat milk can help with regulating your weight. There is science to support full-fat dairy correlating to a lower risk of obesity.

Carbs do not make you fat. Excess carbs do and that's what too many skinny lattes can become: excess carbohydrates. 

Let's think about this realistically: do you often just get a tall latte? Is it usually a grande? Do you drink lattes five days a week? Do you sometimes drink more than one a day? Registered dietician Tanya Zuckerbrot told Elle magazine that skim lattes are like taking two slices of white bread and putting them in a coffee cup. (Candidly, I think her math is off a bit. She claims that skim lattes have 35 grams of carbs. A skim venti latte has 25 grams of carbs, according to Starbucks official nutrition menu). Her point about consuming too many simple carbohydrates is worth considering. 

I Was A Fat Skinny Latte Drinker
When I was fat, I was a skinny latte drinker. I stopped drinking lattes regularly and swapped them for plain old brewed coffee. I now drink coffee with milk (whole or 2%), almond milk, half & half, hazelnut/french vanilla coconut creamer or whatever else I have on hand. I always add a liberal dash of cinnamon which adds a wealth of healthy benefits. I didn't drop a ton of weight immediately but it is one of those little changes that has made a big impact over the long haul and has helped me lose 55 pounds. 

Bonus? I'm also saving money. A latte costs more than $3. Drip coffee is a little more than a buck when you purchase it in a coffee shop. It's even less expensive when you brew it at home.

I'm not saying you should give up your latte. Think about limiting it to just once a week and consider going with a full-fat version. You will enjoy it more, feel fuller and save a few bucks in the process. 

What About You? 
Do you love lattes? Are you willing to consume fewer of them? What is one change that you have made that has made the biggest impact on your diet? Looking for more more easy diet tips and tricks? Get my new ebook "The 10 Easiest Diet Secrets: Simple Secrets To Help You Lose Weight And Maintain Your Weight Loss For Good". 

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