Healthy Starbucks Options
Today’s post is for my fellow coffee lovers. (Hello, #momfuel). Want to indulge in a delicious Starbucks drink without ruining your diet or adding a ton of extra sugar and junk? I recently chatted with a Starbucks Barista who gave me the inside scoop on all the healthy Starbucks options.
4 Healthy Starbucks Options:
1. Plain Coffee with Sugar-free syrups:
- Cinnamon Dolce
- Caramel
- Vanilla
- Hazelnut
- Light Sugar-Mocha
2. Skinny-Syrup Lattes: Try a latte made with nonfat milk and a sugar-free syrup. Skip the coconut and soy milk as they both come pre-sweetened with added sugar.
3. Add cinnamon: Adding cinnamon to coffee is calorie free and a healthy option compared to adding sugar to sweeten.
4. Iced Tea: Not a coffee fan? All of the Starbucks iced teas can be unsweetened!
Things to Know
- Sauces = Sugar: Just because you make a white mocha, mocha, or pumpkin spice latte non-fat and no-whip does not make it skinny/healthy. These drinks use sauces not syrups, so they automatically have a higher sugar and calorie content. There’s so much added sugar in the mix that it’s pretty much unavoidable, even with a non-fat milk or whipped topping. (See below for ideas on how to make your own)
- Sweetener Swaps: Starbucks loves to promote the fact that they offer honey and agave, but both of these sweeteners still raise blood sugar and cause an insulin spike. If you want to go sweet, try some of the options above or bring your own sweetener (like stevia etc) to be added to iced as well as espresso based drinks.
- “Light” Lies: There’s nothing light or healthy about a light frappuccino, sorry frappe lovers! Even the light frappuccino, while it’s made with skim milk and low-sugar base (they mix it in a blender to make it smooth) still has a sugared syrup unless told to be substituted for.
- Watch the whipped cream!: The Starbucks whipped cream is sweetened with sugared vanilla syrup.
- Watch the drizzle: For example, Iced Caramel Macchiatos are one of the “healthier sweetened options” – and it can be made “skinny” but it still has a caramel drizzle that contains loads of sugar!
Syrup 101
If you’re looking to lower the sugar content, reduce the number of pumps of syrup, or try the sugar free version.
General Numbers (pumps of syrup)
- Tall Hot and Cold= 3
- Grande Hot and Cold = 4
- Venti Hot = 5
- Venti Cold = 6
- Trenta Cold (only for teas and iced coffees) = 7
Note: Average sugar syrup has 5 – 25 calories per pump!
Drinks Under 200 Calories
(Thank you Starbucks for this info)
Hot and cold drinks, all under 200 calories.
| Cold Drinks (Tall) | Calories | Fat (g) |
| Caramel Frappuccino® Light Blended Beverage | 100 | 0 |
| Coffee Frappuccino® Blended Beverage | 180 | 2.5 |
| Teavana® Shaken Iced Passion Tango™ Tea | 0 | 0 |
| Shaken Tazo® Iced Black Tea Lemonade | 100 | 0 |
| Nonfat Iced Vanilla Latte | 120 | 0 |
| Nonfat Iced Caramel Macchiato | 140 | 1 |
| Iced Coffee (with classic syrup) | 60 | 0 |
| Iced Skinny Latte | 70 | 0 |
| Hot Drinks (Tall) | Calories | Fat (g) |
| Brewed Coffee | 5 | 0 |
| Brewed Tea | 0 | 0 |
| Nonfat Green Tea Latte | 210 | 0 |
| Nonfat Cappuccino | 60 | 0 |
| Nonfat Caffè Latte | 100 | 0 |
| Nonfat Caramel Macchiato | 140 | 1 |
| Soy Chai Tea Latte | 180 | 2 |
| Nonfat Caffè Mocha – hold the whip | 170 | 2 |
| Skinny Vanilla Latte | 100 | 0 |
| Steamed Apple Juice | 170 | 0 |
| Caffè Americano | 10 | 0 |
Starbucks Copy Cat Recipes + Healthy Coffee Ideas
Want to make your OWN healthy Starbucks options? Check out some of our healthy coffee ideas and recipes below…
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