I, like so many in the population, start my day with a cup of coffee. In recent years, I’ve added a 2nd or 3rd cup into my day but after seeing all the extra calories I was consuming first thing in the morning with my coffee – I decided it was time to learn how to modify my coffee to be more healthy.
I’ll be sharing some of my macro-friendly coffee creations in this category on my blog here for you & updating often. Some will be all my own creations and others will be from other sources, whom I will credit for their recipes.
It’s not super difficult to order drinks at Starbucks with less sugar, calories or carbs. It’s usually as simple as swapping the regular syrup for the sugar-free version, using only 1 pump of regular or seasonal syrups, and switching out the milk. So, you can always try that with any drink that you want to modify and see if you like it.
Starbucks Iced Pumpkin Spice Latte
If PSL is life and you’re all about sipping this special seasonal drink because it’s literally like Fall in a cup – look no further. I can save you 300 calories by modifying the drink to be more macro-friendly. The traditional grande PSL from Starbucks has 380 calories, 14g Fat, 52g carbs & 50g sugars. Wowzers, right?
This may or may not be an original creation, I honestly can’t remember – I’ve been doing this for years. It’s just a basic modification of a Starbucks drink.
How to order:
- Order a grande iced coffee with no classic
- Ask for 1 pump of pumpkin sauce, 3 pumps of sugar-free vanilla
- Ask for light heavy cream (or use the term splash) which I estimate is between 1-1.5 tablespoons.
When you start ordering coffee with a “splash” or “light” heavy cream you’ll start to notice what color the coffee should be if it’s truly a “splash” – The coffee should still be light brown not white. The lighter the coffee turns, the more heavy cream and thus the more calories. There are 50 calories in every tablespoon of heavy cream, so it’s easy to go overboard if you’re not careful.
Here’s a snapshot from MyFitness Pal where I input how I ordered it so you can see the macros from the modification. See the huge difference across the board from calories to carbs to sugar and personally I think it tastes better.
You can absolutely work one of these into your macros – even if you’re Keto – if you plan your day out accordingly.
I used to love the PSL as it came when I was in college and it first came out but since I’ve scaled back sugar in my coffee over the past couple years – it’s just too sweet for me now. Not criticizing Starbs or the PSL – just a personal preference. I love that with just the 1 pump of pumpkin sauce you still get that great Fall, pumpkin flavor but it’s not overly syrupy and sweet. I have a feeling you’ll like it too!
I’m going to try and modify the PSL hot in the near future and I’ll get back to you when I have it perfected. In the meantime, if you want to follow the most amazing macro-friendly drink account follow @themacrobarista on Instagram. His account is THE BOMB!
