Burgers, Diet Drinks and Lattes

Recently, I had lunch with a fellow Weight Watcher friend--not as in the organization but as in quite literally watching our weight.  These days, we mostly watch the weight climb.  At any rate, over a thankless feast of broiled lemon chicken with brown rice, salad and low cal dressing, etc., my calorie-counting buddy begins once again to lament nonstop about her failure to lose more weight. "I am doing EVERYTHING.  No midnight snacks, following the diet plan, eating only the recommended meals, no substituting ingredients, aerobics, yoga and strength training 5 times a week," she droned on. At this point I had tuned her out to focus my attention on the New York Style cheesecake covered in a mountain of cherries in front of the lady at the table next to mine. I fantasized about snatching it and running, wondering if I could make it to the front door.  I decided that the door was too far away to reach before somebody stopped me.  I tuned back in to my weight watching friend’s woes just in time for her to suggest that we get coffee at the cafe down the street.  We paid our check and left.  The cheesecake stayed behind.
We arrived to the café and approached the counter.  ‘The usual?” suggested the cashier.  As my friend nodded, I noticed that the barista (a term I use loosely) has already started the order.  Curious, I asked her what the usual was, which happened to be a large latte with whole milk, a double shot of vanilla syrup, and whole milk foam. "I love their lattes. I come here twice a day.”  Yikes.  "Dude", I say slowly.  "Do you know how many calories are in that latte you just ordered"?   "What? What are you talking about?” she cried, visibly alarmed.  "It's milk and coffee". So I broke it down for her just like this:
Between the foam and the milk in the latte you’ve got about a cup of milk.  That’s 150 calories.  Two tablespoons of vanilla syrup is 80 calories, which accounts for at least one shot.
"So what you're saying is that I'm drinking almost over  500 calories of coffee a day???” she screamed.  "Yep,” I replied.

I’d like to take this opportunity to raise one of my pet peeves: people who go to drive-thru burger joints, order the works and then PROUDLY order a diet coke. Really??? Why mind the calories now? The damage is done.  Just go ahead and get the regular coke.

Fortunately, all is not lost. You can shave calories off your favorite café and preserve the taste by substituting fat free milk and sugar free syrup, which comes in a large variety of flavors.  If you are watching your weight, be mindful of watching your favorite coffee drinks too.  They may be the very thing that sabotages you—even more so than New York Style Cherry Cheesecake.

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Coffee: The Forbidden Fruit in Your Cupboard

Count your blessings coffee lovers. Five hundred years ago, you’d be considered a stone cold criminal.  Long before cigarettes, obnoxious cell phone users, and loud music with filthy lyrics, it was actually none other than coffee that was public enemy no.  1.  Coffee was not only condemned, but outright banned in many countries before becoming the adored treat that it is today.   And being caught with it would have landed you in hot water. 

Coffee met its first opposition not far from where it was cultivated, in the Middle East and Northern Africa.  Not unlike modern Western culture, coffeehouses were the it place to be in the 16th century.  So much so, that Mosques eventually had fairly shoddy attendance, compared to coffeehouses.  By the year 1511, the governor of Mecca had had enough.  He ordered all Meccan coffeehouses to be closed and even paid off two notable doctors to endorse false propaganda about coffee’s health risks.  Around the same time, a crusade to ban coffee in Islamic law was kicked off.  The effort would continue for close to a century.   Coffee received a short-lived justice when the Sultan of Cairo (an avid coffee drinker) decided that no such ban should be made without his approval.  The ban was overturned, and the governor was sentenced to death in the year 1512 for embezzlement.  Sadly, coffeehouses were once again closed by Sultan Murat IV of Cairo during the Ramadan of 1532.  They remained closed until the very end of the century.

Coffee was met with an equal amount of delight and doubt when it reached Europe in the 17th century. The first person said to have brewed the coffee in England was Nathaniel  Conopios, a Balliol College student from Crete.  He was quickly expelled from the University for his “mischief”, but his brewing practices spread like wildfire.  After its popularity had grown, a group of Christian clerics urged Pope Clement VIII to once again prohibit the bean, insisting that it was, of course, the work of the Devil.  The Pope decided that he could not rightfully ban coffee without tasting it first.  After tasting the controversial and delicious beverage, Pope Clement VIII determined that not only was it not the work of the Devil, but that it should be baptized as a Christian drink.  King Charles II of England banned the big-bodied bean just before Christmas of 1675, out of fear that its effects of liveliness and alertness were certain to incite a revolt.  The King got the revolt he was looking for when mass protests ensued in response to the ban.  He reversed his decision on January 8th of 1676.

Over the centuries, coffee has been dogged out, expelled, and dragged through the mud.  Yet it has proved time and time again that it is a hallmark of flavor, sociability, and intrigue, and deserves its place in society.  We coffee drinkers are the descendants of the ancient creed of “give us our coffee and no one gets hurt.”  Brothers and Sisters let us continue to carry the torch.

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