May 10, 2005
How to Wean Yourself From Sugar/Sweetener in Coffee
I drink coffee every day, a couple of big mugs every morning. The latest news (until a contradictory report comes out) is that a couple of cups of coffee a day is good for you, although that's not why I drink it. I just like coffee. 
Anyway, along with cream, for the longest time I had to have Nutrasweet in my coffee since I found the taste of it "straight" too harsh and often bitter. I know that there is nothing out there connecting Aspartame to cancer, but I always have that little voice in the back of my mind telling me that 700 packets a year is probably not a good thing to put in my body.
I figured I'd switch to (gasp!) sugar. Sure, it spikes your insulin production, but I figured a teaspoon only has 16 calories. So what was the problem? Aspartame is so much sweeter than sugar that it would take more like two tablespoons to make the coffee taste as sweet. Now that's a lot of sugar (remember, that's times two servings). A friend suggested that I try honey instead. At first I thought that would taste wierd, but I figured: Why not?
Honey does have more calories per teaspoon, but here's the interesting thing: Although I couldn't really taste it, honey took the edge off the harshness/bitterness of the coffee for me. One teaspoon was enough.
That was Step 1.
I just stuck with that for a couple of weeks, getting used to the less-sweetened version of coffee.
Step 2 involved slowly decreasing the amount of honey I added to my coffee. Some days less, and some days the same amount I was used to.
Step 3 is where I started skipping the use of honey on say, every other cup.
I reached Step 4 this week, and am now drinking coffee with cream only, and I don't really miss the sweetness. Sure, it tastes different, but it's less "dessert-like" which is a good thing and now I'm saving a few calories, avoiding an insulin-spike, and not putting 700 packets of chemical sweetener in my body every year. :-)
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