The other day when Kaiden and I were on our way home from a walk when I decided to treat myself to some Starbucks and got myself a Java Chip Frappuccino (I know, not a very healthy decision). Immediately after I finished my drink I felt really bloated but didn’t think much of it. Fast forward to 5am that morning and Kaiden woke up with an incredibly upset tummy, it took him almost 2 hours to settle down, poor little guy, at that moment I knew that there was no more Starbucks in my future. When we changed his diaper what did we end up seeing, the infamous red ring around his bum that is indicative of a food reaction. I’m not sure which ingredient he reacted to, if it was the so so non-fat milk, the syrup & chocolate which I’m sure is full of HFCS or the caffeine.
Now it’s not surprising that Kaiden reacted to me having some Starbucks but what is interesting is that I can enjoy each of its ingredients in their real food form and Kaiden has no issues what so ever. I drink organic standard (non homogenized) milk & use organic heavy cream in my homemade ice cream, both are from pastured cows. I can also eat good quality organic chocolate that has no nasty ingredients and he doesn’t react to that or the caffeine in it. I can combine them all, and I do in my chocolate ice cream and again no problems. It is amazing that the difference in the quality of ingredients even affects Kaiden through my breast milk! I wanted to share this as part of Food Renegade's Fight Back Fridays.
So I’ve come to the conclusion that Kaiden doesn’t enjoy Starbucks, lol. From now on when I have a coffee craving I’ll enjoy my water processed decaf coffee with some standard milk and Panela.
Just for the record, Starbucks has eliminated HFCS from ALL their products (foods and all the drink stuff, including the syrups). But I hear you on the reaction. I used to be a 3-4 Starbucks "treat" drinks per week person; now I only get Starbucks on long trips and I tend to get something that's high on caffeine (my reason for getting it in the first place - sleepy mom driving 4 kids is not a good combo) and lower in milk and sugar, as both of those wreak havoc on my Real-Food-trained gut.
ReplyDeleteI've found a fantastic alternative to those treats though, easy to make at home. Teecino (http://www.teecino.com ) is "herbal coffee"; natural herbs and roots flavor it very similar to coffee (without the caffeine or acidity). I use the Maya Chocolate or Mocha tee-bags, add a little bit of stevia and a generous portion of raw milk (or raw cream), and it's a great treat, without the "Starbucks bloat".
Thanks Jennifer! I know that the bottle of Starbucks caramel sauce I had purchased for Cody a while back had HFCS so it's great to hear that they've eliminated it from their products!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the Teecino recommendation, I am definitely going to give it a try!!!