A Healthy Alternative to the Pumpkin Spice Latte

Autumn is finally here, so of course pumpkin spice is everywhere.  Many people will undoubtedly be filling up on Starbucks' famous Pumpkin Spice Lattes.  But have you ever stopped to think about the specific ingredients you're consuming?  If not, I'd like to share them with you.

This comes directly from the Starbucks website.  The ingredients are Milk, Pumpkin Spice Sauce [Sugar, Condensed Skim Milk, Pumpkin Puree, Contains 2% Or Less Of Fruit And Vegetable Juice For Color, Natural Flavors, Annatto, Salt, Potassium Sorbate], Brewed Espresso, Whipped Cream [Cream (Cream, Milk, Mono And Diglycerides, Carrageenan), Vanilla Syrup (Sugar, Water, Natural Flavors, Potassium Sorbate, Citric Acid)], Pumpkin Spice Topping [Cinnamon, Ginger, Nutmeg, Clove, Sulfiting Agents].

Many people were happy to discover Starbucks recently started making this drink with real pumpkin.  That's a scary thought if you've had one in the past with "fake pumpkin"?  But let's talk about some of the other ingredients.  The first is milk, which I personally do not believe should be consumed by humans.  Milk is extremely acidic and hard for us to digest.

There are 26g of sugar in a short and 64g in the venti.  That's way too much for anyone to consume in one sitting.  The whipped cream contains mono and diglycerides, which is in a lot of processed foods.  Please check out Food Babe's article, There’s No Safe Level Of This Ingredient, So Why Is It In Almost Everything?, for more information about this toxic ingredient.

There are 75mg of caffeine in a short Pumpkin Spice Latte.  Coffee is also acid forming in the body and it's hard on the liver.  Please give Kimberly Snyder's blog, 5 Reasons to Give Up Coffee, a read for more information about this.

After discovering how detrimental these ingredients can be, it makes more sense to create your own healthy version of this drink.  I looked on Pinterest and found several options for pumpkin spice smoothies and created my own version with just a few simple ingredients.  It's easy, fast, and much less expensive.  Plus, you're not flooding your system with sugar and chemicals.

Healthy Pumpkin Spice Smoothie (Serves 1)

1 frozen banana
1 cup of vanilla almond milk (or unsweetened almond milk with 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract)
A dash of ground ginger
1 cup organic pumpkin puree
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

Blend all the ingredients and chill for an hour or drink right away if you can't wait!
You can play with the amount of cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice if you'd like more or less of those flavors.  You can also add a little cinnamon on top.

Eating healthy doesn't mean you have to miss out on traditions.  You can enjoy delicious alternatives like this and still feel the magic of fall.  I guarantee you'll feel better physically and about yourself when you make this healthy choice.

Below are the pumpkin smoothie recipes that inspired me to create this one.  These would all be great options as well!

Skinny Pumpkin Pie Smoothie
Pumpkin Pie Smoothie
Pumpkin Spice Smoothie