Tea?

Eve53

I love coffee, but I tend to drink it with sweet creamers which aren't really helpful when you're trying to lose weight. Not to mention on the average day, getting the kind of coffee I like is a pain and the coffee they offer at work sucks! But I know that on the days when I drink a cup of coffee I have far less trouble staying in my calories because it suppresses my cravings for other things, and helps me stay full.

So here's my question... is there a tea that will also help stave off cravings and help me feel full? Making a cup of tea on the go, or at work is so much easier than getting the coffee I want. So I'd love to switch to tea. Is there any kind that is recommended to help with appetite?

kk_inprogress

Not measuring my creamer and drinking a TON of coffee was a huge calorie problem for me! I hear ya, OP.

I find that when I am well hydrated, I am not as hungry at odd times and I don't snack unnecessarily. Whether it's tea or flavored water or just plain water - I like to have something with me to drink because it keeps my hands busy if I find myself wanting to snack when I'm not hungry.

If you like sweeter coffees, check out spiced chai and roobios teas. May not be your thing but I like them.

kk_inprogress

Oh! Also, to get my sweet fix without all the calories, I combine 4oz. of Oregon Slightly Sweet Chai with 4 oz. coconut almond milk (I like Almond Breeze brand) for a low calorie caffeine drink. Good hot or on ice.

Eve53

I love Chai Tea, I'll have to try this! I drink water all day long, so that's not a problem. But on those days when I'm just really stupid hungry, it doesn't do the trick.

DressedInDreams

I keep tea bags at work for when I want something more than water. Peach green tea and pomegranate green tea are my favorites.

kk_inprogress

Eve53 wrote: »

I love Chai Tea, I'll have to try this! I drink water all day long, so that's not a problem. But on those days when I'm just really stupid hungry, it doesn't do the trick.

I get it. Try the chai drink - I find it as filling as my coffee/creamer combo when I drink 8-12oz. on the way to work. I started measuring out my coffee creamer to watch calories and actually weaned myself down to 2 tbsp per 8oz (I drank it 50/50 at the beginning - it was ridiculous) and for me that's only 70 calories per cup which I can work into my day. It took a while, but allows me to drink coffee again without blowing my day up before noon.

lacost

Check out Davids Tea. They have a lot of sweeter teas that may be of interest to you

sheila2323

DressedInDreams wrote: »

I keep tea bags at work for when I want something more than water. Peach green tea and pomegranate green tea are my favorites.

We've been drinking pomegranate green tea here. It's naturally sweeter than other teas, so we don't add sugar.

LovingLife_Erin

I'm boring and tend to enjoy a regular ol' cup of breakfast blend typically. I prefer the Yorkshire tea brand. It's great all the time (with a splash of milk)! Occasionally though, I enjoy chai or a ginger tea. I've even had a chocolate tea that was fantastic. I recommend trying to find a chocolate blend if you can. It has a hint of cocoa, and is all yummy.

Edit to add: I am admittedly a choco-holic though and love me a good Young's Double Chocolate Stout as well.

Eve53

sheila2323 wrote: »

DressedInDreams wrote: »

I keep tea bags at work for when I want something more than water. Peach green tea and pomegranate green tea are my favorites.

We've been drinking pomegranate green tea here. It's naturally sweeter than other teas, so we don't add sugar.

These sound awesome, I'm going to look for them. Do they have caffeine in them?

KrisiAnnH

LovingLife_Erin wrote: »

I'm boring and tend to enjoy a regular ol' cup of breakfast blend typically. I prefer the Yorkshire tea brand. It's great all the time (with a splash of milk)! Occasionally though, I enjoy chai or a ginger tea. I've even had a chocolate tea that was fantastic. I recommend trying to find a chocolate blend if you can. It has a hint of cocoa, and is all yummy.

Edit to add: I am admittedly a choco-holic though and love me a good Young's Double Chocolate Stout as well.

PREACH! A true Brit! And a fellow Yorkshire Tea lover!

Joking aside though, tea helps stave off hunger or cravings for me, although I very rarely use it for that. If I'm hungry, I eat, and factor it into my calories for the day

Also I see you mention 'creamers', have you thought about switching to lower fat alternatives? I use semi-skimmed milk (never got along with skimmed, just tastes like water, yuk!), but almond milk may be a good alternative for you? It's creamy but can also add a bit of sweetness Another change I made was I swapped sugar for calorie-free sweetners, I was amazed at how many calories I was wasting on sugar with every cup of tea/coffee I had!

Eve53

KrisiAnnH wrote: »

LovingLife_Erin wrote: »

I'm boring and tend to enjoy a regular ol' cup of breakfast blend typically. I prefer the Yorkshire tea brand. It's great all the time (with a splash of milk)! Occasionally though, I enjoy chai or a ginger tea. I've even had a chocolate tea that was fantastic. I recommend trying to find a chocolate blend if you can. It has a hint of cocoa, and is all yummy.

Edit to add: I am admittedly a choco-holic though and love me a good Young's Double Chocolate Stout as well.

PREACH! A true Brit! And a fellow Yorkshire Tea lover!

Joking aside though, tea helps stave off hunger or cravings for me, although I very rarely use it for that. If I'm hungry, I eat, and factor it into my calories for the day

Also I see you mention 'creamers', have you thought about switching to lower fat alternatives? I use semi-skimmed milk (never got along with skimmed, just tastes like water, yuk!), but almond milk may be a good alternative for you? It's creamy but can also add a bit of sweetness Another change I made was I swapped sugar for calorie-free sweetners, I was amazed at how many calories I was wasting on sugar with every cup of tea/coffee I had!

I may try putting almond milk or something in my coffee sometime, see if I like it. I don't ever add sugar, the creamers are sweet enough for me. So no problem there. I used to get so grossed out when I'd watch my aunt make coffee with half a cup of vanilla creamer then a few tablespoons of sugar.... yuck! Is it even coffee at that point?

KrisiAnnH

Eve53 wrote: »

KrisiAnnH wrote: »

LovingLife_Erin wrote: »

I'm boring and tend to enjoy a regular ol' cup of breakfast blend typically. I prefer the Yorkshire tea brand. It's great all the time (with a splash of milk)! Occasionally though, I enjoy chai or a ginger tea. I've even had a chocolate tea that was fantastic. I recommend trying to find a chocolate blend if you can. It has a hint of cocoa, and is all yummy.

Edit to add: I am admittedly a choco-holic though and love me a good Young's Double Chocolate Stout as well.

PREACH! A true Brit! And a fellow Yorkshire Tea lover!

Joking aside though, tea helps stave off hunger or cravings for me, although I very rarely use it for that. If I'm hungry, I eat, and factor it into my calories for the day

Also I see you mention 'creamers', have you thought about switching to lower fat alternatives? I use semi-skimmed milk (never got along with skimmed, just tastes like water, yuk!), but almond milk may be a good alternative for you? It's creamy but can also add a bit of sweetness Another change I made was I swapped sugar for calorie-free sweetners, I was amazed at how many calories I was wasting on sugar with every cup of tea/coffee I had!

I may try putting almond milk or something in my coffee sometime, see if I like it. I don't ever add sugar, the creamers are sweet enough for me. So no problem there. I used to get so grossed out when I'd watch my aunt make coffee with half a cup of vanilla creamer then a few tablespoons of sugar.... yuck! Is it even coffee at that point?

I cant stand overly sweet tea either! My brother can have 4 teaspoons of sugar in a giant mug of tea and it just makes me feel ill haha. I do add sugar (well sweetner now) and milk, but then I think milk is a bit different to creamer? It's probably not as sweet (as far as I'm aware anyway). If you do decide to switch to almond milk, or semi-skimmed/low fat milk, you may need the sweetner to make it more to your taste (and more similar to creamer, if that makes sense?) worth an experiment though!

haha if it's equal parts creamer to coffee probably not! I used to be guilty of drinking black coffee with so much sugar it almost had the consistency of syrup though, so what do I know

DressedInDreams

Eve53 wrote: »

sheila2323 wrote: »

DressedInDreams wrote: »

I keep tea bags at work for when I want something more than water. Peach green tea and pomegranate green tea are my favorites.

We've been drinking pomegranate green tea here. It's naturally sweeter than other teas, so we don't add sugar.

These sound awesome, I'm going to look for them. Do they have caffeine in them?

They do, I'm not sure how much though. Pretty sure it's less than coffee.

Eve53

DressedInDreams wrote: »

Eve53 wrote: »

sheila2323 wrote: »

DressedInDreams wrote: »

I keep tea bags at work for when I want something more than water. Peach green tea and pomegranate green tea are my favorites.

We've been drinking pomegranate green tea here. It's naturally sweeter than other teas, so we don't add sugar.

These sound awesome, I'm going to look for them. Do they have caffeine in them?

They do, I'm not sure how much though. Pretty sure it's less than coffee.

That's ok, as long as there's some!

ahoier

i'm a big coffee drinker....and the biggest thing that helped me, was ditching the flavored creamers, and opting for plain half and half, or simply milk......the powdered creamers most all contain hydrogenated oils (hidden trans fats not disclosed on the label, since they are less than .5g) and then those liquid creamers aren't much better.....the biggest thing i can advise is try getting better coffee.....and learn to actually 'like' the taste of your coffee, rather than the taste of the sugars in the coffee i'm now a 'splash of half and half' kinda guy now, just enough to cool down my keurig-brewed-cup to throw back before i head out the door to work.

VintageFeline

I'm going to guess that it's the creamer making you feel a little fuller, given my experience with creamers, milk, tea, coffee and all combinations therein (big hot drink drinker here!). Wean yourself off the creamers as said above and switch to regular milk. I used to take my tea and coffee very sweet years and years ago, I just kept reducing until I only need half a teaspoon of sugar in a large mug of tea or coffee. Green teas etc I don't add milk or sugar obviously but they don't give me the full feeling you reference. If I do have a drink with sugar I only have on for the whole day so it's not impacting hugely on my calories.

Save the creamers for a treat! (I'll admit, I'm deeply suspicious of creamer type products, we just don't have them here in the UK and I do wonder what the eff is in them).

Bukawww

I love using coffee as a natural appetite suppressant as well as keeping 'things' moving lol. I admit, my 40g of SF creamer is not the best but that is pretty much the extent of my 'fake' food for the day.

I also drink plain black iced tea all day long (with the blessing of my neighbor's oncologist lol). That also helps me keep the calories in check. I drink the coffee after my morning workout, then iced tea till around 2pm. First meal at 2 of about 600 calories, more tea, another meal of 600 calories, evening workout, 300 calorie 'snack' and then bed time routine.

I've learned that I can handle hunger pains during the day when I know there are satisfying meals in the near future. Not so much in the evening. So I consume most of my calories then...lost 55lbs since Christmas.

FitForLife2015

I second.. Third.. Spiced Chai with a splash of milk (I add honey..) it's amazing!

kat_princess12

I drink plain old green tea in the afternoons and it helps with the desire to snack. If you like something sweet, I recommend fruit teas (blackberry is AMAZING) or chai teas (delicious with a splash of milk) - both of which I have used in the evening in place of dessert.

On the coffee note, I hate the taste of black coffee so I always used to drink it with sugary flavored creamers. I switched to vanilla soymilk and I get to have twice as much for about 1/4 the calories

TuffChixRule

Bigelow Vanilla Chai black tea works for me when I want sweet but don't want to undo all the good I've done during the day. You can get it in the tea aisle at your local grocery store.

chaoticdreams

My office stays cold so I end up drinking tea all day as I can't do coffee without sugar/creamer. More than one cup of java really over does it for me on calories for the day. I really like the Bigelow Blueberry with Acai green tea and the pomegranate one mentioned. I also really like the peach herbal tea they make. Doesn't need any sweetener and taste a little like peach cobbler to me, plus it's caffeine free. Occasionally I'll have a cup of the raspberry black tea they sell too, which also doesn't need sweetener and is delicious!

themonstermash

Love chai tea by celestial. They have a number of different kinds. I add usually 1/4 cup of coconut milk and 3 packets of sweetner (which have 4 cals each...dont be fooled)

kiela64

I haven't really noticed tea helps with appetite, but I find a cup of strong black tea (chai, english breakfast, orange pekoe are my favourites) are great for waking up, pulling all-nighters, fighting off that mid-afternoon sleepiness, etc. I prefer chai with a 1/2 teaspoon of honey or a bit of sugar, but the others I prefer with just 1% milk.

So if you're wanting to avoid extra sweetener or cream, I'd say tea is a good idea. Tea is absolutely disgusting with cream, I once had that because someone mislabeled the container in the caf at school - yuck! You may also like it just black, I know people who do but I like ~1/4 cup of milk in black tea.

One tip I actually got from someone on mfp was a herbal tea in the evening when I want to snack mindlessly. It helps with the feeling of consuming something, and the smell/taste is soothing. I like chamomile or peppermint tea unsweetened, but a berry herbal tea I generally add a little bit of honey or sugar as well. I find it also helps me get ready to sleep.

I find green tea is a bit in the middle for me. I prefer green teas that are mixed with a fruit or another addition rather than just straight up green tea, and I don't put milk in them. I do like a bit of honey, but I also like them plain too. I know people who make green tea lattes though, but I'm not really a fan. It also has caffeine, so I think of it as more of a morning/mid-afternoon drink.

I am a really big tea drinker, I really love it. It's also absolutely fantastic in the winter when everything is frozen, haha. I still drink tea in the summer, but I really love how it warms me up from the inside during those really cold winter days.

mark6281991

I like plain Ole green tea. I have 3 cups of it with my breakfast each morning. It took about a weeks to adjust to the flavor but I really enjoy it now. I'd take it over any other drink outside of water.