5 tips for making healthier choices at the coffee shop

While coffee shops have become a haven for coffee lovers, some items on the menu are loaded with fat and calories. But don't ditch your favourite barista just yet. Instead, read on for some tips on how to make smarter, healthier choices.

You'll instantly save 100 calories and 10 grams of fat.

• Think "treat" rather than breakfast when you order a muffin at a coffee shop (the same goes for doughnuts and other such goodies).
• Muffins — even bran muffins — tend to be more about good taste than good nutrition.

• If you're ordering blueberry, cinnamon and raisin or some other tasty bagel flavour, you won't need the extra cream cheese, butter or other spreads.
• Better still, go for whole-wheat, multigrain or oat-bran varieties.
• That way, you can eat your bagel and get some good nutrition, too.

• Many coffee shops and bakeries do offer low-fat versions of their tasty treats.
• This is still a long way from health food, but it's at least one step closer.

• Café au lait comprises equal parts brewed coffee and steamed milk.
• By comparison, a caffe latte is one or two shots of espresso with steamed milk and foam filling the rest of the cup.
• For a large drink made with two per cent milk, the au lait has just 130 calories and five grams of fat, while the large two percent milk latte, because it uses so much more milk, has 240 calories and nine grams of fat.
• You may even find that the café au lait has a bolder, more coffee-rich flavour, so you win on all counts.