My Morning Coffee Routine

I have a morning routine. It is super important in setting the tone for the rest of my day. I'll get into the details of that routine in a future post but for today I wanted to talk about specifically the coffee portion of that routine. I have a Nespresso Machine and have used one for years. They have some really fancy ones now. Mine is a Vertuo Machine. And the coffee I use is called Stormio. I got introduced to the machine and coffee when I was taking my final exam for my nutrition degree in Connecticut several years ago. There was a machine in the hotel room and that was all she wrote. I ordered one as soon as I got home and I haven't had a bit of trouble with it. Talk about ultimate product placement! But, for this you can use any coffee you want. You've probably heard of Bullet Proof Coffee and you definitely could consider this a version of that, which is a high fat (usually with coconut oil and butter) coffee drink. Here's my spin on it. Here is the actual recipe I use.

I use Liquid Stevia as a sweetener because it will not raise your blood sugar and get you started on that sugar roller coaster for the day. You can add it drop by drop and it doesn't have a weird taste like powdered stevia does. Please don't ever use artificial sweeteners like Splenda, Nutrasweet or Sweet-n-Low. They are literally poison. If you don't need or want a sweetener, skip it.

I use MCT oil as opposed to coconut oil, but either is awesome. MCT oil stands for medium chain triglycerides and it's the magical part about coconut oil without the coconut flavor. MCT oil has a plethora of health benefits. It can be immediately used as an energy source and not stored as fat. It acts like an antioxidant which will help with dreaded inflammation (the cause of all modern diseases) and it can help your gut bacteria. Coconut oil is about 62% MCT.

I use heavy cream to give it some smoothness. If you are dairy free, full fat coconut milk or almond milk would substitute nicely.

I put my vitamin D3 supplement into it as well. It's in a liquid form and I take about 5000IU/day. Vitamin D3 is a fat soluble vitamin and it is absorbed better if it is taken with a fat. Since the MCT oil fits that bill, I just add it to the coffee to make sure I get it in each day. Many people are vitamin D deficient and it is SO incredibly important for health.

Lastly, I add collagen powder. Specifically a scoop of Dr. Axe's collagen powder. Collagen is the most abundant protein in the body. It helps supports all of your connective tissue; think joints, ligaments, tendons, hair, skin and nails. Since I started taking collagen, my nails have been super hard and strong. It will help heal leaky gut and can boost your metabolism. You can add this powder to hot or cold liquids, you just have to add it slowly and mix well, otherwise it will clump. Here's a little handheld mixer I use to mix it in my coffee but you could put it in a blender too or stir with a spoon quickly.

I enjoy a cup of this every morning. Not only does it satisfy my morning coffee love, but it's packed with nutrients!