Discover what these drinks contain and how they can impact your training and winning
By Katie Gross
Seasonal Coffee Favorites and The Effects on Your Performance
It is about that time! Big name coffee companies have begun to roll out their Fall seasonal drinks meant to provide you with warm, comforting feeling as the weather begins to cool. With flavors ranging from apple cinnamon to pumpkin pie, these drinks often provide adequate calories but not a lot of other nutrients to assist in sport performance or recovery. Let’s look at an example.
The average sized pumpkin spice latte from Starbucks contains 390 total calories, 52 grams of carbohydrate, 14 grams of protein and 150 milligrams of caffeine.
Though these drinks are great tasting, it is often hard to fit them into your daily nutritional goals or exercise routines knowing they might not be the fuel you need. Here are some alternative ways you can get the flavors of fall while providing your body with nourishing foods items.
Protein Pumpkin Spice Latte Shake
- 1 cup milk of choice (2%, skim, oat, almond, soy)
- 1 scoop vanilla protein powder
- ¼ cup pumpkin puree
- 1 tsp pumpkin spice
- 1-2 cups ice (depending on desired consistency)
- Optional: 3 tsp instant espresso. Consider the timing of caffeine addition!
Pour all ingredients in a blender on high. Add ice for desired texture.
Apple Crisp Shake
- 2 apples of choice, chopped
- ½ cup of milk of choice (2%, skim, oat, almond, soy)
- ¼ cup rolled oats
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 cup Greek yogurt
- 1 tbsp maple syrup
Pour all ingredients in a blender on high. Add ice for desired texture.
Need the Boost?
Whether you’re using caffeine for a pick-me-up or for that extra boost, turn to food first to provide fuel for your daily activities and work-out routines. 1-3 milligrams per kilograms of caffeine provides the boost needed when fatigue sets in. Or, 2-6 milligrams per kilogram one hour before cardiovascular activity before moderately intense endurance routines or 20 minutes of high intensity training has been shown to increase quality of exercise. Keep in mind all individuals react differently to caffeine and this should not be something trialed on important training days or event days!
Some potential benefits of caffeine include decreased pain and perception of fatigue during exercise, improved endurance performance or competitions lasting longer than 90 minutes and the increase in body coordination, focus and concentration. Keep in mind there are adverse effects of caffeine if inadequate hydration. Side effects of caffeine also include gastrointestinal distress, nausea or shaking that could negatively affect performance.
For collegiate athletes, the NCAA is one of the only organizations that restricts the use of caffeine. Urine concentrations are restricted to 15 microliters which equates to ~500 milligrams of caffeine or 6-8 cups of coffee consumed within 3 hours of an event.
Conclusions
When focusing on sport performance, consuming large amounts of these seasonal coffee beverages might not affect your health in a beneficial way. But if you are looking for a treat for any occasion do not feel like you completely need to exclude these tasty beverages from your life! Every food and beverage item can fit into your daily nutritional goals!
Want more information on how caffeine might affect your performance? Contact Dr. Schubert. Check out this blog post on how to use caffeine to optimize your performance and this one on using coffee and coffee drinks as recovery beverages!
References
CPSDA. Caffeine and the Athletic Performance. Accessed Sept 22, 2022. https://www.sportsrd.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Caffeine_and_Athletic_Performance_WEB.pdf
Guest, N.S., VanDusseldorp, T.A., Nelson, M.T. et al. International society of sports nutrition position stand: caffeine and exercise performance. J Int Soc Sports Nutr 18, 1 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12970-020-00383-4