It's Clearly Time to Find a Few Hot Drink Alternatives!

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Oh dear, what are we to do when the weather is cold and miserable and we need a warm and comforting cuppa with a sweet edge? While the high street coffee chains are deliberating how they are going to defend themselves against the barrage of media coverage regarding the crazy amounts of added sugars in many of their tea, coffee and chocolate hot drink concoctions (click here for a detailed analysis which makes pretty scary reading), best advice right now is to give most of them a very wide berth and get hooked on some tasty alternatives that won't crank up your daily sugar consumption!

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Try some of these - many of which provide natural sugars from fruits, milks and raw ingredients and where sugar is occasionally added, be confident that it's no more than a couple of teaspoons:

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  • Hot Spiced Fruit Tea. Stock up on fruit tea bags (there's a huge variety out there) and infuse them for at least 10 minutes (the longer the better) with your spices of choice (cinnamon, ginger, cloves, chilli flakes etc). For a little added sweetness, sling in a teaspoon of raw honey or pure maple syrup and stir well.
  • Hot Lemon and Ginger. Warming and great for the digestion. Add a pinch of sea salt, a good grating of fresh ginger, a generous squeeze of lemon juice and a teaspoon of raw honey to a mug of boiling water, let it all infuse for 5 minutes and sip slowly.
  • Hot Apple Cider. Make this one at home and flask it if you are heading to work or are out for the day. Place chopped apple, orange segments, half a cinnamon stick and a teaspoon of raw sugar or molasses in a pan, cover with water and simmer very, very gently for 30 minutes. Strain and flask.
  • Hot Chocolate. Heat a mug of nut milk (almond or oat milk are great as they are naturally-sweet) and gently stir in a couple of heaped teaspoons of dark chocolate granules (Green & Blacks are a good choice). For a little indulgent addition, grate some very dark chilli chocolate over the top.
  • Fat Coffee. Filling, energising, fat-busting and some might say 'addictive' as an alternative to your morning cuppa! Click here for my recipe.
  • And... What About Soup? Simply the best comforting hot drink there is when you are cold and need a nutritional hug! One that is super-quick to prepare, easy to transport and brings a lovely natural sweetness with it, is my Very Quick Tomato (click here for recipe).
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