Here's why you should avoid cream and sugar in your coffee

By: Angeli Kakade

Milk and sugar is a common request when ordering coffee.

If you're at Starbucks it's more like milk, sugar, flavored syrup, whipped cream and some candy sprinkles on top.

But what seems like a harmless dash of cream or a teaspoon of sugar in your morning coffee may be adding some serious calories to your overall daily intake.

In a new study from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign and University of California San Diego, scientists studied the diet of 20,000 coffee and tea drinkers.

They found it was easier for people to forget about their 6 AM coffee add-ons when deciding what to get for lunch. After all, it's not like some cream is as many calories as a donut, right? Wrong.

The study also found those who drank light and sweet coffee consumed, on average, 69 more calories a day than those that drank their coffee black.

Experts say to stick with skim milk and count the calories from your morning java.

If you're ever trying to talk yourself into going for a healthy lunch, just try remembering if you did or didn't skip the white chocolate mocha in the morning.

Scroll through to see a yummy coffee trend: