Pound-Packin' Coffee Drinks

Clarke Bowling of NYDailyNews.com has been counting calories this month. Not just any calories, but those to be found in the wonderfully creative, pretty, decadent and sweet offerings from the coffee house chains like Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts, as first reported by The Daily Beast. Apparently, to count these calories one needs a heavy duty calculator, because some hefty totals are involved. He reported on the best, or worst, (depending on your point of view) 40 drinks by their calorie counts and dubbed them the “40 fattiest coffee drinks”.

For example, Bowling found that the Ice Blended Triple Chocolate Mocha offered by It’s a Grind Coffee House took top rank with a calorie count of 1200, from 188 grams of sugar. That’s in addition to the 22 grams of saturated fat. He points out “That's twice the saturated fat of a Big Mac, as much sugar as nearly five cans of Coca-Cola, and 60 percent of a 2,000 calorie-per-day diet.” Another of this café’s drinks is Iced Blended Mint Chip Mocha, delivering 800 calories of pure heaven for chocolate chip mint lovers. And these are from a coffee chain that specializes in plain coffee from fresh grinds.

Dunkin’s Coffee Coolata provides 800 calories and 29 grams of saturated fat. Caribou Coffee prepares an 800 calorie offering called Turtle Mocha. Seattle’s Best offers Chocolate Coffee Crunch Javakula for 760 calories. These were the worst offenders; of the forty coffee drinks, most were under 600 calories.

Bowling points out that the longer the names, the more chance of there being a weighty caloric price tag. Try saying Raspberry Truffle Mocha Latte 20 times fast- that should help you burn its 520 calories and 14 grams of saturated fat, especially if you do jumping jacks at the same time.

Bowling’s article comes out just before the holiday season. If you didn’t already feel guilty enough for enjoying some stress-relieving confectionery coffee drinks, you will now. Just when many people are dieting in preparation for the Thanksgiving holiday eating festivity, we find out where many of those pounds came from. Many chains provide the calorie/fat information if asked, and some post it on their websites. A recently passed piece of legislation will require it nationally for the larger chains.

As you try to slim down before the upcoming holidays, just keep in mind how many pounds you can lose by passing up all sugary coffee drinks. Every such drink you don’t have saves you 500-1200 calories. Don’t you feel better already? How many calories have you already saved today?

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