A cup of "Joe" isn't what it used to be. Now don't get me wrong, I loves me some joe. But when was the last time you heard someone go into a coffee shop and actually order a coffee? Coffee shops have expanded their product lines to include Caffe Americano’s, Latte's, Vanilla Latte, Mocha Macchiato, White Chocolate Vanilla Latte, Frappuccino, Cinnamon Gingerbread Macchito (with whipped cream), Vanilla Nut Carmel Frappuccino, Chocolate Chip With Carmel Pepermint Esspresso, Double Choclate Chip Frappuccino With Blended Cream, and literally dozens of other coffee-based drinks - createable by utilizing a dizzying array of coffee and sugary syrup flavorings. These frozen and blended beverages, are nothing more than VERY high calorie/high sugar liquid desserts.
Examining the Starbucks, Corp. web site for nutrition information, reveals some amazing statistics. The smallest frozen coffee item contains 330 calories and 46 grams of sugar - and that item is made with skim milk! The same item in it's largest size is 630 calories and an amazing 84 grams of sugar! For many folks, that constitutes almost 50% of their necessary caloric intake for an entire day.
To put that into perspective; 1 cup of vanilla ice cream contains 145 calories and 15 grams of sugar; 1 slice of Boston Cream Pie contains 232 calories and 33 grams of sugar; and one chocolate glazed doughnut has 250 calories and 19 grams of sugar. One could eat all three of these (nutritionally useless) "foods", and still not reach the calorie count of a single large "dessert" coffee.
If a person averaged just two Starbucks "desserts" per week, it would add an additional 65,000 calories to his or her annual diet. Which, in turn, equals an additional 18 pounds per year! (And how many American's average not two per week, but one or two per day?)
The next time you want a little "pick me up", stick to the old fashioned java. As an example a café Americano (iced or hot) contains 16 calories and NO sugar. Adding 2 tbsp of cream and some Splenda only increases the calorie count by 40 calories.
