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August 31, 2012

7 Calorie-Bomb Drinks

Liquid calories slip by so easily, it’s almost hard to take them seriously. But alas, all those super-sized beverages and high fructose corn syrup concoctions have contributed, quite stealthily, to our obesity epidemic. Our adults have the beer bellies and our children the Big Gulp guts to prove it. Although some cities have started to ban sales of soda in schools, we adults are free to roam in the world of heavily sauced drinks, sometimes adding a meal-sized amount of calories from a tiny little straw. Here are some obvious and not-so-obvious ways to bulk up without ever having to chew.

Burger King Chocolate Milk Shake (20-ounce)
980 calories, 24 grams fat (17 saturated), 530 milligrams sodium, 150 grams sugar

Hmmm … a milkshake, or an entire meal? You could have a cheeseburger (280 calories), small fries (340 calories), and a small Coke (140 calories) for fewer calories (760) than this drink. I’d rather chew.

A better bet: A low-fat chocolate milk for 160 calories.


Jamba Juice Peanut Butter Moo’d Shake (Original Size)
770 calories, 20 grams fat (4.5 saturated), 109 grams sugar, 10 milligrams cholesterol

Jamba Juice’s logo contains a lot of colorful fruit, but there’s little of it in this shake. Instead, it has frozen yogurt, chocolate moo’d base (what is that?), soy milk, bananas, and peanut butter. With 109 grams of sugar (very few of them from the banana), it’s the equivalent of drinking almost three Cokes (a can has about 40 grams of sugar). Even their less obviously bad Strawberries Wild has 77 grams of sugar in an original size.

A better bet: 16-ounce Berry Fulfilling; it has 140 calories, and 24 grams sugar.


Orange Julius’ Strawberry Banana Julius (32-ounce)
760 calories, 12 grams fat (11 saturated), 137 grams sugar, 150 milligrams sodium

It must be a first: a shake made with low-fat frozen yogurt, bananas, and strawberries that contains 11 grams of saturated fat. Truly amazing. Snicker’s bar, which has half the calories (280), less saturated fat (5 grams), and less sugar (30 grams).

A better bet: A 16-ounce Orange Julius has only 230 calories and 0 grams fat.


7-Eleven Double Gulp Soda
600 calories (Coke)

Unfortunately, when it comes to soda, it’s hard to find anything smaller than a 16-ouncer, and really easy to get things much larger. Cans of soda seem to be obsolete.

In an attempt to make the drink easier to carry and to fit in car cup holders, 7-Eleven recently downsized their Double Gulp to 50 ounces (from 64), making it six times the FDA’s official serving size of eight ounces. Bigger isn’t better.

A better bet: A 7-Select vegetable juice (70 calories) or orange juice (90 calories).


Starbucks White Chocolate Mocha Frappuccino (Venti, 24-ounce)
550 calories, 18 grams fat (12 saturated), 350 milligrams sodium, 87 grams sugar

Is it a coffee, or is it a milkshake? I’m guessing they’ll keep selling these espresso-flavored milkshakes as long as we keep buying them. Darn, they’re good.

A better bet: An iced grande skim milk latte for 90 calories.


Bottled Juice
300–400 calories for 20 ounces

True, juice isn’t inherently bad for you, and can sometimes provide vitamins and nutrients. However, you’d be much better off eating the fruit from which it came rather than drinking mostly empty calories. Many store-bought juices have added sugars, and most come in a 2.5 serving or larger container, making that breakfast accompaniment as many calories as the meal itself.

A better bet: Stick to 8-ounce containers or kid’s containers; look for 100 percent juices.


Pina Colada:
644 calories (approximately)

If you really like Pina Coladas, you may not only get caught in the rain, but in the fat farm. At around 700 calories, this drink, made with rum, coconut milk, and pineapples has more calories than a Big Mac. Other calorically heavy-hitting cocktails are Long Island Iced Teas, Margaritas, and White Russians. Damn, I love those.

A better bet: Vodka and soda with lime; glass of red wine; a beer

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