Mochas, Lattes, Colas - Are You Drinking Calories?
Hidden Calories Lurk in Gourmet Coffees, Colas, and Other Beverages
Jun 20, 2009
Are you drinking your calories? Having a mocha or high calorie drink with each coffee break can add up to thousands of extra calories a day.
Hidden Calories in Mochas, Lattes, and Other Gourmet Coffees
The average tall mocha with whole milk and whipped cream contains 360 calories-about the same as a big piece of chocolate cake. Since it has the same amount of calories as a dessert, it should be treated as such, as an occasional treat and not a daily habit. Drinking three mochas with whipped cream adds 1080 calories, which is like adding a super big meal to your weekly diet plan. If you drink three of these a week, you will gain quite a bit of weight in a short amount of time.
A wiser choice would be a “skinny” latte or mocha. A tall “skinny” mocha, made with nonfat milk and no whipped topping is only 130 calories. That’s a savings of 230 calories. The best choice of all is to have black coffee, which has zero calories or coffee with creamer, which has about 20 calories per serving. Iced coffees have the same amount of calories as hot coffees. An iced nonfat latte has a good calorie count at 60 calories for a medium-sized drink.
Calorie Count in Colas and Other Soft Drinks
The average 12 oz. can soft drink has about 140-160 calories per can. But pop drinkers usually don’t stop at one can per day. Another hidden hazard is that some bottled drinks show the calorie count for two or two and a half servings. If there are two servings in the bottle, and you drink the whole thing, you have to double the calorie amount. Sticking to diet colas, non-sweetened iced tea, and drinks such as flavored waters can save 300 or more calories a day.
Surprising Amount of Calories in Smoothies and Fruit Drinks
Smoothies, usually a blend of fruits, yogurt, and ice sound delightfully healthy. Made at home in the blender, a strawberry- banana smoothie containing strawberries, bananas, plain lowfat yogurt, and ice, has a fairly low calorie count, around 170 per serving. But commercially-prepared smoothies made with ice cream, corn syrup and other ingredients can have an enormous calorie count.
For example a Jamba Juice Banana Berry smoothie has a calorie count of 480 and a 16 oz. Starbucks Strawberry Frappe contains 580 calories. To cut calories, stick to homemade smoothies made with lowfat yogurt instead of ice cream, or drink fruit juice instead.
- Starbucks Peppermint White Chocolate Mocha with whipped cream weighs in at a whopping 560 calories—about the same as a Big Mac
- A 26 oz. Jamba Juice Pennya Cowlada contains 690 calories
- Many bottled drinks have the calorie amount for more than one serving; if you drink it all you have to double it: this can amount to over 300 calories.
- To save calories, get non-sweetened iced tea and put your own sugar in—it will add up to fewer calories
Click here to read about Cooking Chicken, Fish and Steak on the George Foreman Grill
- Click this link to check calories on Mochas, Lattes, and Jamba Juice
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