Losing Weight on Starbucks Beverages
Starbucks has recently introduced to the nation a lineup of Banana FrappuccinoÃ?® beverages. Our mouths may be salivating, but what does this mean for our waistlines and our health? Fortunately for me I do not have to break it to you that some of our beloved Starbucks beverages are loaded with harmful saturated fat and about half the calories than you need for your entire day. The media has jumped on that story already. Oh, noâÂ?¦have you not heard that before? I don’t mean to scare you, but it’s true. The challenge still remains, however, what to do about it. Read on and you will find ways- large and small- to modify your order at the counter so that you can start losing weight right now.
Keeping in mind that 3,500 calories equals one pound, the following calorie-saving totals assume the mentioned beverage is drunk once daily, 5 days per week.
1. Downsize! Simply changing your Starbucks order from Venti�® to Grande, or from Grande to Tall, can save you calories and fat. Besides reducing your drink size, you can reduce your cravings and possibly your waist! Two examples:
â�¢ Switching from a Venti�® Banana Caramel Frappuccino�® to a Grande of the same drink will save you 170 calories, 1 gram of fat, 1 gram saturated fat (3 pounds in one summer!). Jumping from a Grande to a Tall saves you 150 calories, 5 grams of fat, 3 grams saturated fat (1 �½ pounds in one summer). Making the biggest jump from a Venti�® to a Tall saves you 320 calories, 6 grams of fat, 4 grams saturated fat (3 �½ pounds over one summer).
â�¢ Switching from a Grande Caff�© Mocha w/whipped cream made with whole milk to a Tall of the same drink saves you 90 calories, 5 grams of fat, 3 grams of saturated fat (nearly 7 pounds over one year). Jumping from a Venti�® to a Tall saves you 180 calories, 9 grams of fat, 5 grams of saturated fat (13 pounds over one year).
2. Substitute! Sure, you can have your Starbucks FrappuccinoÃ?® and eat it tooâÂ?¦but always choosing “the works” will have you clogging your arteries and gaining weight! Therefore, making even one of the following substitutions in your favorite beverage of any size will save you calories, fat, and pounds:
â�¢ Skipping the whipped cream in a Tall cold beverage saves you 90 calories, 9 grams of fat, 6 grams saturated fat (6 �½ pounds over one year); doing so in a Grande or Venti�® cold beverage saves you 130 calories, 12 grams of fat, 8 grams saturated fat (9 �½ pounds over one year).
â�¢ Switching from half-and-half to whole milk can save you up to 340 calories, 39 grams of fat, 25 grams saturated fat (25 pounds over one year). Switching from whole milk to skim milk can save you an average 50 calories, 6 grams of fat, 4 grams saturated fat (3 �½ pounds over one year).
âÂ?¢ Drinking a flavored drink (mocha, caramel, etc.) instead of a “regular” flavored one can cost you up to 130 calories depending on how many pumps of syrup are pumped into your drink! (Each pump has 20-25 calories). Substituting a non-flavored drink for your flavored one, switching to sugar-free syrups, or specifying how many pumps you want in your drink could reduce the total calories in your drink.
âÂ?¢ Starbucks makes a “LIGHT” version of all of its FrappuccinosÃ?®; they are made with “light FrappuccinoÃ?® base” according to their website. Substituting a Light Banana Coconut FrappuccinoÃ?® for a regular one saves you 160 calories for a Tall, 100 calories for a Grande, and 140 calories for a VentiÃ?® (1-2 pounds over the summer!) Asking for your Frap “Light” when ordering a VentiÃ?® Java Chip saves you 150 calories (11 pounds over one year), and going “Light” with your Caramel FrappuccinoÃ?® saves your 280 calories (21 pounds over one year!)
3. Learn to savor- treat your special Starbucks beverage like the treat that it is! What is moderation? If every day during or after work, you feel that you deserve a Grande Double Chocolate Chip Frappuccino�® with whipped cream, that may not sound like moderation when looked at in perspective. However, having that favorite beverage as a sweet indulgence after the end of a long work week, say every Friday afternoon for instance, is. Treasuring that iced cold beverage, that may or may not taste like dessert through a straw, at the end of the week, instead of at the end of each day, will not only make you appreciate your treat more, but will undoubtedly save you anywhere from 200 to over 3,000 calories a week (3 to 45 pounds over one year), depending on the beverage!
The tips above represent the calories and grams of fat saved by making one change, keeping everything else constant. When you see how confident you feel after making one change, feel free to make another! Each small step in the right direction really does add up! After all, didn’t all those small steps in the wrong direction?
Here is an easy guide to ordering at Starbucks if you’re concerned about calories and fat. These are my personal picks for “best” and “worst” (nutritionally speaking, of course) Grandes* in each category:
Best Worst Iced Espresso Iced Caff�© Latt�© w/nonfat milk
100 calories, 0 fat Iced White Chocolate Mocha (whole milk and whip cream)
490 calories, 24(16)**gm fat Frappuccino�® Blended Coffee Coffee Frappuccino�® w/nonfat milk
260 calories, 3.5(2)gm fat A Tie! Banana Coconut Frappuccino�® (with whip)
550 calories, 16(11) gm fat
Java Chip Frappuccino�® (with whip)
510 calories, 22(15)gm fat FrappuccinoÃ?® Blended CrÃ?¨me Vanilla Bean FrappuccinoÃ?® Blended CrÃ?¨me – no whip
360 calories, 3.5(0) gm fat White Chocolate Frappuccino�® blended cr�¨me (with whip)
610 calories, 21(13)gm fat FrappuccinoÃ?® Light Blended Coffee Coffee FrappuccinoÃ?® Light Blended Coffee – no whip
150 calories, 1(0)gm fat Java Chip Frappuccino�® Light Blended Coffee (with whip)
400 calories, 19(13)gm fat Tazo�® Tea 3-way Tie!
Tazo�® Black Iced Tea, Green Iced Tea, and Passion Iced Tea each contain
80 calories 0(0)gm fat Tazo�® Chai Tea Latte
290 calories, 7(4.5)gm fat
Next Worst: Tazo�® Chai Iced Tea Latte
270calories, 7(4)gm fat
* Venti�® numbers will be higher, and Tall numbers will be lower.
**First number represents grams of total fat. Number in parentheses represents grams of saturated fat.
Complete Starbucks nutrition information for all beverages (and food) is available on its website at http://www.starbucks.com/retail/nutrition_info.asp. Some nutrition information is available in a handy brochure in its stores.
