Beverage Breakdown
- ciaralitchfield
- Oct 1, 2014
- 2 min read
According to the NHS and British Dietetic Association women should make up no more than 280 of their daily calories from ‘Other Foods and Drinks’ in order to lose weight. This value is slightly higher at 380 calories for men. ‘Other Foods and Drinks’ means anything eaten outside of your 3 main meals each day, based on a lower calorie diet of 1,400 calories for women and 1,900 calories for men. This amount of calories would usually result in a weight loss of between 1-3lbs a week depending on how much exercise you do.
Lowering the amount of calories we eat isn’t always easy and if you don’t get your calories from the correct foods you can be left feeling a bit grouchy and lethargic. As soon as tiredness kicks in many of us automatically reach for a coffee but could this habit be sabotaging our efforts to lose weight?
I’ve found some of the worst drinks on the market and broken down their nutritional content to see exactly what we are putting in our bodies. Liquid calories are especially dangerous as they don’t seem to register in our minds the same way actually foods do. Here are some of the results:
Starbucks Grande Caramel Frappuccino® with Whipped Cream
62.9g of Carbohydrate!
= 5.5-6 Slices of white bread
= 79g of White rice
=198g Cooked white pasta (2 fistfuls)
15g of Fat!
60.9g of Sugar!
Starbucks Grande Caramel Hot Chocolate with Whipped Cream
556 Calories!
59 of Carbohydrate!
33.5g of Fat!
= 220g serving of Cookie Dough ice cream (2 scoops)
= 100g of Cheddar Cheese (4 match boxes)
=804g of Custard made with milk (2 cans)
47g of Sugar!
Costa Medium White Chocolate and Raspberry cooler
567 Calories!
82.8 of Carbohydrate!
23 of Fat!
74.7g of Sugar!
= ̃705ml of full fat Cola
= ̃ 597ml of Lucozade
= 38 fruit pastels
Costa Medium Chai Latte
422 Calories!
= 1.4 McDonalds Cheese burgers
= 1.3 Smartie McFlurrys
= Large McDonalds French Fries
66.7 of Carbohydrate!
17.2g of Fat!
49.3g of Sugar!
Tips!
Order your coffee black and add milk/sweeten yourself
In some cases ordering coffee to take away result in larger cups adding up to 100 extra calories so be aware
Always asked for skimmed milk or a ‘skinny’ drink as most are automatically made with full fat milk
Soy has many health befits but will contribute 100 calories more than skimmed milk
Make your coffee at home or in the office so you have complete control
Avoid milk/cream based beverages and opt out of syrups
