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Comment by Robin Lavoie on September 19, 2009 at 8:58pm

Shocking! Think twice before drinking this.









ROCOFIT NEWSLETTER

By Rosa








Have you ever given much thought to what you're drinking? Here's something that a good friend sent me recently that will have you thinking! It does refer to America but as we all know there are similar products where you're from even if they aren't the exact ones mentioned.



THE WORST DRINKS!!



Worst Tea-Like Substance

SoBe Zen Tea (20 oz bottle)

275 calories 70 g sugar

Though the name might scream "healthy" to the unsuspecting drinker, there is little to celebrate about this beverage. SoBe can cram their drinks full of healthy-sounding extracts and vitamin supplements, but they can't escape the fact that high-fructose corn syrup outranks tea on the ingredients list.

Worst Energy Drink

Rockstar Original (16 oz can)

280 calories 62 g sugar

Energy drink makers might feign a level of health by fortifying their products with a cocktail of vitamins and minerals, but don't be fooled: Any minimal benefit they might provide is snuffed out by the blanket of sugar and calories each can contains. Want energy? Try a cup of homebrewed black tea. It nearly zero calories and contains a deluge of disease-fighting antioxidants.

Worst Iced Tea

Lipton Iced Brisk Lemon Iced Tea (20 oz bottle)

325 calories 81 g sugar

Iced tea is loaded with metabolism-boosting, cancer-fighting compounds called polyphenols, but Lipton does its best to undo any potential healthy benefit you might derive from the tea's antioxidants by drowning them in 20 teaspoons of sugar. Your tea of choice should carry no more than 15 grams of sugar per 20-oz serving.



Worst Juice Imposter

Arizona Kiwi Strawberry (23.5 oz can)

360 calories 84 grams of sugar

These hulking calorie cannons (5 percent juice, 95 percent sugar water) are sold at gas stations and convenience stores across America for the low, low price of 99 cents, making this quite possibly the cheapest source of empty calories in the country.



Worst Chocolate Milk

Nesquik (16 oz bottle)

400 calories 10 g fat (6 g saturated) 60 g sugar

Quik and other chocolate milk manufacturers try to sell parents on the bone-building calcium found in their product, but what they don't talk about is the fact that a single bottle of this stuff contains as much sugar as three Haagen Dazs Vanilla and Almond ice cream bars. Yikes. Make a healthier version yourself at home with 2 percent milk and a scoop of real powdered cocoa--you'll save about 150 calories, plus get the antioxidant benefits of cacao without the high-fructose corn syrup.



Worst Chai Tea Drink

Caribou Coffee Large Chai Tea Latte

420 calories 47 g sugar

This is exactly the kind of drink that health-conscious consumers knock down each morning while thinking they're doing themselves a favor. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Flavored lattes--even ones flavored with seemingly healthy stuff like chai--are bad news. Stick to skinny lattes or unsweetened chai.

Worst Kid's Hot Beverage

Cosi Kid's Hot Chocolate (12 oz)

436 calories 60 g sugar

While most parents sip their lattes and cappuccinos, most kids sip on hot chocolate. Problem is, few things could be worse for a growing body. There are more calories in this small drink than in Cosi's Gooey Grilled Cheese sandwich, plus enough sugar to send your kids bouncing off the walls. 8. Worst Summer Cocktail

Pina Colada

625 calories 75 g sugars

Made from a blend of sickly-sweet pineapple juice and fat-riddled coconut milk, pina coladas may be the biggest beach-body saboteurs. In fact, the only redeeming part of this drink is the garnish--that lonely chunk of pineapple hanging from the rim. Try a lime daiquiri or a mojito instead and save up to 400 calories.



Worst Coffee Alternative

Starbucks Venti White Hot Chocolate

640 calories 23 g fat (15 g saturated) 76 g sugar

Caffeine abstainers will find little nutritional refuge in Starbucks' hot chocolate concoctions. This one packs an entire day's worth of saturated fat, with more than enough sugar to set you up for a dramatic mid-afternoon energy crash. Stick with the Steamed Apple Juice instead.



Worst Hot Coffee

Starbucks Venti 2% Peppermint White Chocolate Mocha

660 calories 22 g fat (14 g saturated) 95 g sugar

Important rule of thumb: Avoid holiday-themed items from coffee shops at all costs. From peppermint to egg nog to pumpkin, these are often the most sugar- and fat-packed drinks you'll find at places like Starbucks. Make your own flavored drinks instead, using skim milk, sugar-free syrups, and, of course, skipping the whip.



Worst Blended Fruit Drink

Baskin-Robbins Pomegranate Banana Fruit Blast Smoothie (32 oz)

1,020 calories 232 g sugar

With three of the five worst drinks in America, you have to wonder if Baskin-Robbins is in bed with the sugar cane industry. One thing is for sure: People ordering this "smoothie" expecting a healthy afternoon snack have something else coming to them. The second ingredient, after water, is sugar. If you must sip on something at Baskin-Robbins, make it a small low-fat Cappuccino Blast, which has just 220 calories and one-fifth of the sugar of this Fruit Blast.



Worst Frozen Coffee Drink

Cosi Gigante Double OH! Arctic (24 oz)

1,033 calories 35 g fat 177 g carbohydrates

Frozen coffee amalgamations pollute the antioxidant powers of a simple cup of joe with a huge hit of whole milk, sugary syrups, and whipped cream. What you end up with, in worst-case scenarios like this, is half a day's worth of calories, ready to be sipped down in a matter of minutes. Want a cold caffeine kick? Try iced coffee.



Worst Smoothie

Jamba Juice Peanut Butter Moo'd Power Smoothie (30 oz)

1,170 calories 169 g sugar

Jamba Juice calls it a smoothie; we call it a milkshake, with more sugar than an entire bag of chocolate chips. (Note: We're pretty sure this is the drink Hollywood actors rely on when looking to put on 20 pounds for the role as a heavy!)



Worst Milkshake

Baskin-Robbins Large York Peppermint Pattie Shake (32 oz)

2,210 calories 103 g fat (57 g saturated) 281 g sugar

The freakish brother of the Heath monster, the York shake earns its title as the most sugar-saturated product in America. To put it in perspective, you'd have to down 15 Twinkies to match the sugar content in this Baskin-Robbins blunder.



The Worst Drink in America

Baskin-Robbins Large Heath Bar Shake

2,310 calories 108 g fat (64 g saturated) 266 g sugar



Let's look at America's Worst Drinks in numbers:

73: The number of ingredients that go into this milkshake.

66: The number of teaspoons of sugar this drink contains.

11: The number of Heath Bars you would have to eat to equal the number of calories found in one Baskin Robbins Large Heath Bar Shake.

12: The average number of minutes it takes to consume this drink.

240: The number of minutes you'd need to spend on a treadmill, running at a moderate pace, to burn it off.



I really found this information shocking. I hope it will make you think twice when it comes to choosing what to have as a drink. My advice is herbal teas and water! Maybe not so exciting but rather than feeling that we deserve these drinks as treats, it's perhaps time to think that what we actually deserve is to be good to our bodies and not choose them



In health and happiness

Rosa.

Comment by Sherl Bastien on September 16, 2009 at 7:32pm

Thank you for having me in this group..