Think Before You Buy That Drink

Written by Dan Ekblad, IAWP CWC, CPT
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​As I wrote in my last post, Are You Suffering From Dehydration?, over 75% of Americans are dehydrated. That means that the majority of you are not consuming nearly enough water daily. This leads to overeating, which leads to weight gain, sugar cravings, and fatigue, just name a few of the issues that come with not drinking enough water. I emphasize the word water, because if you are drinking soda, juice or coffee, you are not drinking water. 
I want to make one thing clear about coffee...it does not count as water!

​Coffee has been around for a long time, some say back to the 11th Century. Coffee was a staple in most Americans' lives since coming over to America. And until about 20 years ago, it was served the same way...black!

Your parents or grandparents may have put a teaspoon of sugar in their coffee and maybe a little milk or half & half, but that was the extent of a fancy cup of coffee. My mother taught me how to make coffee in our Sunbeam coffee pot and let me tell you, it was black and strong. That is just the way my parents drank it—no sugar or cream. Things have certainly changed when it comes to how coffee is made. Today, my parents would have no clue how to order at Starbucks or these other coffee houses with all of the different coffee drinks that are available. With frappuccinos, lattes, espressos and all the other concoctions they make, coffee has become just an ingredient in a very expensive drink. One thing that completely blows my mind is the cost of these drinks. Note, when coffee is made at home, brewing a pot yourself costs about $0.27 a cup. That is up from the 1980's when a cup of coffee brewed at home cost about $0.03. Nowadays, people have no problem spending $4-6 for a fancy coffee drink. And for many, this is a daily occurrence.
 
Now, let's get to the heart of this post—what are you consuming when you drink one of these coffee drinks? One of the biggest problems I have with this whole subject is that people have convinced themselves they are simply having a "cup of coffee." Well, guess what? You are not! If you were having a cup of coffee, you would be consuming about 1-2 calories. Drinking just one venti mocha, you are consuming the following:

Calories: 380
Total Fat: 11 g
Saturated Fat: 7 g
Trans Fat: 0 g
Cholesterol: 55 mg
Sodium: 190 mg
Potassium: 0 mg
Total Carbohydrate: 53 g
Dietary Fiber: 5 g
Sugars: 45 g
Protein: 17 g

And the most popular drink at Starbucks, the vanilla latte, contains the following:

Nutrition Facts Per Serving (16 fl oz)

Calories: 250
Calories from Fat: 60
Total Fat: 6 g
Saturated Fat: 3.5 g
Trans Fat: 0 g
Cholesterol: 25 mg
Sodium: 150 mg
Total Carbohydrate: 37 g
Dietary Fiber: 0 g
Sugars: 35 g
Protein: 12 g
Caffeine: 150 mg

This is where issues come into play--people think that they are having just a cup of coffee. Look at how many calories you are consuming. Not to mention, look at how many grams of sugar this drink has! Just think, 35 grams is about 2.5 tablespoons (not teaspoons) of sugar. And if you take that venti mocha and add whipped cream to it, you have almost doubled the amount of sugar and calories in your morning "cup of coffee."
 
Here are some things to think about.

1. People who have a sugar addiction and start their day with a "cup of coffee" that's loaded with 30+ grams of sugar have just ingested their drug of choice for the day. Now, be prepared to have sugar cravings for the next 8-10 hours. If you are seriously trying to cut back on sugar and lose weight, you have set yourself up for failure with that first "cup of coffee."
2. By having one of these sugary, highly caffeinated drinks, you are in fact dehydrating your body. I recommend to my clients that if they have one of these drinks, they should drink double the ounces of water. For example, if they drank a 20 oz venti coffee, they should then drink 40 oz of water.
3. If you are one of those people who makes statements like "eating healthy is too expensive," be aware of just how much you are spending on little things like your morning "cup of coffee."
4. Lastly, let's talk about the amount of caffeine in these drinks. In a 20 oz coffee the average amount of caffeine is 200 mg. Now, if you have an espresso, 1 shot is about 75 mg of caffeine. How many of you add an extra shot? Let's total that one up in a 24 oz venti iced caramel macchiatto coffee drink from Starbucks. This drink has 225 mg of caffeine. Now, add 75 mg for the extra shot which comes to a total of 300 mg of caffeine. The average adult can safely consume up to 400 mg of caffeine a day. So, this should be your one caffeinated drink for the day, but often it is not. Not too mention, you have probably consumed your daily recommended amount of sugar in this one drink (NOTE: This drink has 49 g of sugar. Daily limit for men is 36 g*. Daily limit for women is 25 g*. *Source: American Heart Association).

 
The moral of this post is to choose wisely--think before you buy that drink.