Health Issues: The Worst Brand Drinks in America

You  have probably already seen this email floating around cyberspace this week. A good friend from Texas sent it to me yesterday. Thanks, Linda.    I think it originates from  Men's Health who got it from the book Drink This, Not That!.   I've gotten Eat This, Not That! from the library recently and it is eye-opening.

Check the nutritional value of these "healthy" restaurant/shop beverages.  You'll be shocked. I still haven't watched Food, Inc., but I'm going to stream it soon and make the family watch it with me. We just got Netflix which is a better bargain than Blockbuster, so I hope to watch it soon.

Here is THE LINK to a pdf file of the top 20 worst offenders.  

A sample of what you'll read is below:

17. Worst Bottled Coffee

290 calories

4.5 g fat (2.5 g saturated)

45 g sugars

Starbucks Vanilla Frappuccino (1 bottle, 13.7 fl oz)

Sugar Equivalent: 32 Nilla Wafers

With an unreasonable number of calorie landmines peppered across Starbucks’ in-store menu, you’d think the company would want to use its grocery line to restore faith in its ability to provide caffeine without testing the limits of your belt buckle. Guess not. This drink has been on our radar for years, and we still haven’t managed to find a bottled coffee with more sugar. Consider this—along with Starbucks’ miniature Espresso and Cream Doubleshot—your worst option for a morning pickup.

7. Worst Margarita

890 calories

0 g fat

183 g carbohydrates

Traditional Red Lobster Lobsterita (24 fl oz)

Carbohydrate Equivalent: 7 Almond Joy candy bars

Of all the egregious beverages we’ve analyzed, the Lobsterita surprised us the most. The nation’s biggest fish purveyor is one of the few big players in the restaurant biz to provide its customers with a wide selection of truly healthy food options. We would hope they’d do the same with the beverages, but obviously not. Drink one of these every Friday night and you’ll put on more than a pound of flab each month. Downgrade to a regular margarita on the rocks and pocket the remaining 640 calories.