Is It Coffee, A Frappuccino, A Coolatta, Or Dessert?

By on May 18, 2013 in Calorie Tips, Healthy Eating, Food Facts, Food for Fun and Thought, Lose 5 Pounds in 5 Weeks, Manage Your Weight, Snacking, Noshing, Tasting, Takeout, Prepared Food, Junk Food

iced-coffee-signWhen the weather heats up, the coffee drinks cool down.  Unfortunately, some of those delicious iced and frozen coffee drinks – whether they’re from a coffee shop or from a can — can really bump up your calories and fat grams.

Keep in mind that you can always order plain old iced coffee or even an iced Americano (almost no calories for 16 ounces) and doctor it with non-caloric sweetener and skim milk.  You’d even come out ahead if you use controlled amounts of sugar and a bit of half and half. Or have an iced brewed coffee with classic syrup:  a 12 ounce cup has 60 calories.

Calories in Some Iced And Frozen Coffee Drinks

Note: all info (with the exception of Burger King) is for a 16 oz cup.

  • Starbucks Mocha Frappuccino with whipped cream, 16 oz. (grande): 400 calories, 15 g fat (9 g saturated), 64g carbohydrates.
  • Starbucks Mocha Light Frappuccino with nonfat milk, 16 oz. (grande): 130 calories, 0.5g fat, (0 g saturated), 28g carbohydrates.
  • Iced Caffe Latte with nonfat milk, 16 oz. (grande):  90 calories, 0g fat, 13g carbohydrates.
  • Dunkin’ Donuts Coffee Coolatta made with whole milk, 16 oz. (small):  240 calories, 4 g fat (2.5 g saturated), 50g carbohydrates
  • Dunkin’ Donuts Vanilla Bean Coolatta, 16 oz. (small): 420 calories, 6g fat (3.5g saturated), 92g carbohydrates
  • Dunkin’ Donuts Iced Latte made with skim milk, 16 oz. (small):  80 calories, 0g fat, 13g carbohydrates
  • Baskin Robbins Cappuchino Blast Mocha, 16oz (small):  400 calories, 13g fat (9g saturated), 65g carbohydrates
  • McDonald’s McCafé Iced Caramel Mocha, 16 oz. (medium) made with whole milk and whipped cream:  300 calories, 14g fat (8g saturated), 36g carbohydrates
  • Burger King: Iced Seattle’s Best Coffee Mocha, 22 oz. (medium):  260 calories, 3.5g fat (2.5g saturated), 54g carbohydrates

Ways To Shave Calories From Iced Coffee Drinks

  • Ditch the whipped cream.
  • Swap full fat or 2% milk for 1% or skim.
  • Watch the sugar:  ask for one pump instead of two, ask for sugar free syrup, add non-calorie sweetener instead of sugar, or don’t sweeten at all.
  • Change the size of the drink that you order:  instead of a venti or an extra large, order a grande or large – or drop down to a tall, medium, or even a small-sized drink.
  • If you have a two a day (or more) habit – like a coolata in the morning and a frappuccino in the afternoon – substitute a plain coffee or iced tea (easy on the milk and sugar), or even a latte with nonfat milk for one of those choices.
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Are Your Snacks The Equivalent Of Another Meal?

By on May 17, 2013 in Calorie Tips, Healthy Eating, Food Facts, Eating on the Job, Food for Fun and Thought, Lose 5 Pounds in 5 Weeks, Manage Your Weight, Snacking, Noshing, Tasting

We chow down on a lot of snack food — a quarter of our calories come from them! Snacks account for more than 25% of Americans’ daily calorie intake; since the 1970s, snacks have accounted for around 580 calories a day — which basically turns them into “a full eating event,” or a fourth meal. [...]

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How Many Calories Do You Drink?

By on May 16, 2013 in Calorie Tips, Healthy Eating, Food Facts, Entertaining, Buffets, Parties, Events, Food for Fun and Thought, Lose 5 Pounds in 5 Weeks, Manage Your Weight

Did you know that because alcohol doesn’t register as “food” in your GI tract or your brain, it doesn’t fill you up the way food does? But alcohol does have calories — 7 calories a gram – more than carbs and protein which clock in at 4 calories a gram (fat has 9). So, because [...]

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It’s Really True: Shopping When You’re Hungry Means More Calories In Your Cart

By on May 15, 2013 in Calorie Tips, Healthy Eating, Food Facts, Food for Fun and Thought, Lose 5 Pounds in 5 Weeks, Manage Your Weight, Shopping, Cooking, Baking

You’ve probably heard this before:  “Don’t shop when you’re hungry.” But is it a myth or a fact? Two experiments put this to the test. After not eating for 5 hours, 68 men and women were allowed to shop for food on two separate days in a simulated grocery store (a Cornell lab).  Lower-calorie healthy [...]

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Can You Save Calories Eating A Ham And Cheese Sandwich Instead Of A Salad?

By on May 14, 2013 in Calorie Tips, Healthy Eating, Food Facts, Food for Fun and Thought, Lose 5 Pounds in 5 Weeks, Manage Your Weight, Restaurants, Diners, Fast Food, Takeout, Prepared Food, Junk Food

Somehow we’ve embraced the idea that salads are always a light and healthy choice.  Sometimes they are – but all too often they aren’t. Listen to lunchtime orders and you hear salad, salad, salad – and an occasional sandwich. Sometimes the sandwich is the clear winner in terms of calories and fat.  For instance, a [...]

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Want To Decrease Your Dinner Calories? Change The Size Of Your Plate

By on May 13, 2013 in Calorie Tips, Healthy Eating, Food Facts, Eating with Family and Friends, Food for Fun and Thought, Lose 5 Pounds in 5 Weeks, Manage Your Weight

Does the size of your plate make a difference other than for convenience?  You bet it does.Since 1960, the size of the average dinner plate has increased 36%. Today’s dinner plate measures 11 to 12 inches across — a few decades ago they were 7 to 9 inches. A European plate averages 9 inches and [...]

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Let A Baseball Be Your Guide For A One Cup Serving Of Food

By on May 12, 2013 in Calorie Tips, Healthy Eating, Food Facts, Food for Fun and Thought, Lose 5 Pounds in 5 Weeks, Manage Your Weight, Snacking, Noshing, Tasting

It’s awfully hard to gauge how much food you’re putting on your plate – and even harder to figure out how much food you’re popping into your mouth when you eat directly from a multi-serving bag of food – like a big bag of chips. Portion size is critical to managing your weight.  One helpful [...]

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What To Eat When Party Food Is Heavy On Wings, Pizza, And Chips

By on May 11, 2013 in Calorie Tips, Healthy Eating, Food Facts, Eating with Family and Friends, Entertaining, Buffets, Parties, Events, Lose 5 Pounds in 5 Weeks, Manage Your Weight, Snacking, Noshing, Tasting

Stick with grilled meat, veggies, or baked chips rather than fried. Turkey, baked ham, and grilled chicken are better choices than wings and fried chicken. Plain bread, pitas, or wraps are less caloric than biscuits or cornbread. Or, try using lettuce as a sandwich wrap. Go for salsa and skip the guacamole; mustard instead of [...]

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Does The Thought Of A Buffet Send Your Inner Calorie Counter Into Panic Mode?

By on May 10, 2013 in Calorie Tips, Healthy Eating, Food Facts, Eating with Family and Friends, Entertaining, Buffets, Parties, Events, Lose 5 Pounds in 5 Weeks, Manage Your Weight

Eating well and being “calorically observant” can be a challenge at parties, buffets, and events.  Since wedding and graduation season is upon us, week 3 of the lose 5 pounds in 5 weeks challenge will focus on making good choices to save calories when choosing your food at these events – especially since so many [...]

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Want Beef? Here’s a Steakhouse Mini Cheat Sheet

By on May 9, 2013 in Calorie Tips, Healthy Eating, Food Facts, Lose 5 Pounds in 5 Weeks, Manage Your Weight, Restaurants, Diners, Fast Food, Shopping, Cooking, Baking

If you’re watching your weight, beef can be a good choice – just be aware of portion size and which are the least fatty cuts of meat.  Here’s a mini cheat sheet: The USDA defines a lean cut of beef as a 3.5 oz serving (about 100 grams) that has less than: 10 grams total [...]

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