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Tuesday, 26 June 2012

Something to deaden the sweet tooth


A few years back we received a listing of the top 20 calorific drinks.  A condensed version of the list can be found at 20 most calorific drinks, the original supposedly in Men’s Health May 2010.  Starbuck’s was rightly roasted with 3 servings of their Vanilla Frappucinno (290 cal) , Peppermint While Chocolate Mocha with whipped cream (660 calories) and White Hot Chocolate with whipped cream (520 calories).  A Dairy Queen MooLattee coming in at 870 calories, Baskin and Robbins ice cream soda at 960 calories, McDonald’s triple thick chocolate shake at 1160 calories and the cream of the crop was Cold Stone PB&C at an amazing 2010 calories.

This past week, a listing of ten top calorific deserts Top 10 desserts top ten calorific deserts.    Promoted by the current North American bacon bit fad that has worked its way into a Burger King sundae and tops the scales at a mere 510 calories per sundae.  Dairy Queen blizzards (size not listed) topping just over 1000 calories.  Our favourite for sharing amongst a whole table of friends is the Cheesecake Factory Chocolate Tower Truffle Cake at 1679 calories, or about 40 calories a forkful by our calculations.   Its the amazing Keg offering of a Carrot Cake a la mode that tops in at 2344 calories to definitely take caution of. 

If your stomach is not already tumbling and heaving, how about taking a quick look just at volume and what has happened over the years in terms of normalizing soft drinks sizes.   Megasizing soft drinks  can be put in perspective by thinking 10-15 calories per 30 ml (ounce).  so going from 200 ml - or about 75 calories, up to nearly a 4 litre cup (128 ounces) containing some 1500 calories - gives some sense of how marketing impacts individual choice.

There are very few naturally occurring drinks other than milk and water that humans are used to. Tea and coffee without any sugar or milk also make the list if you needed something more.   In a day and age where we are all struggling to keep a bit thinner, cut the calories from what you drink, and steer clear of the deserts. 

If nothing else, take a look at the links to do a bit of behavioural desensitizing.  

1 comment:

  1. Great post, Dr. P..
    I have always thought that PH underutilizes the media to educate the public on the damage they do to themselves.
    For example at Tim Horton's, our friendly neighborhood coffee shop, it is not uncommon to hear someone order an XL triple-triple. It would seem that people presume that they need to add more sugar and cream to their coffee because they have a large cup. Then the chain increased the size of their XL cup to 24 oz!!! (3 cups of coffee in one!) I investigated the caloric content of an XL T-T at the Tim's website and lo and behold, it is approximately 600 calories!!!
    Yikes! Three of these and no need to eat anything... It is no small wonder we are in an obesity crisis. And the kids are looking to the adults for an example.

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