16 March 2007

it's the whipped cream!

It's warm enough to indulge in iced mochas from trendy coffee shops. Since I've swithced to soy in my lattes, I was wondering what, if any, nutritional benefit would come from switching to soy in an iced mocha, a drink so sugary and fatty that there's probably no saving it. The Starbucks website breaks down the nutritional information for all it's beverages, and it's handy in that you can compare sizes, different milks, and whipped cream or no whipped cream. I found that when it comes to mocha, nonfat milk, whole milk, and soy milk make negligible differences in the fat content. It's the whipped cream. If you think, "The mocha's already bad for me, what can a little whipped cream hurt?"--as I do--look at this:
Grande Iced Mocha
whole milk, whip: 350 calories, 20 grams of fat
whole milk, no whip: 220, 8

nonfat milk, whip: 310, 14
nonfat milk, no whip: 180, 2

soy milk, whip: 330, 17
soy milk, no whip: 200, 4.5

See for yourself: Starbucks Beverage Nutritional Info. (Mochas are under "Espresso")

I've never pretended a mocha is healthy by any means, with or without the whipped cream, with or without soy. But that whipped cream makes a bigger difference than I thought.

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