When coffee can break your diet

(Globeandmail) - If you've traded in your hot cup of java for a creamy, chilled coffee beverage you might want to rethink your order. Frappuccinos, Chillates, and iced cappuccinos might be refreshing on a hot summer day, but low-cal they are not.

If you're a daily consumer of these hard-to-resist treats, you're likely to notice the numbers on your bathroom scale creeping upwards. In fact, once you look at the nutritional information for your favourite chilled coffee drink, it might not go down so well.

Consider that a 16-ounce (grande) Java Chip Frappuccino with whip cream from Starbucks delivers 510 calories, 21 grams of fat, 15 of them saturated fat, and a whopping 20 teaspoons of hidden sugar. A Tim Hortons large (18-ounce) Iced Cappuccino with cream will set you back 414 calories, 20 grams of fat and almost 14 teaspoons of sugar.

Sounds like liquid dessert to me. Even a glazed donut is easier on your waistline. In fact, you'd have to eat three glazed donuts to consume the same number of calories, fat and sugar that hides in many of these all-dressed chilled coffee concoctions.

It's true that a glazed donut contains unhealthy trans fat from partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, whereas blended coffee drinks don't. But sipping on artery-clogging saturated fat from whole milk and whipped cream is not much better.

Nor is the bucketful of sugar these blended drinks provide in the form of syrup. Guzzle a 355-millilitre can of soda pop and you'll consume less sugar than in many of these drinks. If you live large and order a Starbucks 24-ounce (venti) Strawberries & Crème Frappuccino Blended Crème (caffeine free), you'll gulp back a hefty 21 teaspoons of sugar, the equivalent of two pops.

There are ways to enjoy these cool, summery drinks without breaking your diet. For starters, skip the whipped cream and you'll save as many as 140 calories and 12 grams of fat.

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