Is Starbucks to Blame for Rising Obesity?
January 31st, 2008 · Filed Under: Abs Nutrition · Podcasts
Starbucks offers a wide variety of high calorie and high fat drinks and food choices. Is Starbucks making you fat? This is the subject of Episode #2 of the Great Fat Loss Debate with Scott Colby, Scott Tousignant and special guest, Kevin Gianni. Is Starbucks contributing to the rising obesity trend in adults and children? Well their menu would certainly suggest it. A lot of their pastries and snacks are nearly 500 calories. Some of their drinks can be nearly 1000 calories depending on what you order.
For example, a piece of no sugar added banana nut coffee cake has 480 calories and 28 grams of fat. You may have thought that this would be a healthy option based on the words, “no sugar added” but you would be wrong.
A grande peppermint white chocolate mocha with 2% milk and whipped cream is 530 calories and 18 grams of fat. So if you have the no sugar added coffee cake and a grande peppermint white mocha with whipped cream, you’ve consumed 1010 calories and 46 grams of fat. Wow!
Of course, there are ways to make your drinks healthier or less healthy by the size of the drink, the type of milk, the type of syrup, whether or not you add whipped cream, etc. So then it’s a matter of personal responsibility. It is up to you to be responsible for your own health and make wise choices.
I personally go to Starbucks almost every day, but I usually order a black coffee.
Should Starbucks be doing more to help fight the cause against obesity? They do a nice job listing nutrition information on their website - www.starbucks.com. Should they be doing more?
You want to know what we think? Well you’ll have to listen to Scott, Kevin and I debate the topic.
Simply click on the audio player below to listen to this weeks Great Fat Loss Debate and then take a moment to share your thoughts and feelings about the podcast.
What would you like Starbucks to do to help combat the rising trend in obesity?
Please share your comments below.
January 31st, 2008 at 8:36 pm
Hey guys… one thing I didn’t add that I think is important…
We as a global community are already under heaping loads of adrenal stress. Loading up on sugar as well as caffeine can put us in burnout. This can lead to hair loss, fatigue, sleeplessness, depression and a whole host of physical and emotional illnesses.
To combat this B-12 and B-complex vitamins as well as a host of others can be used, but that doesn’t stop the stress if you keep piling it on with processed sugar and caffeine!
Live Awesome!
Kevin
Learn about the vegan and raw food diet
January 31st, 2008 at 11:10 pm
Hey guys:
The question should be “are you making you fat?”
Starbucks isn’t making anyone fat, you are the one making that final decision, you are solely responsible for your own actions. Starbucks did not twist your arm to enter their store and buy anything. You made that decision.
Surely they may have enticed you, but the final decision was made by your conscious mind that then relayed it to your actions.
This goes for anything out there.
JB
February 1st, 2008 at 9:22 am
One of the things that jumped out at me during the last segement of the discussion was the following comment;
“When I want to reward myself, I want junk…I don’t want anything healthy…”
I think that first, for all of us (myself included :-), there’s a huge need for a shift away from this type of thinking. In what other area of life do we accept “junk”–empty, meaningless stuff devoid of value, as a reward? Why do we so readily accept it in what we choose to put in our bodies?
We can point our collective fingers at any number of junk food peddlers all we like, but until we stop seeking them out like mindless zombies, they will continue to indulge us (and profit from it). Demand creates the supply, and we are free to demand otherwise…(but, better education on these relevant topics would certainly help people opt for better, more self-loving choices). M.H.
February 1st, 2008 at 10:17 am
An other aspect is to mention, that you cann’t blame the company. In the end the consumers are regulate the range of goods. For germans, read:
http://www.sueddeutsche.de/gesundheit/
A.H.
February 3rd, 2008 at 3:38 pm
Hello fellows;
Great discussion!!!We,as the consumers,are keeping Starbucks in business and we, the consumers,are buying their unhealthy products,allowing them to become weathly while we become unhealthy..Why would we buy unhealthy products and keep them in business when we know what it does to our mind, body, and spirit??If we stop buying their unhealthy foods they will have no choice but to offer onlywhat is healthy..we who are knowledgable about sugar and what it does to our mind and our bodies,why would we put that in our systems on a regular basis?Here is something to think about-how many of our criminals have first consumed Starbucks and then committed a crime right after that??Talk about sugar levels and sugar imbalances..sad to say but where I work at a daycare I see infants coming in the mornings with a donut in their hands and that is their breakfast..how can we teach our children to eat properly when the adults have a problem eating healthy..as for me I do not go near Starbucks..if they offered foods that would increase my energy levels and offered drinks that would build my health up then I would consider maybe going but until then I choose to spend my money on foods that promote health and wellness..thanks for the opportunity to share..
Helen Cowan
February 4th, 2008 at 7:37 am
Like everywhere, you have to read that nutritional info and examine all the labels carefully. I travel a lot and sometimes rely on starbucks for quick meals, as I’m there anyway for my coffee. All the prepared food in the fridge case is well labeled. In the summer the tomato mozzerella salad is 280 calories and 19 grams of protein. Granted, it’s 24 grams of cheesey fat, but if you take that into account on your macronutrient ratios, you can make that choice. Also, i get the turkey sandwich and just eat the turkey out of it. The green tea (iced or hot) is healthy and tasty. For a special treat I will get a grande chai, but ask for only one pump of chai syrup, which reduces the sugar and tastes good anyway - honestly, once you don’t eat any other sugar, three pumps of chai syrup in a chai is WAY too sweet. So it’s possible to eat ok at starbucks, but you have to do so in an educated way, just like eating anythign else.
February 4th, 2008 at 12:45 pm
They do list the calories and other nutrician info on their website, but I’d like to see them have a brochure available with all the calorie info, on site. This is what jamba juice does and it’s great. At least then you can make an educated choice.
February 4th, 2008 at 5:26 pm
Granted, nobody forces one to buy a cup of coffee and a snack at Starbucks, but how would the average consumer ever even begin to comprehend the fat and calories involved in that purchase????
My daughter is 24 years old, never had a cavity in her life. She moved to a metropolitan area where she was introduced to Starbucks, Changed nothing else except for added one latte a day, her 1st 6 month check up there revealed 3 cavaties, She was so astonished that she went for a 2nd opinion to verify. wow!!!
February 4th, 2008 at 10:37 pm
Nobody NEEDS caffein,sugar,or fat. The
last time I checked,the human body can
survive indefinatly without a double
carmel machiatto, but only a few days
without water! Try this experiment. Don’t drink any liquids for 24 hours.
After this time, see what you’re craving
more, a Starbuck’s coffee or a bottled
water. Trust me, you’re going for the
H2O! Listen, Starbuck’s isn’t going to
change their menue items anytime soon.
Not as long as people continue to get
hooked on them, and hooked on them they
are! You mentioned that you see the same
people with the same drinks every day.
Well, what does that suggest. It’s the
same formula that has made McDonald’s a
multi billion dollar coorporation. By the way, I consider myself somewhat of
an expert on this subject since I live in Redmond, WA (the Microsoft and Star-
buck’s capitol of the world!). Also, I’ve owned a fitness business for the
last 20 years and have counseled thousands of people on diet and exercise. So if Scott, Kevin, Scott, or
Tom want some advice you can e-mail me at raymondtrainerironmind@hotmail.com.
own a fitness business