It is no secret that drinking sugary beverages that are high in empty calories, combined with low physical activity, is contributing to obesity in the United States. Studies after studies have shown the link.
These sugary and, sometimes, artificially sweetened beverages not only provide zero value to our diets nutritionally but also increase cravings and contribute to fat storage, leading to long-term weight gain (CDC, 2024).
Let’s look at a few popular drinks that are, in my opinion, among the worst due to their extremely high sugar content, calorie count, or artificial ingredients:
Sonic Large Oreo Peanut Butter Master Shake
This monster shake is like a calorie bomb that explodes with an insane amount of sugar.
It is a creamy vanilla soft-serve ice cream shake with peanut butter and OREO® Cookie Pieces, finished with whipped topping and a cherry.
One large shake has 35 teaspoons (151 g) worth of sugar and calories, almost worth an entire adult meal!!
The sugar high from this shake will leave you with crash and burn symptoms so bad that you won’t know what hit you.
Besides the sugar, it is also overloaded with fat, cholesterol, and sodium.
Starbucks White Chocolate Mocha Venti (With Whipped Cream & Whole Milk)
This drink is undoubtedly very popular, but I was blown away by its amount of sugar, especially when ordered with whole milk and whipped cream.
The sugar content is 150% of an adult’s Daily Value.
It has 75 grams of sugar, which is equal to a whopping 18 teaspoons of sugar. Unbelievable!
McDonald’s Chocolate Shake (Large)
One large chocolate shake from McDonald’s has 800 Calories and is packed with sugar and fat.
It is also high in cholesterol.
When you combine it with a burger and fries meal, it most certainly will exceed a full day’s calorie requirements.
Dairy Queen Large Caramel MooLatte
Combining coffee and ice cream, the MooLatte has an alarmingly high sugar content of 113 g per serving.
It is another empty-calorie drink that provides no nutritional value in terms of fiber or vitamins. Instead, it just contributes to fat and sugar.
Taco Bell Mountain Dew Baja Blast Freeze (Large)
As the nutritional information shows, this frozen drink by Taco Bell is just liquid sugar with artificial colors and flavors, offering absolutely no nutritional benefits. It’s just complete trash.
Here are the ingredients it has:
Carbonated water, high fructose corn syrup, citric acid, natural and artificial flavor, caffeine, sodium benzoate (P), sodium citrate, gum arabic, calcium disodium EDTA (PF), yellow #5, blue #1.
Please refer here for more info on artificial colors: https://grosseating.com/the-use-of-artificial-colors-in-our-food-supply/
Please refer here for more info on high fructose corn syrup: https://grosseating.com/the-unhealthy-reality-of-high-fructose-corn-syrup-in-soda/
Drinking these sugary drinks and many others in the fast food industry is not worth the toll they can take on our health.
While they may taste good or provide a momentary energy boost, their long-term effects outweigh any short-term satisfaction.
