Eat Shrink And Be Merry

My oh my, what a wonderful day! I stopped at Starbucks on my way to work this morning, only to discover that my beloved Pumpkin Spice Latte is back on the menu! Yippee! Hooray! Oh, and if I sound extra perky today, I should be….I’ve just consumed more sugar than most kids would on Halloween night! Sweet!

I usally order my PSL (short for pumpkin spice latte; I figure if they can force me to order in their language, I’ll throw some of my own lingo at them and see how they like it) like this: Grande 2% PSL 1/2 sweet no whip. It took me quite a while to feel comfortable ordering like this, but the barristas are used to it. When I was a Starbucks rookie, I’d often order like this: “Could I please have a medium pumpkin spice latte using 2% milk instead of whole milk? Is that possible? Good…okay and instead of the 4 pumps of syrup that you usually add, could I just have 2 pumps instead? I really don’t have much of a sweet tooth but I love those yummy spices in the syrup, and I find that 2 pumps is just the perfect amount but 4 pumps is too sweet. Excellent! Oh, and no whip cream for me please, I’m watching my girlish figure…ha ha” only to have the kid behind the counter roll his eyes at me. With my new ordering style, I have their complete attention and utmost respect, since it’s obvious I’m a regular and that I “get” the whole Starbucks coffee culture.

But, back to the sugar issue. After checking their website and doing some recalculations based on the fact that I order my latte with 2% milk (which is not an option on their nutrition calculator) and my 2-pump vs. standard 4-pump syrup addition (though in Philadelphia last Friday the barrista said the standard is 5 pumps and so I had to order 2.5 pumps which made me feel like an complete and utter obsessive moron), it appears that my latte contains (approximately) the following:
295 calories
6 g fat
4 g saturated fat
43 g carbs
40 g sugar (ZOINKS!)
17 g protein

To put that in perspective, a 12-oz can of Coke has 39 g sugar, which is about 10 teaspoons’ worth, plus I’m consuming DOUBLE the calories in a can of Coke. However, I’m getting 17 g of protein and quite a bit of calcium…I believe there’s over 400 mg calcium in a grande latte. See? I can rationalize anything! Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte: an excellent source of protein and calcium!

Just think, if you drank one of these syrup-filled lattes 5 days per week for one year and didn’t change anything else about your diet, you’d a) be broke, and b) add almost 77,000 calories to your waistline, the equivalent of 22 pounds of flab! Something to think about.

Or not. I’ve decided that I’m limiting myself to 2 PSL’s per week til they stop making them….thank God they’re just a seasonal beverage! (Which, by the way, I think is absolutely ridiculous. What? My tastebuds only like the taste of cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg when the leaves are falling? That’s absurd!)

On a final sugary, scary note, if you order the PSL without specifying 2%, non-fat, no whip, 1/2 sweet, blah blah blah and just drink it “the way it comes,” here’s what you’d be getting in a grande (medium):
480 calories
22 g fat
14 g saturated fat (ZOWIE!)
53 g carbs
50 g sugar (JEEPERS!)
16 g protein

I could never work there. I’d be obese in two months. One thing’s for sure…syrup-filled coffees are not your weight-loss friend. Pay attention to how many you’re consuming and make sure sweetened lattes aren’t your daily grind.