Those mouthwatering cookies, delicious muffins, gourmet loaf breads, and sweet treats you’ve been eyeing in the Starbucks bakery case are sure to do a number on your diet. While the standard muffin or bagel averages about 300 calories per serving Starbucks version can top 500 calories or more. If you’ve been wondering where those extra pounds on your frame are coming from, you might have been getting more than you realized with your morning coffee.
Starbucks has become famous for not only its coffee, but also its attractive bakery case, lineup of sweets coffee drinks, and plenty of whipped cream and espresso combinations to make you a lifetime customer. While chocolate and coffee are essentials for your daily routine, they may also be sabotaging your healthy eating plans. Starting off your day in with the fattening treats from the bakery case is an easy way to offset your diet goals for the remainder of the week. Before you go ahead and indulge, take heed of the nutrition facts of the following Starbucks items. They may look innocent from the outside, but a closer look, might make you think twice about dessert. . .
A Starbucks classic is the toffee almond bar, a decadent combination of shortbread biscuit, toffee almonds, and sometimes a sprinkling of chocolate. Pick this one up 450 calories and 20 g of fat for every 3.5 ounce bar. A much better alternative is a miniature Heath toffee bar, with about half the calories.
Sometimes you just need the comfort of the carbs-and-sugar combination, also known as a sweet bread. The Zucchini Walnuts loaves at Starbucks definitely look appetizing, but when you learn that each 4.3 ounce slice comes in at 460 calories and 27 g of fat, you might be better off with a low calorie muffin instead.
Scones are a perfect accompaniment for your afternoon coffee, and have made their way onto many a breakfast plate for centuries. Still, the miniature 4.2 ounce of Blueberry Scone from Starbucks is rich with butter and sugar that may just be overkill for your morning; with 400 calories, 18 g of fat, and 10 g of saturated fats, you will have more than met your quota for heart clogging fats for the day.
Get your chocolate chip cookie fix from Starbucks isn’t necessarily your best plan of action. Each 3.2 ounce cookie is going to cost you 400 calories and 21 g of fat; 13 g of saturated fat is straight from the butter used to make these tasty creations. If you need that chocolate fix, pick up a piece of dark chocolate at a mere 70-80 calories and about 5 g of fat per piece; it will hold you over far longer than a cookie any day. If you must have a cookie be Starbucks oatmeal raisin is a much better choice; 350 calories and 12 g of fat are still fairly high for desserts, but it leads to have that cookie fix taken care of.
When temptation strikes and you find yourself heading to the Starbucks bakery case, do keep an eye out for low sugar and low-fat options. Balancing out the rest of your day when you must indulge is the best way to exercise some damage control. Still, your best bet is to simply have an alternative ready and waiting when that craving hits.
Reference:
- Starbucks nutrition fact sheet
