Counting the calories in comfort drinks
Reported January 17, 2009
When temperatures drop, we yearn for a steaming mug of something hot to warm our bones and comfort our souls. However, that “something” can make the difference between hitting spring in relatively good shape or with a few extra winter pounds in tow.
Herbal tea A cup of herbal tea is the most virtuous kid on the beverage block, with zero calories and the odd potential health benefit, such as the calming effect of camomile. But who wants to drink what looks (and often tastes) like coloured hot water? Fans of herbal brews tell me that those with ginger really do take away the chill, while stirring in a little honey improves taste and texture of most varieties.
Takeaway coffees More than 2 million of us troop over the threshold of Starbucks alone in the UK each week, which means that a fair few of us are supplementing our home-made hot drink fixes with shop-bought versions. If you’re counting calories, it is essential to be aware of the serving sizes. A “tall” serving in a coffee shop will give you about 350ml, a tad more liquid than you find in a can of fizzy drink. Then comes a “grande” serving of 475ml, three quarters of a pint; and an extra-large or “venti” gives you a whopping 591ml, more than half a litre. My advice is to stick to the smallest sizes – a tall latte made with semi-skimmed milk contains 148 calories while a venti version notches up 242. Choose skimmed milk when you can – a skimmed version of a tall cappuccino has 64 calories versus 108 with whole milk. Adding flavours such as mocha essentially adds sugar. A tall latte mocha has the equivalent of almost seven teaspoons of sugar.
Hot chocolate There are times when only a hot chocolate will hit the spot. However, before placing your order it is worth knowing that a grande one with whipped cream clocks up 556 calories; more than four two-bar KitKats. Instead, opt for something such as a Cadbury’s Options sachet to which you just add boiling water. It has only 37 calories but the downside is that you also end up swallowing stabilisers, anti-caking agents, salt, flavourings and the artificial sweetener aspartame. All of which makes a traditional home-made hot chocolate using a good-quality cocoa powder (Green & Blacks Organic Fairtrade version is tasty), made with 250ml of hot skimmed milk and a teaspoon of sugar, for 134 calories, a rather good choice. However, nothing beats the Chocolate Society’s (www.chocolate.co.uk House Dark Drinking Chocolate – just pour boiling skimmed milk on to 2tbs of the flakes of real dark chocolate (292 cals). That’s what I call a comfort drink.