15 Things You Should Never Order At Starbucks
You walk into your local Starbucks shop and are automatically hit with a tantalizing whiff of roasted coffee beans and baked desserts. What's not to love?
What many cafè-frequenting folks don't know is that a plethora of menu items you wake up to may actually be responsible for the increasing number on your scale. Rethink your breakfast sandwich and afternoon cup of caffeine by familiarizing yourself with the worst offenders at the 'bucks below, and then treat yourself to more waistline-friendly choices with the help of our exclusive report, The 28 Starbucks Items that Diet Experts Love.
White Chocolate Mocha
You wouldn't start your day with a 16-ounce can of Cola, so why wake up to a White Chocolate Mocha? This sugary beverage packs in a gram more of the sweet stuff and 240 more calories than the red-labeled bottle contains.
Pumpkin Spice Latte
This signature seasonal favorite may fare well on your Instagram page, but its absurd sugar content is equivalent to that of more than two Hershey's milk chocolate bars. To make matters worse, the 'Bux sneaks potassium sorbate, a genotoxic preservative, into its recipe.
Spicy Chorizo, Monterey Jack & Egg Breakfast Sandwich
We're all for a breakfast packed with protein and fiber, but this calorie bomb's fat and sodium content lands it a spot on the list of sandwiches you shouldn't satiate your hunger with.
Double-Smoked Bacon, Cheddar & Egg Sandwich
Another porky pick, this glorified bacon, egg, and cheese contains a ridiculous amount of artery-clogging saturated fat and blood-pressure-raising sodium. What's more, the bacon is processed with sodium nitrite, which has been linked to esophageal cancer.
Double Chocolate Chunk Brownie
Choose the right chocolatey treat and your body will benefit from a solid antioxidant boost. Next time you're craving cacao, opt for a square or two of over 70 percent dark chocolate rather than this belly-ballooning brownie.
Chicken & Double-Smoked Bacon
This meaty 'wich packs in just 20 milligrams shy of the FDA's recommended daily sodium intake for folks over the age of 51 and for those who suffer from high blood pressure, diabetes, or kidney disease.
Java Chip Frappuccino
We all know that ordering Starbucks' popular frapps is no way to get flat abs or sustained energy. Pick this mocha-infused drink and you'll be imbibing a laundry list of health-harming ingredients including palm oil and potassium sorbate.
Apple Fritter
Warm, fried dough is a total no-go when you're prepping for swimsuit season. This seemingly portion-controlled apple fritter will blast your belly with almost 500 calories and a bloating carb count.
Ancho Chipotle Chicken Panini
With 11 more grams of carbs and 80 more milligrams of sodium than a Big Mac, skip this southwestern sammy and opt for brown bagging one of our 20 Healthy Mexican Recipes.
Chocolate Marble Loaf Cake
Not only does this dessert pack in almost two tablespoons of butter worth of saturated fat, it boasts heart-harming trans fat—a type of fatty acid that, according to the FDA, can increase your risk of the leading cause of death in the U.S.: Heart disease.
Old-Fashioned Glazed Doughnut
This seemingly innocent doughnut contains no trace of colorful toppings or creamy fillings, yet remains extremely caloric. In fact, Starbucks' sugar-coated ring has 220 more calories and more than double the amount of saturated fat than Dunkin' Donuts' version!
Chocolate Chunk Muffin
This sweet tooth-satisfying muffin may be confected with four different Colombian chocolates, but that doesn't erase the fact that the batter is also spiked with inflammatory soybean oil and a blood glucose-raising amount of sugar.
Hot Chocolate
Hot chocolate may make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside, but Starbucks' caloric cup shouldn't be your go-to winter drink. A Grande topped with whipped cream packs in half a day's worth of saturated fat and enough calories to consider this mug a meal.
Chicken Artichoke on Ancient Grain Flatbread
It may sound wholesome at first: Lean chicken, prebiotic artichoke, and satiating ancient grains all land a spot on our Eat This!-approved list of ingredients—but not when they star in this sandwich. Although the bun is made with organic whole khorasan and ground millet, it's slathered with salty toppings that dramatically rack up the heart-harming sodium content.
Blueberry Scone
Sure, this scone is made with blueberries, one of our best-ever superfoods for weight loss. Unfortunately, we're not fans of Sbux pairing the slimming fruit with "natural blueberry flavors" (what the heck are those?!) and tainting it with more than double the amount of sodium than in a medium order of Mickey D's fries.
