Reading a nutrition label these days isn't good enough anymore. These days many consumable products are stuffed with "fillers" which in the food industry means they are beefed or bulked up with low or non-nutritional ingredients that are cheap. That means more money in thier pocket. Take a Starbucks Blended Carmel Frappucino for instance. Yes, you can easily discover that a 20 ounce cup is loaded with 510 calories, 17g of fat, 84g of carbs, 81g of sugar, and 6g of protein. However, what you should be even more aware of is HOW all that "stuff" that goes into it can reek havoc on your body. What are the "fillers" right? Well, there are 5 listed ingredients used by Starbucks to make a Blended Carmel Frappucino: frappuciono mix, caramel sauce, caramel syrup, whipped cream, and sugar. Simple enough right? Wrong! Let's just see what really goes into that 20 ounce cup. This is going to look scary, but keep your eyes open and educate yourself a little.
1. FRAPPUCCINO MIX:
This special concoction contains sugar, water, natural and artificial flavor, potassium sorbate, citric acid (don't be fooled—this citrus flavor is made almost exclusively from genetically modified corn), caramel color (more on this below), and xantham gum (a thickening agent). Caffeine's in there too (about 130mg). The good news: Coffee is the number-one source of antioxidants in the U.S. diet. It has 300 percent more disease-fighting antioxidants than black tea and 3,333 percent more than an apple! Despite all these health perks, coffee may still be the heaviest chemically-treated food commodity in the world. Buying organic coffee reduces the use of harmful synthetic fertilizers and aids in keeping our water supply clean, but unfortunately this frappe is not made with the organic stuff. For some reason, Starbucks stopped offering organic as an option.*
2. CARAMEL SAUCE:
If you've ever made caramel from scratch, you know that it's comprised of only three ingredients: heavy whipping cream, butter, and sugar. But that's too expensive to mass produce. It's a lot cheaper to make a sweeter, gooier sauce with corn syrup, high-fructose corn syrup, sugar, butter, cream, water, nonfat dry milk, natural flavor, mono- and di-glycerides, potassium sorbate, soy lecithin, and sodium bicarbonate. The key item to be wary of here, besides high-fructose corn syrup (one of the leading causes of America's obesity epidemic), is the food additives called mono- and di-glycerides, which are labeled emulsifiers but are really trans-fatty acids (usually labeled under lipids, aka, fats) in disguise. This semantics loophole allows food that contains these acids — associated with heart disease, stroke, obesity, and diabetes — to be marketed as having “0% trans fat.” Super sneaky!*
3. CARAMEL SYRUP:
Surprise, surprise, here's more sugar — plus water, natural and artificial flavor, potassium sorbate, citric acid (more corn!), and caramel color. Now this coloring thing isn't just your typical dye. The browning agent contains 2-methylimidazole and 4-methylimidazole, two contaminants also found in beer and, the worst offender of all, cola. This criminal coloring agent has been linked to lung, liver, and thyroid cancer. *
4. WHIPPED CREAM:
Looks white, right? There's actually caramel coloring in there, as well as heavy whipping cream and vanilla syrup, which itself is made up of sugar, water, natural flavors, potassium sorbate and citric acid (Can you say, corn-fest?). To top it off, this dollop of whipped cream is responsible for more than 25% of the total calories in this drink. 5. SUGAR: Sweet doesn't even begin to describe this drink. With 81 grams of sugar, drinking one Starbuck's Blended Caramel Frappuccino will give you the same amount of sugar as if you had eaten: one full size Kit Kat bar (22g), one full-size bag of Peanut M&M's (25g), one full-size box of Milk Duds (27g), AND four Everlasting Gobstoppers (7g)! When is the last time you ate all of that candy in one sitting? Because refined sugar doesn't have any minerals of its own, when the body tries to process it, it actually robs the essential micronutrients already in your body in order to be digested. Also, sugar competes with vitamin C for receptor site entry into your cells, which means that it blocks the pathway for the C to boost your immune system. It also inhibits the absorption of calcium and magnesium, as well as promotes addiction, which is why you most likely feel unsatisfied after you've slurped the last sip.*
*(Source: Mira and Jayson Calton "Rich Food, Poor Food" ~Top Experts Study)
That's a pretty long description for just 5 listed ingredients don't you think? I don't know about you, but some of those big words like "methylimidazole" and "sodium bicarrbonate" sound synthetic to me like a lot of other consumable products in our world. Yet, what really clicks in my head is when I see words like "linked to lung, liver, and thyroid cancer". That's an attention grabber to me! It makes me want zone in on what I just read so as to avoid it all together! How about that description for listed ingredient #5 SUGAR!?! How many of us out there actually know that drinking just one 20 ounce cup of Starbucks Blended Carmel Frappucino has a sugar equivalent to eating a Kit Kat bar, bag of Peanut M&M's, box of Milk Duds, and 4 Everlasting Gobstoppers! I think a lot of people would say No Thank You! That's just one drink!
What about everything else we see advertised out there! What kinds of things are you eating, drinking or exposing your family to on an on-going daily basis that could be jeopardizing the overall health of your family? If anything I hope this little article here gets you thinking. Why not make the decision to become and educated consumer and make better choices for you and your family before you buy. I honestly can't answer why I wouldn't. I don't see it as a waste of my time to learn the difference. I've been learning more and more about how to be a healthier person since I started my own home business 2 years ago. I feel like a better mom by becoming more and more aware of how to make healthier and safer choices for me and my family. So my challenge to you is to make a change today and become a conscious consumer! Thank you for taking time out of your day to read my article and allowing me share a tid-bit of healthy knowledge with you. If you're interested in learn more, then I'd love to introduce you to a better way! Stay healthy and live a life of quality :) 01 02 03
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