Ouch, Starbucks, Ouch

I am once again ahead of the curve on current events, yet was too lazy to post about it last week... *cough* Bloomingdale's shoe sale *cough* Anyway, I think we all know that when it comes to coffee, Starbucks is rather mediocre but they make it so damn convenient by having one every 3.5 blocks, that you get sucked into the trend. Anyone from the southwest knows that it would be far more enjoyable to lick the inside of a Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf filter sheet taken straight from the dumpster than drink a drop of Starbucks premium blend. Here in the east we're kind of confined to that or Dunkin Donuts, which is also overbrewed trash, but I digress. But this week I have to give Starbucks credit for a breakthrough.

So from a logistical standpoint, being in midtown is already enough to make you want to kick baby pigeons and straight arm tourists, so I needed a little caffeine to make it through the shoe department. There is a teensy hidden Starbucks on 57th Street which is usually dead and so I snuck in there thinking I would get a small plain coffee and life would go on. When I got to the counter there was an overweight suburban mom with a visor and knockoff sunglasses buying her obese son a large Frappuccino (Screw their Italian sizes!). I proudly held my tongue although an eye roll might have slipped out, oops. Anyway, I took the time to look at the pastry selection which always amazes me. I am not a sweets person, so when I see people loading up on that stuff like it's crack I wonder what's up with their wiring. But low and behold, I noticed a new tagging system, giving the calorie counts on each item under their names. Sweet Jesus, I said, now this is exciting....especially since many items, even the "lowfat" ones were well over 400 calories per item. There was even one with 520 calories on the tag.

As I get to the counter to order my basic baby coffee, I size up the counter guy. He could have doubled as one of Ludacris's back up dancers and had tons of flair, so I figured he might be approachable and that I could ask him some questions. I asked him if since their re-tagging of the items, have people been buying as many? His face got all animated as he told me that their sales were down by over 50%, that people come in and see the tags and flip out. But he said that just as many others don't read or cannot care. He capped that off with stating, "400 calories? That's like a whole meal. I'm not wasting that on one tiny cupcake." Good man. I left a tip.

The public repeatedly rides the fence, half the time demanding they know nutrition information and the other half denying a need to know. I just think it's nice to see the numbers. Cupcake conspiracy indeed. Don't even get me started on the lemon pound cake. Ouch.

~beth

Once It Hits Your Lips, It's So Good!

Let’s face it, beer is part of life as most of us know it. In high school you sneak it, in college you funnel it, as an adult you should appreciate it in pint form with friends. Beer is great. There’s only one little thing that is wrong with beer…it sticks with you.

Only a few people on this vast green earth can drink their weight in glorious beer and not gain an inch on their waist. When you are done wishing them ill or willing them your share of calories for last Saturday night, take a minute and learn some facts about beer so you can stave off that beer intertube that is sadly only attractive with the use of beer goggles.

If you’re bored enough to be reading the nutrition information on the case or bottle, you are not utilizing that beer to the fullest. Luckily, there are many online resources for you to determine what’s in your beer, AKA “What Happened to My Formerly Slim and Athletic Figure.”

Let’s take for example a NYC after work friend, Amstel Light, the post-grad girlfriend of beers. Per 12 ounces of lovely Amstel Light (3.9% alcohol by volume) there are 99 calories. It takes 3500 calories to be stored in order to make a pound of fat. Therefore, that means you would be able to drink 35 of those little beers if you were willing to put on a pound…

Pretty simple, right? Nope, alcohol in its simple joy wreaks havoc on your metabolism in a very complex way. Those hoppy hops are slowing down your metabolism, not being burnt nearly as quickly as you’re drinking them. Your system has no other option than to store them as adipose tissue…basically, nasty fat. You liver is busy converting the majority of the alcohol to acetate which gets dumped into the bloodstream to be used for fuel instead of fat cells. And like all good things that you can’t live without, beer is high in calories, so the more you drink, the more calories you take in, the more fat is stored.

Who knew getting on the piss could be so complicated?!? Here are some tips to try to get you buzzed but keep that beer belly at bay:

• Eat a solid meal before drinking. This will fill your stomach and slow the absorption of alcohol. Alcohol not only depresses blood sugar but also willpower, making it an appetite accelerator. The munchies combined with alcohol are the tag team enables of the beer gut.
• Don’t confuse "light" with "diet." If you're a person who tosses back far more because the bottle says "light" on it, beware! Choose a beer you can savor the taste of and enjoy it rather than racing to the point where you have drank enough light beer to not be put off by the taste.
• Plan your drinking. If you know that you are going to have 3 beers at the bar during the game this Saturday, avoid calorie laden foods for snacks that week to offset what you plan to have there. This is also a good way to plan for your workouts. Planning does take
  practice and is a good way to find some willpower.

*This post is dedicated to the Rugby World Cup beginning 7 September 2007. ~beth