The Best Starbucks Drink Picks by this RD 2 Be!

Recently, for my internship with American Dairy Association North East,  I was asked to write a blog for their Dairy Diary page on their website. The dietitian I am under thought it would be a great idea to write about my favorite drinks  at Starbucks and how to make them better for you. With a little bit of thinking, I came up with 4 of my favorite, and most ordered drinks and made them healthier!

Along with being a college senior in a nutrition and dietetics program, I am also a part-time Barista at Starbucks. Through my 2-and-a-half-year tenure there and my nutrition classes, I have found the best drinks for health-conscious customers.

These drinks are high in protein, with vitamins and minerals that help your body stay strong and healthy. From the vast possibilities of drinks at Starbucks (and believe me, there are THOUSANDS of combinations and options!), I have come up with four of my favorite good-for-you drinks.

The Smoothie

Everyone knows the Frappuccino, but Starbucks offers another type of frozen blended drink; smoothies! They are available in Strawberry or Chocolate. Both smoothies come standard with 2% milk, a banana, ice, and whey protein/fiber powder.

My favorite of these two smoothies is the Strawberry! However, I like to change up the recipe a bit. Instead of using 2% milk, I ask for it to be made with fat-free skim milk. Whichever your preference, skim or 2% milk, all milk has 9 essential vitamins and minerals necessary to keep us healthy and our bones and teeth strong. The other change I like to make is asking for an extra scoop of the whey protein/fiber powder.

The standard recipe comes with 2 scoops, but after an intense workout at the gym, the extra scoop of whey protein/fiber powder, with 6 grams of protein, helps me reach my protein goal for a post workout recovery snack. The extra gram of fiber also helps with digestion, all the more reason to ask for an extra scoop!

The Frappuccino

One of Starbucks most popular items is the Frappuccino. There are so many different flavors and combinations available. Just when I thought I’ve seen it all (like the Butterbeer or Fruity Pebbles Frappuccino off the secret menu), a new one is created.

Frappuccino’s can be made with or without the frap roast. This is a coffee concentrate that adds the flavor of coffee to your beverage. It doesn’t add much caffeine, so ask for an extra shot of expresso if you’re in need of a boost but want a Frappuccino.

Frappuccino’s are usually made with whole milk, which is one of the biggest contributors to the amount of fat in this drink. Don’t think about removing the milk all together and going with a non-dairy imposter! Instead, ask for it to be made with skim or 2% milk to cut down on the fat, while also getting the 9 essential vitamins and minerals. You can also ask for protein powder to be added to the Frappuccino, which will make your drink thicker and taste more like a milkshake!

Lastly, all Frappuccino’s  are made with Frap base. This is what makes the Frappuccino smooth and easy to blend. There are three types of bases, cream base for Frappuccino’s that do not have coffee, coffee base for those made with coffee, and the light base for light Frappuccino’s that are lower in added sugar. Ask for your Frappuccino to be made with light base to cut the amount of added sugar.

Lattes

Lattes are another staple at Starbucks. You can get a plain latte with no sweetener or flavor added, or one of the specialty lattes, like a Caramel Macchiato. All lattes come with 2% milk, but if you ask for skim or whole milk, they will gladly accommodate your preferences. Stick with real dairy instead of any milk alternatives for a healthful drink with lots of protein.

If you’re looking for a flavored beverage, ask for the sugar free syrups like mocha, vanilla and cinnamon dolce. They have the same great taste without the added sugar and calories.

Iced Teas

We brew four different types of tea daily: Black Tea, Green Tea, White Tea, and Passion Tango Tea. The caffeine free options are White Tea and Passion Tango Tea. When ordering your tea, ask for it to be unsweetened.

A standard ice tea comes sweetened with liquid cane sugar, but if you’re watching calories and added sugar levels, you can ask for it to be unsweetened. Or, if you like the taste of sweet tea, ask for less pumps of liquid cane sugar.

With all the options at Starbucks, it’s easy to get healthier versions of your favorite drinks. Go with one of my picks – or create your own!

Want to know the Nutrition Facts of your favorite Starbucks drink, or a drink you created? Head over to Starbucks.com, click menu, then go under the Nutrition tab and select Drink Nutrition. From there you can find the base beverage you had, and add all the customizations you made to find out the Nutrition Facts for your beverage. 

Surprise Recipe!

I have had a hankering for shrimp lately, my parents noticed it too when I kept pointing out that shrimp had been on sale the past few weeks at Wegmans and Price Chopper. So, finally my dad gave in and brought the shrimp! I originally was going to slightly bread the shrimp, pan fry  it and serve it with pesto pasta. But, upon perusing the price chopper site, I saw this great recipe! To my surprise, we already had all the ingredients for the  recipe! It was like it was meant to be!

I waited until all 4 of us would be home for dinner, since my brother and I both have inconsistent work schedules and never seem to really match up. The dish was very  easy to prepare and took less than 30 minutes to make. This would be good for any season, especially on Friday's during Lent  due  to the shrimp!

Rotelli with Shrimp in Tomato Cream
Yields 4-6 servings

1 lb. Rotelli, cooked as package directs
4 1/2 tbsp. Butter
2 Cloves Garlic, minces
1/2 tsp. Salt
6 leaves fresh basil, cut into thin strips
1 lb. Shrimp peeling and deveined
1 1/2 tbsp. Flour
1 1/2 Half and Half
2 tbsp. Tomato Paste

In a sauce pan, melt 1 tbsp. butter over medium heat. Add garlic and sauté 1 minute. Stir in tomato puree, salt and fresh basil.  Simmer over low heat for 6 to 8 minutes. Meanwhile, in a small skillet, melt 2 tbsp. butter over medium high heat. Add shrimp and sauté until pink, about 2 minutes. Remove shrimp from pan. Cover and keep warm. In the same skillet, melt 1 1/2 tbsp.  butter. Add flour and cook 2 minutes. Whisk  in half and half. Cook until sauce is smooth and thick.  Whisk in tomato paste. Spoon in cream sauce into  saucepan containing tomato cause. Mix well. Add shrimp and simmer until heated through. Add shrimp and mixture to cooked pasta and toss.


If you aren't a shrimp eater, you could substitute it for smoked turkey sausage or grilled chicken breast.

The Skinny on Fat

We have all heard that eating too much fat can make us overweight, and that if we cut out fat then all the weight will come off. Well, there are many common misconceptions about fat and I want to bust them all!

First, lets talk about fat and fat cells. In the science world, they are called adipose cells or when there is a collection, it is called adipose tissue. When we eat and the body does not use all of the energy we ingested, it is stored. It can be stored as glycogen (stored energy in our muscles) or as fat. It is only stored as fat when our glycogen stores are full and the food has no other place to go. Carbohydrates and protein can be stored as fat too; it all gets broken down into the same type of compounds and stored.

Surprisingly, we cannot burn off fat cells; they do not just go away. Fat cells will grow in size as more unused energy is stored, and when it is burned, the cells shrink in size. We do not kill or burn away the cells. That is why it is easier to gain weight back after you lose a good amount because the cells are already there. And, we can add new fat cells as well.

I have heard from many people that they are trying a low fat diet in hopes that they will burn off their excess weight. Our primary energy source is carbohydrates. They help us when we need that sudden burst of energy to sprint as well as a long distance run. When the body uses up its stores of carbohydrates, it turns to fat. As your sitting here reading this and I am sitting here typing this, our bodies are using fat as its energy source. When you're walking on the treadmill at about 3.5 miles per hour with a decent incline at a heart rate of about 120 bpm, you're primarily burning fat. When you take fat out of your diet, and you burn all of your carbohydrate stores, the only thing left for the body to turn to is stored protein, which is muscle. If you cut out fat, and all you have left stored is protein then your body will break down it's muscles to feed itself.

We, as future dietitians, learn in school that 20-35% of our daily caloric intake needs to come from polyunsaturated fat or monounsaturated fat. These fats are known as the "healthy fats". Saturated fat is what can clog arteries and raise cholesterol levels, while poly and monounsaturated fats reduce cholesterol and prevent clogged arteries. Based on a 2000 calorie a day diet, at the most 16g of fat or 144 calories should be coming from saturated fat.

So don't be scared of fat, you need it, our bodies need it, and it does have a purpose for us.

Let's Taco 'Bout It!

I got really into meal prepping over the past few weeks for my internship, and one thing that I loved to have and make was taco salads! The beauty over making your own Taco salads rather than buying them from the store or a fast food place is that you decide what is going in them, how spicy they will be and how much you want! Best of all is that they are really, really cheap to make. I grabbed a can of corn, a can of beans, and black olives, as well as salsa, sour cream, low sodium taco seasoning, romaine lettuce, 90/10 ground turkey and reduced fat taco cheese.

One thing to be aware of when making your salad is to try to avoid excessive salt content as well as excessive fat content. When buying your canned veggies, look for the ones that say low sodium on the label. When you take them out of the can, rinse them in the strainer to reduce up to 40% of the salt content! Low sodium taco seasoning generally has between 30-40% less sodium than regular seasoning.

Go for the reduced fat cheese and sour cream to keep this lunch a low fat lunch, but super high in protein. Ground turkey is generally lower in fat than ground beef but when you use seasoning on it, it tastes just the same!

Remember, because this meal is has little to no carbs, it is good to include a pita or some baked tortilla chips with it to make sure you're getting all your macronutrients. Carbohydrates are your body's main energy source and when you try to go on a low carbohydrate diet, your energy levels will fall. Carbohydrates are good!

Rethink your (alcoholic) drink!

So I'm back! I apologize for my little hiatus; I was completing my Medical Nutrition Therapy rotation at a long term care facility and taking an online history class while going home or to see my boyfriend in Connecticut on the weekends! It's been a very busy few weeks and I am hoping to get back completely in the swing of things on here.

In May, I turned 21 (yay!) and that means that I can now legally drink alcohol. Being that I am now legal, I thought I should do a post about choosing your drinks wisely (we actually learn about this in my nutrition classes and in sports nutrition). Did you know that 1 grams of alcohol contains 7 calories?! That's more than protein and carbohydrates and almost as much as fat! And that most alcohol is actually pretty heavy in carbohydrates? That's why after you drink you feel bloated and full.

But just how many calories and marconutrients are in my drink?

Lets take wine as an example

A 5 ounce serving of dry white wine will give you about 123 calories and about 4 grams of carbohydrates. The calories and carbohydrates increase with the sweetness of the wine, so a dry Chardonnay or Merlot will have the least calories and carbohydrates. Check out this infographic I found to give a little more details into each wine and it's nutrition.



Beers

When choosing your beer, light beers and lagers tend to have the lesser amounts of carbohydrates as well as calories compaired to heavier beers like IPAs. Light beers like Bud light, Miller light, Coors Light all are around 100-130 calories with about 5-10 grams of carbohydrates per 12 ounce serving. Having a few really add up calorie and carb wise! Ales, stouts and IPAs calories are about 150-200 calories per 12 ounce serving with around 15 grams of carbohydrates.

Hard Liquors

Hard liquors are all around the same range in calories, but what really packs the nutritional punch is what it is being mixed with. A shot of whiskey has 70 calories, vodka has 64, rum has 64, and tequila has 64. When looking for a mixer for your liquor, choose a calorie free option like seltzer water, diet soda, or club soda. If you're looking to make that fruity drink you love, go for the no sugar added mixers or low in sugar ones. The higher the sugar content the worse the hang over will be the next day!

Remember, for women it is acceptable to have 1 alcoholic drink a day and for men it is acceptable to have 2 alcoholic drinks a day and no you cannot save up all week to binge drink on the weekends!

Choose the healthier option.

Vegetable Noodles!

Vegetable noodles sound very weird, I'll admit it! When I first thought about them I thought it was actual pasta made with vegetables as one of the ingredients, but its not! It's far from that.Vegetable noodles are vegetables that are spiralized using a spiralizer, and flash cooked on the stove. 100% vegetables and nothing else. Vegetable noodles are great for those trying to lose weight, or have a better source of carbohydrates than having regular pasta. Here I made zucchini noodles with homemade pesto and grilled chicken. Good source of heart healthy fats, vitamins and minerals, protein, and antioxidants.

How to make the Pesto-

2 Cups of Fresh Basil
1 Cup of Arugula
1/2 Cup of Parmesan
1/4 Cup Pine Nuts
1/2 Cup Olive Oil

In a food processor, combine argulula, basil and olive. Blend until smooth. Add parmesan and pine nuts, blend. Enjoy!

Store in an air tight container to keep fresh, freeze within 5 days of making.

Snack Time!

I'm a huge fan of munchy snacks, especially ones with a little heat in them. Over spring break, I made a delicious and addicting snack mix that everyone in my house enjoyed. It was Buffalo Ranch Snack Mix!

Here's the recipe so you can become addicted too!

Buffalo Ranch Snack Mix


Ingredients-

4c Chex Rice Cereal
3c Reduced Fat cheese crackers (cheez-its)
3c mini pretzels
1c shelled salted peanuts
1/2c Franks Red Hot
4Tbsp unslated butter
2 1/2 tsp dried dill weed
1tsp dried parsley
1/2 tsp garlic powder


Directions-

Preheat oven to 225 degrees.

Combine rice cereal, crackers, pretzels and peanuts together in a large bowl.

Heat hot sauce and butter in a small pan over medium heat until butter mealts. Once melted, whisk in dill, parsley, and garlic. Pour hot sauce mixture over cereal mix. Toss until everything is coated.

Spead mix onto a cookie sheet. Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour stirring every 20 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool.