My Crystal Ball Tells Me Your Frappuccino is Making You Sick

I’m kidding – I don’t have a crystal ball but that Frappuccino from your favorite coffee chain, is making you sick. This week, they came out with a Crystal Ball Frappuccino that is supposed to be a fun, sweet drink and it’s only available for a short time. That’s a way to spur you to go buy their crappy frappy and get addicted to their product.

It’s only here for a short time but the devastating effects of drinking these syrupy concoctions will last a lot longer. It’s just one in a long line of crappy, sugary drinks that people line up for. When I see people drinking stuff like this I want to slap it out of their hands.

For this new one, the sprinkles on your drink are supposed to reveal your future:

• Blue means adventure
• Green brings you luck
• Purple means magic and enchantment

For That Frappuccino – What Do You Really Get?

The only thing those sprinkles are predicting is illness and obesity! According to their website a venti, which is a gimmicky way to say large, has 460 calories and 67 grams of sugar. 460 calories on a 2,000-calorie diet is enough calories for a whole meal! If you drank those everyday for a week how many hours do you need to work out? You keep drinking those and it doesn’t matter how much you work out– you are going to be unhealthy.

67 grams of sugar. I’m going to let that sink in for a second. 67. That is a 1/3 of a cup of sugar!  For the average diet, 25 grams of sugar is the recommended daily limit of added sugars. To put it in perspective an 8 oz. glass of orange juice has 20 grams of sugar.

If some people are getting nearly 3x the recommended sugar in one drink, it is no wonder the average American consumes 126 grams of sugar each day. That’s the equivalent of 32 teaspoons. That’s 2/3 a cup of added sugar. That means the average American is eating 146 pounds of sugar a year! Check out our article on damaging sugar. Kids are only supposed to get 12 grams of added sugar a day. When you grab a treat for yourself are you thinking how nice to get one for your kid too? Be careful!  Letting them consume that much sugar in one lousy drink is no treat!

More Than Obesity

Those drinks are making you fat. You knew that. Sugar is an anti-nutrient. It offers no significant amounts of vitamins or minerals while robbing your body of precious nutrient stores. Sugar is also a highly inflammatory food. We know that inflammation is the root of the majority of diseases. So, that sugary drink can potentially lead to cancer, auto-immune disease, Alzheimer’s and so many others. Studies show increased sugar consumption increases your chance of cancer. Cancer loves sugar as much as we do. Cancerous cells can take in 10 times more glucose than healthy cells.  The more glucose you take in the more you feed cancerous cells!

And speaking of inflammation, don’t get me started on the non-GMO corn in drinks like these. High fructose corn syrup, potassium sorbate, citric acid… no wonder we are a country of sick people.  And the dairy! Inflammation! Don’t think you are safe switching to a soy drink. Soy is highly inflammatory. Corn, dairy, sugar, soy, wheat-all inflammatory! We’ve talked on inflammation a lot.

Bad Coffee

But you say, “Doc, people already know these drinks are bad for them.” I know! They aren’t hiding the nutritional information. Why are they all still drinking them? Why do we see another one every few months?  I don’t have time for this.

I’m not against coffee – if it’s the good organic stuff. Coffee has massive benefits and is so good for you. It is high in antioxidants, protects the liver, reduces inflammation, promotes collagen production and can drive things into the cell. Ideally it can drive nutrients into the cell but if your coffee is full of crap like syrups, sugar and dairy it will drive crap into the cells. That makes you sick in the long run.

Don’t worry you can still get your sweet tooth fix like I do. Just because sugar is bad for you doesn’t mean I don’t crave it. Download our free desserts guide and use xylitol in your coffee to sweeten it up. You can still get your sweet tooth fix.

Just avoid the crappy frappy. Like I said- I don’t need a crystal ball to know what it will do to you. I see it too often in our clinic. I would rather work to keep you healthy than treat your sickness. You don’t need green sprinkles for that.

Written by Dr. Patrick Flynn

Really, I like Coffee. I even make a detoxifying coffee mask.

Dr. Patrick also talks about how much he likes coffee in this Coffee Quick Tip.