More on sugar content

Instead of editing my last post, I wanted to go a little bit further in comparing cotton candy to other things.  I really only mentioned a couple of types of candy, and some people don't eat candy.  I also mentioned juice, and some people don't drink juice OR might argue that the sugar in juice is more naturally occurring and can't really be compared to the straight-up sugar of cotton candy.

I can guarantee though that everyone reading this drinks beverages from Starbucks or Tim Horton's, at least on some level.  Maybe regularly, maybe only as much as one might partake in cotton candy.  But to further my defense of cotton candy as an okay indulgence, I present some nutritional info straight off the Starbucks and Tim's websites.

I'm just going to go into sugar content for the sake of defending cotton candy, but it's obvious that adding cream (and whipped cream) to any of these beverages raises the saturated fat content pretty quickly too.


Starbucks

• Tall Caramel Macciato - 23 g sugars (keep in mind this is the tall size - does anyone actually only drink the tall beverages except me?)
• Tall White Chocolate Mocha with NO whipped cream - 44 g sugars (go Venti and you're looking at 73 g)
• Grande Caffe Vanilla Frappuccino (Blended) - 37 g sugars
• Tall Hot Chocolate - 32 g sugars (and if you check a few beverages, removing the whipped cream only gets rid of 1 g of sugar)
• Tall Caramel Apple Spice - 53 g sugars!!!!!  IN A TALL holy crap.  Although really what do you expect from apple juice with extra sweeteners added
• Tall Tazo Shaken Iced Green Tea Lemonade - 25 g sugars

Tim Hortons

(I have to say, I really like the way this nutrition calculator works - you can easily see everything you want at once to compare and contrast!)

• Small Iced Cap - 32 g sugars
• Small Iced Coffee - 8 g sugars (the winner!)
• Medium French Vanilla - 31 g sugars
• Medium Hot Smoothee - 28 g sugars
• Medium Hot Chocolate - 38 g sugars
• Medium Cafe Mocha - 24 g sugars

And again, who but me will ever order a medium or small beverage from Tim Horton's?


This time, I do rest my case.  Cotton candy will give you less of a sugar high than a small Iced Cap and almost any of Starbucks' sweet beverages, and it's something you're more likely to share or eat over a longer period of time rather than finish in about 15 minutes.

Cotton Candy:  you're alright.