Fast-Food Holiday Drinks to Avoid

Everyone knows that the holiday season is a several months-long minefield of temptation and indulgence. The great bird and its many, oftentimes eclipsing, accompaniments. Roasts and hams and homemade pies galore. Bowls of punch, nog, and oh so many bottles of wine, sparkling and otherwise. (There is a reason why so many people pledge to go on diets at the start of the new year, after all.)

In Pictures: Fast-Food Holiday Drinks to Avoid

Contributing to this glorious season of gluttony are the many fast-food restaurants and coffee chains serving up limited-time-only holiday-inspired drinks.

Related: How to Make Better-Tasting Coffee

In the summer, there were cool, calorie-laden smoothies, lemonades, and milkshakes threatening our beach bods. This time of year, you'll find menus specially decorated with everything from peppermint hot chocolates and mocha lattes to eggnog and pumpkin pie shakes. And just as with all the other treats you're buying this time of year, it's going to cost you - except in this case, the price you pay is in the calorie department.

© Jane BruceStarbucks: Eggnog Latte
The coffee giant has no shortage of seasonal drink options - peppermint mocha latte, gingerbread latte, salted caramel mocha, pumpkin spice latte - but it's their eggnog latte that earns top billing when it comes to calorie count. A venti size made with whole milk has 620 calories and 29 grams of fat (and this one doesn't even offer the option of whipped cream!). Indulge in a couple of these during their limited holiday run and you're probably going to want to stick to the 100-calorie tall nonfat lattes for a while.


© Jane BruceDunkin' Donuts: Peppermint Mocha Latte
Of the various flavors joining the doughnut chain's seasonal drink roster, the peppermint mocha latte is the most costly in the calorie department. At 470 calories for a large size using whole milk (the cinnamon swirl and gingerbread lattes come in at 440), the holiday latte is approximately equal to 13 glazed cocoa Munchkins, or three large skim vanilla lattes.


© Jane BruceMcDonald's: McCafé Peppermint Hot Chocolate
While you may be lovin' the taste of this seasonal, peppermint-flavored hot chocolate, you probably won't be as enamored with the 410 calories and 17 grams of fat it'll cost you for a large size made with whole milk. That's only 60 calories less than a 10-piece portion of Chicken McNuggets, and more or less the equivalent of drinking three small McCafé lattes.


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- Maryse Chevriere, The Daily Meal

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