Foodsday Tuesday: More Yum, Less Guilt

When this Phillyist gets Starbucks, he's one of those guys with the forty-seven part order. You know the ones: Grande non-fat extra hot caramel no foam extra shot latte on the rocks with a twist little bit of oil hold the mayo. There's much to be said about Starbucks, both good and bad. One of the good things that can be said, and it's the thing that leads to those comically long orders, is that Starbucks is one of the only places where you can get exactly what you want.

That's not to say all that freedom doesn't come without a price. A couple prices actually. First is the literal price: We all know Starbucks ain't cheap. And the other...well, let's just say that as much as my mouth loved that venti extra hot 2% vanilla latte, my waistline didn't. My order packed on 320 calories, including 80 fat calories. Yikes! So I switched to nonfat milk instead of 2%, and that cut the fat calorie count down to only 5, but the drink still had 250 calories. Better, but not really great. Well Starbucks has finally offered a way to cut even more of the cals: sugar-free flavored syrups. Combine the sugar-free syrup with the nonfat milk, and you've got a "skinny" order.

Okay, so there are some issues you could take with the whole "skinny" pitch. At least one Starbucks employee even thinks so. After all, if you're really that bent on being skinny, you'd skip the Starbucks altogether. But for many people, that's not an option, at least if they don't want to end up in an asylum. So the skinny option is the best we're gonna do. By going "skinny," the aforementioned vanilla latte order drops to 160 calories with only 5 fat calories.

The sugar-free flavors available for consumption at your local Starbucks are mocha, cinnamon dolce, vanilla, hazlenut, and caramel. I have had the "skinny" vanilla and caramel syrups, and I haven't noticed a discernible difference between their flavors and their sugar-filled counterparts. And now you can buy the sugar-free vanilla and hazlenut syrups online for your home use.

Should the "skinny" options available entice you to hit up Starbucks if you're not already a devotee? Certainly not – empty calories are empty calories. It's just that you get less of them with the "skinny" orders. But if you're already a Starbucks loyalist, these options might decrease your guilt, if not actually decrease your weight.

Image via Flickr user rudolf_schuba.