With March being "National Nutrition Month" I thought I would close out the month with a few "Nutrition" related articles in hopes you will make a conscious effort to make some important changes in your present diet in order to start living a healthier life.

Our first topic is: "A Few of the Unhealthiest Drinks in America (and Maybe the Planet)." I think you will find this information very interesting as well as, eye opening! The information provided will help you make more informed and healthier choices the next time you grab for something to drink.

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A Few The Unhealthiest Drinks in America, Maybe the Planet

(Research Courtesy of Men’s Health Magazine)

* Worst “Energy” Drink
Rockstar Original (16 oz can)

280 calories
62 g sugar

Energy drink makers might feign a level of health by fortifying their products with a cocktail of vitamins and minerals, but don't be fooled: Any minimal benefit they might provide is snuffed out by the blanket of sugar and calories each can contains. Don’t even think you will loose any weight drinking these, the diet versions are even worse, packed with a host harmful chemicals one can’t even pronounce. With 62 grams of sugar talk about “crashing and burning.”

To be honest none of these so-called Energy Drinks are healthy!
Want energy? Try a cup of homebrewed black tea. It’s nearly zero calories and contains a deluge of disease-fighting antioxidants.

* Worst "Healthy" Drink
Glaceau VitaminWater (20 oz bottle)

130 calories
33 g sugar

Talk about great marketing! Vitamins and water might sound like the ultimate nutritional tag team, but what the label doesn't say is that a bottle of this stuff carries nearly as much sugar and calories as a can of Coke. Makes sense, though, since this so-called functional beverage is produced by our often-sugar-crazy friends, at The Coca-Cola Company.

* Worst “Juice” Imposter
Arizona Kiwi Strawberry (23.5 oz can)

360 calories
84 grams of sugar

These hulking calorie cannons (5 percent juice, 95 percent sugar water) are sold at gas stations and convenience stores across America for the low, low price of 99 cents, making this quite possibly the cheapest source of empty calories in the country.

* The #1 Worst Drink in America
Baskin-Robbins Large Heath Bar Shake

2,310 calories
266 g fat (64 g saturated)

Let's look at America's Worst Drink in numbers:

73: The number of ingredients that go into this milkshake.
66: The number of teaspoons of sugar this drink contains.
11: The number of Heath Bars you would have to eat to equal the number of calories found in one Baskin Robbins Large Heath Bar Shake.
12: The average number of minutes it takes to consume this drink.

260: The number of minutes you'd need to spend on a treadmill, running at a moderate pace, to burn it off. 

* Worst Milkshake
Baskin-Robbins Large York Peppermint Pattie Shake (32 oz)

2,210 calories
103 g fat (57 g saturated)
281 g sugar

The freakish brother of the Heath monster, the York shake earns its title as
the most sugar-saturated product in America. To put it in perspective, you'd have to down 17 Twinkies to match the sugar content in this Baskin-Robbins blunder.

* Worst Smoothie
Jamba Juice Peanut Butter Moo'd Power Smoothie (30 oz)

1,170 calories
169 g sugars

Jamba Juice calls it a smoothie; we call it a sugar bomb milkshake, with more sugar than an entire bag of chocolate chips. (Note: We're pretty sure this is the drink Hollywood actors rely on when looking to put on 20 pounds for the role as a heavy!)

* Worst Frozen Coffee Drink
Cosi Gigante Double OH! Arctic (24 oz)

1,033 calories
35 g fat
177 g carbohydrates

Frozen coffee amalgamations pollute the antioxidant powers of a simple cup of joe with a huge hit of whole milk, sugary syrups, and whipped cream. What you end up with, in worst-case scenarios like this, is half a day's worth of calories, ready to be sipped down in a matter of minutes. Want a cold caffeine kick? Try good old fashion iced coffee, but watch the sugar and artificial sweeteners.

* Worst Blended Fruit Drink
Baskin-Robbins Pomegranate Banana Fruit Blast Smoothie (32 oz)

1,020 calories
232 g sugar

Sounds healthy but there is nothing further from the truth year! With three of the five worst drinks in America, you have to wonder if Baskin-Robbins is in bed with the sugar cane industry or just simply don’t care about people’s health.

One thing is for sure: People ordering this "smoothie" expecting a healthy afternoon snack have something else coming to them. The second ingredient, after water, is sugar. 

If you must sip on something at Baskin- Robbins, make it a small low-fat Cappuccino Blast, which has just 220 calories and one-fifth of the sugar of this Fruit Blast, but in reality- not much better, 220 calories-ouch!

* Worst Hot Coffee
Starbucks Venti 2% Peppermint White Chocolate Mocha

660 calories
22 g fat (14 g saturated)

95 g sugar

Important Rule of Thumb: Avoid holiday-themed items from coffee shops at all costs. From peppermint to egg nog to pumpkin, these are often the most sugar- and fat-packed drinks you'll find at places like Starbucks. Make your own flavored drinks instead, using skim milk, sugar-free syrups, and, of course, skipping the whip.

* Worst Coffee Alternative
Starbucks Venti White Hot Chocolate

640 calories
23 g fat (15 g saturated)
76 g sugar

Caffeine abstainers will find little nutritional refuge in Starbucks' hot chocolate concoctions. This one packs an entire day's worth of saturated fat, with more than enough sugar to set you up for a dramatic mid-afternoon energy crash. Stick with the Steamed Apple Juice instead.

* Worst Summer Cocktail
Pina Colada

625 calories
75 g sugars

Made from a blend of sickly-sweet pineapple juice and fat-riddled coconut milk, pina coladas may be this summer's biggest beach-body saboteurs. In fact, the only redeeming part of this drink is the garnish - that lonely chunk of pineapple hanging from the rim.

Try a lime daiquiri or a mojito instead and save up to 400 calories, but keep in mind that all alcoholic beverages are empty calories and add up very quickly.

* Worst Iced Tea
Lipton Iced Brisk Lemon Iced Tea (20 oz bottle)

325 calories
81 g sugar

Iced tea is loaded with metabolism-boosting, cancer-fighting compounds called polyphenols, but Lipton does its best to undo any potential healthy benefit you might derive from the tea's antioxidants by drowning them in 20 teaspoons of sugar. Your tea of choice should carry no more than 10-15 grams of sugar per 20-ounce serving, but better yet, drink your tea unsweetened and really enjoy the taste of quality tea. Try Tejava brand tea, it’s excellent.

* Worst Tea-Like Substance
SoBe Zen Tea (20 oz bottle)

275 calories
70 g sugar

Though the name might scream "healthy" to the unsuspecting drinker, there is little to celebrate about this beverage. SoBe can cram their drinks full of healthy-sounding extracts and vitamin supplements, but they can't escape the fact that high-fructose corn syrup outranks tea on the ingredients list.

* Worst Chocolate Milk
Nesquik (16 oz bottle)

400 calories
10 g fat (6 g saturated)
60 g sugar

Quik and other chocolate milk manufacturers try to sell parents on the bone-building calcium found in their product, but what they don't talk about is the fact that a single bottle of this stuff contains as much sugar as three Haagen Dazs Vanilla and Almond ice cream bars. Yikes. Make it yourself at home with 2 percent milk and a scoop of real powdered cocoa-you'll save about 150 calories, plus get the antioxidant benefits of cacao without the high-fructose corn syrup.

* Worst Lemonade
Minute Maid Lemonade (20 oz bottle)

250 calories
68 g sugar

This is little more than glorified sugar water, with only a trace amount of real juice. Lemonade in general is a dubious drink, but if you can't stand the thought of summer without it, try Santa Cruz-brand lemonade. When you bring the bottle home, dump it into a pitcher and add 4 ounces of water for every 8 ounces of lemonade. Otherwise, you may as well drink a Coke with a squeeze of lemon.

* Worst Beer
Sierra Nevada Stout (12 oz bottle)

210 calories
20 g carbohydrates

A full-flavored beer, no doubt, but one that packs a hefty caloric wallop. Switching out a sixer a week for a lighter beer would save you 9 pounds of extra flab this year. Cheers to that! 
Better yet cut back on your beer intake if you want to loose weight and maintain a healthier lifestyle.

* Worst Soda
Sunkist (12 oz can)

190 calories
52 g sugar

Sweetened soft drinks account for about 10 percent of the average American's calorie consumption-about 200 completely unnecessary calories a day (more if you drink more than one soda a day). For someone looking to lose 10 pounds fast, there is no simpler, quicker way to do it than by giving up the unhealthy soda habit. Diet sodas are not better and have a host of health issues attached to them.

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