I am on a quest to lose weight and reduce my risk of Type 2 diabetes, which runs in my family. I know what I should be doing - eating right and exercising, and I am trying my best. I have one vice that I have found difficult in getting rid of, though. I drink a lot of juice and chocolate milk and the staff at Starbucks know my name.

I think the reason I do this is because it is easy to pretend that there are no consequences when drinking these beverages. Unfortunately, the drinks I listed above do have calories, and the really bad part is that they are mostly empty calories with loads of sugar.

A venti Starbucks Caramel Frappuccino contains 525 calories, as much as eight ounces of skim milk, half a cup of fruit, two slices of toast and two ounces of meat combined! It is also almost as much calories as a Big Mac at 560 calories. Apple juice can contain as much as 14 tsp of sugar and 1% chocolate milk (200ml) can contain 5 tsp of sugar.

I do not think that it is worth the calories and sugar content to keep drinking these beverages. Water, here I come!