Fast food drinks have always had a pretty bad reputation health-wise, and while we hear a lot about which burgers and breakfast items to avoid, we don’t often hear as much about drinks, which can be hidden calorie bombs. Generally, beverages always seem to get lost in the nutritional calculations we do when thinking about what we should and shouldn’t be eating, and it’s especially so at fast-food chains, where no order is complete without a soda or an indulgent slushie or milkshake.
So we decided to highlight the worst beverages offered at nine popular fast-food chains, so you can be mindful about what you’re consuming in that combo order. We took calories, sugar, and saturated fats into consideration for this ranking, in order to find out which drinks are truly not worth the indulgence.
1- Sonic Peanut Butter Shake
Sonic takes the cake (or should we say shake) for the worst fast-food beverage. The large size of its peanut butter shake contains just under 1,500, which for some people is their entire day’s worth. Not to mention, this shake packs in nearly 100 grams of total fat. You’d have to consume 12 tablespoons of Jif Creamy Peanut Butter to consume an equivalent amount of fat.
2- Shake Shack Loaded Cookies and Cream Shake
This milkshake is, dare we say, so heart-stopping that it’s not even offered at all Shake Shack locations. However, the regular Cookies & Cream Shake isn’t all that better at 850 calories and 86 grams of sugar. Ditch the shakes and instead, consider getting a cup of chocolate ice cream at 310 calories and 29 grams of sugar.
3- Dunkin’ Butter Pecan Swirl Frozen Coffee with Cream
Leave it to Dunkin’ to turn a frozen coffee drink into one of the caloric things on the entire menu. Seriously, you can eat three Berry Powdered Donuts from Dunkin. It will still be 170 calories fewer than what’s in this drink alone.
4- Arby’s Ultimate Chocolate Shake
Home of some of the most delicious curly fries is home to one of the worst beverages you can buy. Arby’s, did you have to go and make a near-1,000 calorie beverage? Not to mention, this drink contains an entire day’s worth of saturated fat—in one cup. Do we even have to talk about 140 grams of sugar? Hard pass!
5- McDonald’s Strawberry Shake
Don’t let the strawberry flavor deceive you, because this “fruit-flavored” shake at Mickey D’s is far from nutritious. Even if you order a small size, you still consume 530 calories and 65 grams of sugar. Our suggestion? Skip it altogether.
