I'm exactly the same way. I read a label and go "OMG I can eat this, this, and THAT for what's in ONE of these. It's a huge eye opener. I haven't tried the Sobe LifeWaters, but I do like a couple of the Fuze Slenderize drinks. The regular Fuze have too many calories in them, but the Slenderize ones have like 5 per bottle. A very good trade!!!

We were discussing what we wanted for lunch one day and one of the guys at work said "go to Moes and bring me back something". I proceeded to look up the nutrition in a HomeWrecker with chicken and black beans and Sweet Baby Jesus Lying in the Manger!! It was almost my entire day's worth of calories! Over 900 calories in a burrito!!! That's not counting the chips and queso or the large sweet tea (with refills) that's I'd consume AT LUNCH! It's completely shocking. When I pointed all these things out to my coworker he said "Yeah, but I'm still gonna eat it, so I'd rather not know what's in it." Where now I'm the exact opposite. I won't eat it unless I know how it's prepared or what's in it.

I used to love the three cheese nachos for Qdoba - I didn't eat them all the time, but maybe once every couple weeks. When I started counting calories, I went to their website where they have a nutrition calculator, so you can calculate exactly how many calories are in your dish, with all your customized toppings and whatnot. I kid you not - 1400 calories. I haven't been back since.

I think restaurants just want to make food taste good rather than worrying about calorie contents and all of that. That's one reason why some restaurants have fought having to list their nutrition information.

It's like Paula Deen said in that one interview "Honey I'm your cook, not your doctor".

Basically it's up to us to educate ourselves and know that nobody else is going to look out for us.

That's another good one! Do they have a diet version of the banana colada? I remember liking that flavor but I can't remember if it was the low calorie version or not.

Most definitely! In the book I just read, it discusses how restaurants analyze ingredients so that they create food that is the most easy to eat, which means you keep eating more even before you realize you're full. They play with three things...sugar, fat, and salt, to get the optimal balance of each. Food manufacturers has as their main goal to keep people coming back for more. They spend billions of dollars on their research each year. Being educated, as Ruby says, is your best defense.

Face it, if food tasted mediocre, we'd all just eat to live and be slim.

I just finished a Fuze :). I haven't seen the banana one in a slenderize version, though.

I don't think they make a slenderize version of the banana. At least I haven't seen it or checked it through the back door. I'll ask my Coke guy tomorrow. He'd know. (See aren't y'all glad you've got a receiving manager around to ask these questions to vendors)

When I started my journey one of the first rules I applied was to 'Stop drinking calories'.

It was startling how many calories I consumed from Coke, Tea w/sugar, Coffee w/sugar. Now my beverage of choice is water and I can't believe I ever found a Coke to be refreshing.

It probably has a synergistic effect with all the other faux foods people consume. :D