Buck Your Starbucks Addiction

That bran muffin might not be doing your body the wonders you thought

(NEWSER) - The authors of Eat This, Not That! provided Men's Health with 9 foods that aren't as healthy as they claim. Replace your:

1. Bran muffin (420 calories, 20g fat) with ham, egg, and cheese on an English muffin (300 calories, 12g fat)
2. Chicken Caesar salad (900 calories, 60g fat) with grilled chicken on mixed greens (400 calories, 20g fat)
3. Tuna melt (900 calories, 50g fat) with a roast beef or ham sandwich (500 calories, 15g fat)
4. Chicken wrap (700 calories, 35g fat) with a grilled chicken sandwich (375 calories, 15g fat)
5. Turkey burger (850 calories, 50g fat) with a 7 oz. sirloin steak (350 calories, 20g fat)

Tall coffees to cost 10 more cents in much of US

(NEWSER) - Some of us will have to shell out an extra dime for each coffee this year. Starbucks is planning a price hike of approximately 1% in the Northeast and Southern US. While the company hasn't named all the states that will face increased prices, they include New York and most of the South, plus DC, the AP reports. "Tall" coffees will cost 10 extra cents, and some six other drinks will see price hikes—though "grande" drinks won't cost any extra. Competition and commodity costs prompted the increase, a Starbucks rep said. More»

Coffee mega-chain acquires Cali juice maker

(NEWSER) - Coffee might be healthy —but juice definitely is. And Starbucks wants you to have your vitamins. Having bought a California fruit and veggie juice maker for $30 million, the coffee mega-chain is adding "super-premium juice" to the menu. It also plans to launch a health and wellness chain by mid-next year. "It's a natural evolution toward being more than just a one-trick pony," says one analyst. (But don't joke about Starbucks—which fired a barista over an anti-Starbucks song .) More»

Porkgasm and Bacone provide alternative to healthy eating

(NEWSER) - A new class of foodies is scoffing at calorie-consciousness and organic growing—what Robert Ashley dubs the Gross-Food Movement in Gourmet. A few tantalizing treats invented by the movement’s pioneers:

• Porkgasm: a pig sculpture made from bacon, sausage, and ham, filled with smoked sausage, more bacon, and pork belly.

(NEWSER) - Tampa residents are the nation’s most caffeinated—and in the deepest denial about their addiction, reports Reuters. Though tops in ingesting caffeine-based pain relievers, "respondents in Tampa rank number one in saying they're least likely to be addicted to caffeine," said a rep for the company that commissioned the poll. The most enthusiastic coffee drinkers, living up to the stereotype, are Seattle residents. More»