The Unhealthiest Shake You Can Buy At Baskin Robbins
Milkshakes, whether or not they bring anyone to your yard, are undoubtedly a tasty treat. While they generally do contain some calcium as a byproduct of the milk, they've also got fat, sugar, and calories out the wazoo. This is what makes them milkshakes, after all. If they were all jam-packed with healthy fruits, soy protein, and vitamin supplements, they'd be called smoothies and the next thing you know, people'd be trying to sneak the dreaded kale in there. So we say let milkshakes be milkshakes! But also let milkshakes, in the words of our favorite foodie Muppet, be "a sometime thing" (via YouTube).
When "right now is sometime" (another Cookie Monster-ism), though, where do you go for that milkshake you've been craving? Most fast food restaurants do have them on the menu, but the best ones are often found at dedicated ice cream shops such as Baskin-Robbins. When cheat day rolls around, you might as well shock your system with a giant calorie bomb so it will remember what metabolism is for. If you want to order the biggest, baddest, most unhealthy shake on Baskin-Robbins' menu, look no further than the large Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Milkshake. Dr. Nicole Avena, research neuroscientist and nutrition expert, says this shake is a nutrition nightmare.
The large Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Milkshake is way too much of a good thing
When Baskin-Robbins says large, it means it. Large shakes are 32 ounces, or a full quart of semi-liquid ice cream. Needless to say, the calorie count is not insignificant — 1520 for a large Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Milkshake, according to Baskin-Robbins' nutrition data. As Avena points out, this is "close to an entire day's worth of calories."
She also reminds us that the shake "provide[s] very little nutritional value" and that the 155 grams of sugar it contains is significantly higher than the recommended limit (Baskin-Robbins' menu admits it's 238 percent of the recommended daily value). The shake is super high in fat, too, with 71 total fat grams. Avena says, "The fat content in this shake also pushes the upper bound of the healthy limit of fat intake in one day, and exceeds the maximum intake for saturated fat."
As nutritionists such as Avena would like to remind all of us, indulging in such treats on a regular basis is likely to have disastrous results for our health. Nevertheless, you should be okay as long as you limit it to a once-in-a-blue-moon treat (though oddly enough, this is one ice cream flavor Baskin-Robbins has never adopted). Plus, you can always console yourself that you've consumed 28 grams of protein, 25 percent of your daily potassium, and 70 percent of your daily calcium, so at least there's that.