If only it didn’t take walking 2 miles per hour for roughly three hours to burn off an Iced White Chocolate Mocha at Starbucks. The signature drink packs 630 calories into 24 ounces and is just one of the countless varieties of weight-inducing coffees much of the American public pours down the hatch every day.

The watchdogs at the Center for Science in the Public Interest say you might as well be sipping a Quarter Pounder with Cheese or Big Mac through a straw. “Most people wouldn’t consider shoehorning a Quarter Pounder with Cheese somewhere between breakfast and lunch, but it’s perfectly possible to get 500-plus calories in a drink from Starbucks,” says Jayne Hurley, a senior nutritionist for CSPI. “Fortunately, it’s a cinch to bring down the calories and saturated fat in many of these drinks by making a few simple changes.”

The group has offered advice in its Nutrition Action Healthletter on how to survive in latte land. Among their tips:

Go nonfat. Ordering a grande (16-ounce) nonfat cappucino or latte with nonfat milk instead of whole saves all the saturated fat plus 50 to 100 calories.

Skip the whip. Whipped cream adds some 120 calories and 7 grams of unsaturated fat.

Slash the sugar. Order drinks sweetened with sugar-free syrup or get them unsweetened and add your own sugar (about 10 calories per pack) or Splenda (0 calories).

Look for light. Slash 100 to 150 calories per drink with Frappucino Light Blended Coffee or Light Blended Creme.

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