Low Cal Brain Freeze with New Slurpee Lite - Food News - Cooking

Low-Cal Brain Freeze with New Slurpee Lite

1 Comment | Written on May 15, 2012 at 1:00 pm, by Lesley Kennedy

Worried about summer’s high-calorie icebox treats going straight to your thighs? Chill out. Slurpee Lite ensures your brain freeze will be low-cal.

USA Today reports that 7-Eleven’s notorious Slurpee—giving kids (and grown-ups) blue, red, and purple tongues for 45 years—is to be offered in a lower calorie version nationwide this week.

Made with Splenda, an 8-ounce Slurpee Lite Fanta Sugar-Free Mango will have just 20 calories, while the same size Fanta Wild Cherry Slurpee packs 66 calories, according to the newspaper. (By the way, the latter falvor is 7-Eleven’s top selling Slurpee, should you want to impress your friends with a bit of trivia).

“We talked to a group who said they would drink Slurpees more often if we take out the sugar and reduce the calories,” 7-Eleven’s Laura Gordon tells the newspaper.

The convenience store chain is hoping the version will attract women in their 20s, USA Today adds, with other sugar-free flavors including strawberry banana and cherry limeade to hit Slurpee machines this summer. Ready to get your Slurpee Lite on? May 23 is “SlurpFree Day” with 7.11-ounce Slurpees free at 7-Eleven stores. Calendar marked.

Just don’t mistake low-cal for healthy.

“Now it’s just a different kind of junk food,” nutrition expert Neal Barnard of George Washington University, tells the newspaper. “This should not be mistaken as any kind of corporate responsibility. They’re just trying to sell you the same stuff in a different package. … Slurpee had zero nutritional value then, and it has zero nutritional value now.”

What? Did those neon colors give that away?