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I recently read a report about the 20 worst drinks in America. Given the state of American obesity, I shouldn't be surprised, but I was. It turns out I was mistaken about a lot of things.

Like my favorite lemonade. It turns out that it has 250 calories per serving with 67 grams of sugar. That's about 16 teaspoons of sugar! Think about that.

(To protect the innocent and keep me out of jail, I'm not going to name specifics here, but it won't take much homework for you to figure out what I'm talking about -- or at least I hope to encourage you to start reading labels and figuring this stuff out for yourself.)

Or my favorite bottled, chilled coffee drink. It's almost like an old-fashioned chocolate drink but with the kick of some coffee.

Bad news: It has 290 calories, 2.5 grams of saturated fat and 46 grams of sugar.

OK, next you come to a bottled smoothie that I buy at my favorite grocery store. Surely those things are healthy. I mean, they are listed as low-fat and juice-based and all that.

Uh-oh. 480 calories, one gram of saturated fat and 32 grams of sugar. Drat.

So let's go on down to the local fast-food place.

Yeah, I know that I preach about staying away from those places, but sometimes it is all you have time for and it really can be S-O-O-O good. But if you do, then still seek out lower-calorie, low-fat items.

Let's start with a new ice cream-based drink that is really good and comes in some of my favorite flavors.

Nope. Not going there. 630 calories, nine grams of fat, 99 grams of sugar. Ain't going to work.

Or just around the corner. My son-in-law's favorite flavored coffee drink. 760 calories with 22 grams of saturated fat and 85 grams of sugar.

So, then, onto my favorite place for smoothies. My favorite? It was OK, but there was one on the menu that had over 2,000 calories, 32 grams of saturated fat and 240 grams of sugar. Buyer better darn sure beware.

On the list, I also found a friend's favorite energy drink had 280 calories and 62 grams of sugar. I like to get those tea-based drinks that are made of stuff that on the surface should be good for you, like green tea, and nary a high-fructose corn syrup to be found on the label.

Once again, bad news: My personal favorite had 300 calories and 73 grams of sugar.

Not that bad in the calorie category, but what about those 15 teaspoons of sugar?

For comparison purposes, I looked at light beers. One light beer had 124 calories while another had 64. Again, you better pay attention to what you are getting.

So what's a guy to do? It seems like all my favorites were on this list.

For my friend and his energy drinks, there are some alternatives. There is even one that is billed as low-carbohydrate that boasts only 6 grams of sugar.

Once you start reading labels, you might discover some pretty tasty stuff. I found one tea-based drink that has only 34 calories and 10 grams of sugar. Not too bad.

The favored beer of one family member -- this really strong, dark stuff -- has about the same number of calories (128) as the light beer I mentioned.

And I found that my absolute favorite bottled, smoothie-type drink has only 300 calories with two grams of saturated fat and 40 grams of sugar. Still not great, but a lot better. If counting calories is not really on your plate (and I generally don't have to -- I'm more concerned about fat grams and the problems with a bunch of sugar), then it's actually decent.

So the verdict?

You should most definitely start looking at the ingredients in your favorite drinks. You never know what is in there.

Joe Black, PT, DPT, SCS, ATC is a physical therapist and athletic trainer at Total Rehabilitation and is Manager of Outpatient Rehabilitation for Blount Memorial Hospital. Write to him at Joe Black, PT, DPT, SCS, ATC is a physical therapist and athletic trainer at Total Rehabilitation and is Manager of Outpatient Rehabilitation for Blount Memorial Hospital. Write to him at joeblackdpt@gmail.com