Sonic Drive-In Restaurants serve hamburgers, chicken, fries, breakfast items and desserts. They also serve specialty drinks, such as a selection of flavored Limeades. Although the regular Limeades contain a significant number of calories, Sonic offers a Diet Cherry Limeade as a low-calorie option.
Ingredients
Sonic's Diet Cherry Limeade contains lime juice, maraschino cherries, Sprite Zero and diet cherry flavor, according to the official Sonic website. The Sprite Zero ingredient in this beverage contains carbonated water, citric acid, natural flavors, potassium citrate, potassium benzoate, aspartame and acesulfame potassium. The diet cherry flavoring contains the artificial sweetener sucralose.
Sizes
This beverage comes in four different sizes, including small, medium, large and Route 44 size. The small size is 14 oz., the medium size is 20 oz., the large size is 32 oz. and the Route 44 size is 44 oz. The nutrition facts vary depending upon the size, with the larger sizes containing more calories than the smaller sizes.
Nutrition Facts
A small Diet Cherry Limeade from Sonic contains 14 calories, 12 mg of sodium, 3 g of carbohydrates and 1 g of sugars. It contains 4 percent of the Daily Value of vitamin C and 5 percent of the Daily Value of iron. The medium contains 18 calories, 16 mg of sodium, 3 g of carbohydrates, 1 g of sugar, 7 percent the Daily Value of vitamin C and 11 percent of the Daily Value of iron. The large size contains 21 calories, 24 mg of sodium, 4 g of carbohydrates, 1 g of sugar, 10 percent of the Daily Value of vitamin C and 16 percent the Daily Value of iron. The Route 44 size contains 26 calories, 32 mg of sodium, 4 g of carbohydrates, 1 g of sugar, 14 percent the Daily Value of vitamin C and 22 percent of the Daily Value of iron. None of the sizes contain any vitamin A, calcium, protein, fat or fiber.
Comparisons
The Diet Cherry Limeade contains significantly less calories than the regular Limeade. The regular small Cherry Limeade from Sonic contains 170 calories, the small Strawberry Limeade 169 calories, the small Cranberry Limeade contains 154 calories and the small Lime Limeade contains 139 calories. These Limeade beverages also contain significantly more sodium and sugars than the Diet Cherry Limeade. However, the Diet Lime Limeade contains less calories, sodium, carbohydrates and sugar than the Diet Cherry Limeade but contains the same amounts of vitamin C and iron. This may make the Diet Lime Limeade a slightly healthier choice. If you have your heart set on a Diet Cherry Limeade from a fast food restaurant, however, Sonic is a good choice. Taco Bell and A&W Restaurants offer regular Cherry Limeades, but neither offer a diet version. Taco Bell's Cherry Limeade Sparkler contains 180 calories in each 16 oz. serving, while A&W's Cherry Limeade contains 190 calories in each 12 oz. serving.
Considerations
Sonic allows its customers to substitute or eliminate certain ingredients from their Limeade beverages and other menu items. Sonic's website, sonicdrivein.com, has an interactive nutrition calculator that may prove useful. This calculator not only lists how many calories are coming from each specific ingredient, but also allows customers to easily see what the nutrition facts would be if they eliminated certain ingredients. For example, the nutrition calculator shows that 9 of the 14 calories in the small Diet Cherry Limeade comes from Maraschino Cherries. The Maraschino cherries also contribute 3 g of sodium, 2 g of carbohydrates and 1 g of sugar, but they do not contribute at all to the drink's vitamin C or iron amounts. Eliminating this ingredient, therefore, may make for a slightly healthier beverage.
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