Winning the Bad Habit Contest, One Survey at a Time

Yesterday's consumption went something like this: 8:55 a.m.: large coffee; 12:30 p.m. Diet Coke; 3:30 p.m., one piece of dark chocolate; 5:30 p.m., large soy chai; 7 p.m., two Diet Cokes. And that was a light day. If our sad addiction is any indication of the habits of the city at large, we're not surprised that Chicago ranked highest in the nation in caffeine consumption.

Although Seattle drank the most coffee, Chicago ranked tops overall, largely due to our penchant for chocolate and pop, beating out the residents in 19 cities, including other usual caffeine-addled suspects like New York and L.A.

Chicagoans were also the second-most likely to say that caffeine was good for you, a belief that sounds like denial at its finest to us, but which our trusty friend WebMD says may be true. Of course, caffeine has also been linked to a potential loss of bone density and increases in headaches, irritability and insomnia.

Now if only we could get that booze rating higher, we'd really be tops in the vices department...