Yesterday, I had a word with one of my dear friends who was quite frustrated with her weight loss issues. She had tried every possible way to lose weight but all in vain. Even after following a healthy diet and gymming, she was not getting the desired result. So, I looked into the matter and found out that she used to start her day with a glass full of “EMPTY CALORIES”. Not only this, she had a habit of downing those high-calorie drinks throughout the day. It was just because they had been marketed as “healthy”. The problem was, that she was only keeping a watch on the calories in the food she ate, completely ignoring the calories in the beverages she consumed during the day. When I tallied it all up – she realized that she was taking in close to 1000 calories a day from unhealthy drinks alone.
Have you ever thought, how many calories are you drinking? Let’s take a brief look here….
HIGH CALORIE DRINKS – FRUIT JUICE
Most juice that you purchase at the grocery store is pasteurised, to make shelf life longer. It destroys the wonderful enzymes. Always try to eat whole fruit instead of fruit juice because fruit is full of fibres, flesh and pulp which makes you feel full. When you drink a juice, which are made of concentrates, there is less of a ”satiation response” and you get only sugary soft drinks filled with preservatives and sweeteners. Unfortunately, canned fruit juices are one of the more fattening things out there so better say no to them as they are simply high in calories and low in healthy nutrients.
According to Uthe SDA ( United States Department Of Agriculture)
ORANGE JUICE | ORANGE FRUIT | |
---|---|---|
CALORIES | 120 (1 CUP) | 70 |
PROTEIN | 1.5 gm | 1.5 gm |
FAT | 0.5gm | 0 |
CARBS | 29 gm | 17.5gm |
FIBERS | .5gm | 3gm |
SUGAR | 21gm | 12gm |
AERATED DRINKS
High sugar content and caffeine are two chemicals which are the perfect storm for a lifelong addiction to carbonated drinks. Apart from sugar, caffeine which is a diuretic can cause dehydration and when you are dehydrated, water retention may be more common as your body attempts to conserve water. Single Can of Soda contains 10 teaspoons of sugar. This amount of sugar, in liquid form, skyrockets the blood sugar. There is absolutely no nutritional value in it. According to some research, these aerated drinks make you feel hungrier because of artificial sweeteners and artificial colouring that signals a brain to crave extra food.
Drinking just one 12-ounce can of soda every day for a year = 55,000 calories, or 15 pounds a year, reviewed by UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital. It also leads to intestinal bloating as it releases CO2 bubbles into the stomach which causes gas and belching too.
During childhood, I was an avid drinker of aerated drinks. As I grew up, I became more health conscious and eventually cut off from all these unhealthy drinks. Now it’s very difficult to digest how and why I was putting so much chemical junk into my body way back then.
ICED TEA
I know water doesn’t sound appealing and Iced tea is an extremely attractive option on a hot and humid day as it quenches the thirst like anything. But it is not at all a smart and healthy choice. It is one of the high-calorie drinks that contains even more sugar than you would expect to find in most aerated drinks. It poses a serious obstacle to fitness and weight loss. Still, if you want to consume, it would be better to read the ingredient list on the back label. If it has added sugar or sweetness, avoid it. It can be a major sugar bomb.
ALSO READ : Tips To Control sugar Cravings (SWEET TOOTH)
SPORTS / ENERGY DRINKS
They are potentially unhealthy and can be an insidious cause of weight gain. It adds unnecessary calories and not satiating even. It contains carbohydrates (sugar) and electrolytes to meet the demands of athletes who participate in intense sports or endurance activities. So better not to be given to people with sedentary lifestyles as they don’t need them because they already get more than enough calories and nutrition from their meals.
ALCOHOL
“If you Booze, you won’t Lose”. Drinking alcohol in moderation might benefit your health but excess of anything is not good. One study has shown, that people who consider themselves average wine drinkers consume an excess of 2,000 calories per month which is equivalent to 141 ice-creams a year.
I have seen many diet-conscious people downing several glasses of unhealthy drinks a day thinking it’s good for their health but they are not aware of how much sugar they are sucking down.
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So, “BETTER BE MINDFUL OF WHERE YOUR CALORIES ARE COMING FROM” !