When you go on a diet, one of the first things you should learn is not to waste your calories on drinks. You might watch out for how different foods affect your wellbeing, but this means that devious drinks are getting in under the radar, and having an impact on your wellness without you even realising. While the average Westerner gets roughly a fifth of daily calories from these badly-behaved beverages, you can use this knowledge to lose weight. If you choose the right drinks, you can amp up your metabolism, curtail your appetite and reduce your total intake of calories. The question remains, then, which drinks are devilish, and which are delightful for your diet?
Let’s start with an easy one, shall we? Fizzy drinks are packed with empty calories, which is why you may have already made the switch to diet soft drinks. However, while swapping to a “diet” version of your favourite fizz may seem like a good way to cut hundreds of empty calories, whether this actually works for weight loss is still up for debate. While some research show there’s a short-term benefit to making the switch, other studies have found that diet beverage drinkers tend to gain weight overall. The bottom line is; if you’re taking in more calories than you manage to burn off, you’re not going to do the trick by simply switching to diet fizzy drinks.
While replacing carbonated soft drinks with diet versions isn’t the answer to weight loss, the true ideal replacement exists in a much healthier and cheaper form; water. Yes, water can help you to cut down your daily calorie count by the hundreds, but that’s not the only benefit from getting plenty of H20. If you drink two glasses of water before you eat your main meals, your stomach may be encouraged to feel full more quickly, meaning that you don’t eat as much food and, consequently, lose weight. Plus, new research has come to light which suggests that drinking lots of water may help to rev up your metabolism, so there’s no excuse not to incorporate water into your new diet lifestyle.
So those are the easy drinks to which you can give a red and green light, but what about supposedly healthy drinks like fruit juice and smoothies? Unfortunately, the jury’s still out on fruit juice. While it can have just as many calories as fizzy drinks do, fruit juice has way more to offer in terms of nutrients. Therefore, you’re presented with a dilemma; how do you attain all the vitamins and antioxidants without all the extra sugar? In this scenario, your safest bet is to go for 100% fruit juice, and stay away from anything that has added sweeteners. If all else fails, just add a little bit of juice to water for a touch of flavour without too many calories.
Unfortunately, the jury is also out on smoothies, even though they can give you a delicious arsenal of disease-fighting vitamins and minerals. When you’re out and about, buying smoothies is risky as they may contain ice cream, honey, or other sweeteners that boost the calorie count sky-high. Still, you don’t want to miss out on all the fruity goodness, so make some delicious smoothies at home. That way you can control the ingredients, and only put in what you need i.e. skimmed milk and frozen fruit. For a frothy, fruity treat, try blending together a banana, some strawberries and some blueberries – you won’t be sorry, and your health will thank you for it!
