Best and Worst Beverages for Weight Loss

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Did you know that almost 25% of your daily calories come from beverages. In the summer it might be more. We always try and drink more in the summer, to stay hydrated. I know you can get bored with water. I try to drink 64 oz. of water every day and I get bored with it. Soda is not the answer and many of us are finding that out. Sales of soda have fallen dramatically in the past few years. Big soda companies are scrambling to gain that market share back. Ice tea drinks were the big sellers last year and they continue to gain market share at a double digit pace. Even the sodas with no calories aren't hurting sales of ice tea drinks. Water is still the best for you and whether you drink water from the frig and buy it in the bottle, plain water is the healthiest drink. I try to drink plain water all morning long until I get tired of it and then I switch to tea. One trick to help with weight loss is to drink two glasses of water before a meal. It helps you feel full and you'll eat less and new research shows that drinking plenty of water has a positive effect on your metabolism. I know we all like fruit juice and it has the vitamins and antioxidants we need, but it also has calories. Be careful of the juices with added sweeteners of any kind. Look for 100% fruit juice or squeeze your own. I'm Mom always squeezed our orange juice in the morning. Today you can buy very good juice in glass jars in the grocery. You can still cut calories and drink some juice by using a splash of juice to flavor your water. Do it at home and bring it with you. Everyone carries water today in those water bottles you buy at the store. And don't forget about vegetable juice. A cup of tomato juice is 41 calories, while a cup of orange juice is 122. The juice with pulp will contain more fiber and help control your hunger. Smoothies are also a good source of vitamins and minerals. The home-made ones are the best. I like ones I make with skim milk and fresh or frozen fruit, that’s all you need. I also like to use non-fat yogurt in place of skim milk, it makes them thicker. Restaurants often add things like honey or other sweeteners and ice cream instead of skim milk. All of those things only boost the calories, but as I told you in previous posts, restaurants want to make food that tastes good no that’s good for you. Studies have shown that Low Fat Milk or Skim Milk and other dairy products like yogurt and cheese can help lose weight, but stick to the low fat products. Three glasses of milk is still the recommended amount. Energy drinks will only hurt your diet. They have too many calories and other additives. If you need a sports drink to rehydrate after a workout try coconut water. Read about it and see what you thing. It's all natural with no additives. Black coffee is the best way to get that shot of caffeine we all need from time to time. Black coffee is calorie free and full of antioxidants. Studies show that 3 or 4 cups of coffee a day may improve your mood and concentration and reduce your chances for type 2 diabetes and several types of cancers. For the sake of your diet try to use only skim milk in coffee. Designer coffees can contain hundreds of calories. If you drink one specialty coffee drinks like a "Latte" with sugar you may be consuming 500 calories or more and there goes your lunch. You can't have both and stay on your diet. Green Tea is a great drink for weight loss. And this drink you can get at the coffee shop. Green tea has no calories, lots of antioxidants and the green tea extract is shown to aid in weight loss. You can add a little skim milk if you like. Many diet plans want you to drink a cup of green tea at every meal. Alcoholic drinks of any kind will cause problems with your diet. Not only does a drink have calories, but alcohol itself disrupts the function of the liver. The liver metabolizes your food, but if you’re drinking alcohol it stops what it’s doing stores the food as fat and starts work on the alcohol. It's the livers job to remove the alcohol from the blood and this job takes priority. So by drinking alcohol you add calories that are in the drink and then add the fat that your liver was metabolizing. I hope I explained that properly. Cocktails with soda or cream can contain 700 or more calories. White wine is called low-cal but it's not really. A glass of white wine can contain 100 calories. An option is a "wine spritzer". A splash of white wine and add sparkling water, that's low-cal. Beer, light or not is just as bad for you diet and should be avoided when trying to lose weight. After you reach your weight goal moderate drinking is acceptable. If you want to drink alcohol, do it a couple hours before or after eating, that way the liver has time to do both functions.

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