TheSoko.com - The Lowdown On Liquids

The Lowdown On Liquids

By Tyler Kalmakoff

[Weight Loss]

What should be step one when you’ve decided to banish that bulging belly? Tyler Kalmakoff explains the role beverages play in weight loss.

Two thirds of the planet is covered by water. Two thirds of the human body is made up of water (young people have a little more water than older people and females have more water than males). So with all that water, you’d think the majority of people would drink enough of it, but that isn’t the case.

Results from a study conducted by the University of North Carolina showed that we consume 450 calories a day from beverages, nearly twice as many as 30 years ago. That amounts to an extra 23 pounds a year that you’re either forced to work off, carry around or eliminate from your food intake.

Calories are a precious sum when trying to banish that bulging belly, so why waste them on liquids? Sugar and calories go hand-in-hand. Therefore, eliminating liquid sugar from your diet is the absolute first step you should take if you want to lose weight.

Drink This, Not That

The average person sips away more than a quarter of their daily calories. Your first job is to recognize where you’re getting your drinks. You can buy a soda at the gas station, a double-double on the way to work, an alcoholic beverage afterward and there you have it—over a quarter of your daily calories, gone.

Identifying the most bloating beverages and replacing them with sensible and satisfying stand-ins for a fraction of the caloric cost will have that flab melting off in no time. Skip the double-double, the carbonated drinks and the beer, and try a sugar-free beverage like Crystal Light instead. It has 5 calories per serving and a serving is 8 fluid ounces. Nestea also makes a sugar-free powder.

If you’re thirsty, green tea is another good option. It's packed with heart-boosting and cancer-preventing polyphenols that black tea doesn’t offer.

Fighting Sugar

All juices, whether they’re labelled 100% juice, unsweetened, blended or from concentrate, are packed with unwanted sugar and sugar is the main culprit when it comes to belly fat. So if you’re serious about losing weight, say goodbye to juice. You can replace those lost vitamins easily by eating more fruits and vegetables, and by taking a multivitamin.

Milk is another well-known sugar offender. For athletes, skim milk and chocolate milk are great rehydrating tools and serve as flavour boosters for their post-workout protein shakes, but for someone wanting to lose weight, milk is better viewed as liquid sugar. Use water to mix your shake or start watering down your milk. Use water in your oatmeal too. Raisins, walnuts, strawberries and bananas will make up for the lost flavour.

Sports drinks are yet another sugar culprit that should generally be avoided unless you’re competing or sweating buckets at the gym.

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