Don’t Drink Your Calories!

Refreshing, But What Else is There?

The “Bottom” Line

Let’s do some quick math. If you add just four 12-ounce cans of a typical soda/pop to your diet per week, this is about 550 calories per week. Said another way, about 160 grams of sugar per week or 28,600 calories per year.

Now most people would think that four cans of soda per week qualify as moderate or even minimal intake of soda. What does the 28,600 calories equate to if we were to convert to weight added to your body as fat? Drum roll please. Depending on your body makeup and some rather crude calculations, you can equate this caloric intake to somewhere between 8 and 11 pounds of body fat.

This illustration is not meant to give you a precise result. Instead, the emphasis is on the results of knocking back a few Pepsis or Dr. Peppers a week on your, ahem, “bottom line”. Of course, you can simply reduce your intake of other calories each week and keep things in balance, but this whole short discussion is devoted to explaining why you shouldn’t think that way.

Sugar is the Villian

Let’s start with a rather obvious culprit by looking at carbonated sugar-water (soda or pop, depending on where you live). We just did the math, but another important problem arises when you ingest a sugared soft drink. Because of the high glycemic index being, after all, mostly sugar and water, your body will very quickly and very forcefully issue a spike of insulin to combat the offending sweet treat. This insulin surge provides you with a few nasty side effects. By the way, most sweetened juices like orange, grape, apple, and even grapefruit juice are just as bad as Coca Cola.

Insulin tells your body to store fat. A sugary drink sends an immediate signal to your body to make every effort to store fat from the food being ingested and digested. A fast spike of insulin also tends to result in mild hypoglycemia a short period after having the sugary drink. This triggers a strong craving for another jolt of carbohydrates to combat the shakiness and weak feeling that accompanies hypoglycemia.  The result is a twofold attack of considerable strength on your weight loss efforts. Beyond that, insulin spikes cause changes in your cholesterol ratios that are not good for your longevity on this earth.

One of the places the fat gets stored is your liver. You are now following the recipe for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, much in the way geese are force-fed carbs to create wonderful patte. Thing is, you probably plan to live longer than that goose, so consider whether this path is a good one for you. You do not want to join the ranks of 80 million Americans who are in some stage of fatty liver disease, or these geese!

Keep your insulin production both to a moderate amount and also metered out over longer periods by eating the right kinds of food. It is very much in the best interest of your health and well-being to work toward this ideal. Increasing bodies of research and evidence are linking a massive group of chronic illnesses to the over-production of insulin over a person’s lifetime.

So, this may seem obvious, but it is an important principle. There is very little merit to ingesting calories, especially carbohydrate calories, in the form of a drink. If you accept this initial premise, which drinks provide you with hydration and satisfaction without adding to your midsection and arterial plaque?

Your Best Options

Might as well start with the obvious…water. Water is the first choice for hydration and if you are thirsty it is also darned satisfying, especially with a few nice ice cubes floating in it. Add some cucumber, lemon, lemon peel, orange slices, or berries for variety. Most tapwater is pretty safe to drink. Some folks prefer to filter their tapwater, and some even prefer to purchase water at the store. All have their pros and cons, but starting with water is a smart choice. It is the “universal solvent” and it is absolutely perfect for keeping your stomach happy, minimizing headaches, and keeping things moving, if you know what I mean.

Another easy drink is tea. Mix water with dehydrated tea and herb leaves and now you have a tasty tea beverage. Teas are rich in antioxidants, flavonoids, and can be infused with other herbal mixes. Do be careful to avoid those with “natural and artificial flavors” and stick to organics and reputable tea producers. Add some cream and stevia to tea, hot or cold, to enjoy a sweet treat with nearly zero calories.

We all know about java. Coffee is a staple in many households and many of us drink it habitually or perhaps even ritually. The benefits of coffee are real, as caffeine is a natural stimulant for your brain, and coffee is very rich in antioxidants. Don’t overdo it, but coffee is definitely a healthy drink in moderation. Again, some cream and stevia completely change the nature of your coffee to more of a sweet indulgence…with a kick!

You Want Sweet?

I’ve mentioned stevia a couple of times now. Stevia is a 100-percent natural and zero-calorie sweetener with no known side effects. It can turn your tea and coffee into delicious and almost decadent elixirs. I have another almost-zero calorie idea for you: lemonade or lime-aide sweetened with stevia. Follow any lemonade or limeade recipe and gradually add pure (not cut) powdered stevia until you reach the right flavor. This is another exceptional sweet drink that can replace soda, while boosting vitamin C and antioxidant intake.

To my mind, the jury is out on diet soda. Some claim the artificial sweeteners are more dangerous than the sugar. This is possible, so I hesitate to recommend anything with artificial flavors like that. I still have the odd energy drink when I’m tired and driving, or a Pepsi or Dr. Pepper with my popcorn or another treat, and when I do, I choose the ones with zero sugar. I think in this case, you have to recognize that it is a treat and not a staple, so maybe once or twice per week is my general rule of thumb.

Adult Beverages

I happen to enjoy a couple of beers and a couple of glasses of red wine each week. I fit them into my diet just as if I were having a cookie or baked potato, even though they are not zero-calorie. I’m cognizant of the carb intake and I mentally adjust what else I’ve done during the day to allow for this carb “allowance”. I also have found that there are a few light beers out there that are enjoyable enough to be worth it. Rarely do those include domestics, however, but to each their own!

Dark wines, whisky, and other dark distilled alcohols do possess significant anti-oxidant benefits. Just be careful not to rationalize more than a little tad each day. You don’t need that much anti-oxidant dose that often! One drink per day provides some benefit without gaining you the old-fashioned liver problems!

And We’re Done

The point I’m wanting to leave you with is to avoid a persistent and ongoing intake of empty sugary calories. No more daily doses of soda, kool-aid, sugared coffee and tea drinks etc. These are insidious calories that don’t provide any nutritional benefit to speak of. Worse, they take their toll on our metabolism and waistline without us really being fully aware. Substitute these for stevia-sweetened drinks and unsweetened drinks without the calories. Water, coffee, tea, stevia-sweetened drinks, and very tiny amounts of unsweetened alcoholic drinks should provide the variety you need.