Beverages And Your Weight
Many people, when dieting, spend so much time counting all the calories of everything that they eat that they completely forget to include what they’re drinking which can be a big mistake. In this day and age we often spend so much time on the move that much of what we eat has ended up in drink form. We do smoothies for breakfasts, iced coffee at lunch, sweet and sugary drinks in the afternoons, and often finish dinner with wine or a mixed drink.
We spend all day sipping and it can be adding a lot more to your weight than you might think it does. Your body doesn’t respond to liquids the way that it does to solid foods and it doesn’t trigger the same mechanisms to tell you that you’re full as quickly which means that you can drink more of those fruity and flavored sodas or juices and you won’t realize how much you’re actually taking in. Plus the drinks that we think are healthy for us - like juices and sports drinks or vitamin waters - actually contain just as much sugar as sodas do and they aren’t any healthier for you. Plus many of these drinks contain significant carb amounts which can add quite a bit to your weight if you don’t keep a careful eye on how much you’re drinking.
What you really want to do is make sure that the drinks that you’re drinking are ones that will help you and your body out without making your insulin levels skyrocket. When in doubt - grab water. Water is always the best and healthiest choice. You should be drinking eight glasses a day (of eight ounces each) which is roughly four average sided water bottles worth of water per day. That should be a minimum for you. It may seem like a lot but it’s quite necessary to keep our bodies healthy and it can even help you lose weight too as many times the symptoms of chronic dehydration will manifest themselves as hunger. Whenever you feel hungry go for water first and give it a few minutes to settle in your stomach before getting some food as well.
You can also drink fruit juices and other things as well as long as you either juice them yourself at home or make a point of only buying brands that are organic, natural, and 100% juice as opposed to the 10% or less that you find in most regular store brands. Juicing or making smoothies at home is a great way to increase your fruit and vegetable intake but don’t get the idea that you can add sugar, flavors, or sweeteners like ice cream to these because all you’ll be doing is ruining the nutrients that you might have been giving your body.
Consider things like green tea as well which is full of antioxidants and is proven to help you lose weight and maintain your health. Choosing things like that instead of coffee can be extremely helpful and can keep your weight down. Overall it’s all about making good choices and keeping on top of what you drink. Good luck!