Depending on how involved you are in current events, you may remember earlier this year the Mayor of New York was trying to ban overly large sugary drinks in attempt to fight the obesity trend. While the law was never put into effect, you now see commercials on T.V. similar to the no smoking ads about the dangers of consuming too much sugar through beverages. While smoking was and still is a culprit for chronic disease, obesity related deaths are on their way to becoming more burdening than smoking related ones. One of the biggest contributors to obesity is liquid calories.
If you have read my blogs before, you know that I have talked about volumizing food, and eating things with fiber that will fill you up because they take up space in the stomach. So lets take a minute and think about beverages. How much did you have to drink to feel full from a beverage? There is no fiber in soda or those fancy coffee drinks so while you sip up to 400 calories from a medium iced something-cino, none of those calories are really going towards making you feel satiated. Not too mention the loads and loads of sugar found in sodas, coffee drinks, and even sports drinks stimulate your appetite into thinking your hungry when you really aren't.
Now for the athletes out there it gets even a little more tricky. Whether it's Gatorade, Powerade or Vitamin Water, companies market to you that their products will make you be the best athlete you can be. Now, that is not always true. If you are going to be performing consistent activity for over an hour, then consuming a sports drink is totally fine. The body needs those sugars to replenish what you have lost. But if you aren't working out consistently for a long period of time or will only be exercising for up to an hour, why waste those burned calories on sugary drinks? Stick with water for hydration and a no-cal cool-down.
Even beverages like fruit juices aren't always the best choice. You should always opt for fresh fruit over fruit juice because you get the fiber and nutrients from chewing the flesh. Many fruit juices include juice from concentrate or other sources that are not natural juice. If you are consuming 100% fruit juice, make sure that if you buy it in a bottle, the bottle is only one serving. Many times a bottled beverage contains up to 3 servings. For example, if you look at the label for a 24 ounce can of Arizona iced tea you will see it has 22 grams of sugar. But wait, that is for one 8 ounce serving--there is 24 ounces in each can which means 66 grams of sugar per can. That's as much sugar as TWO regular sized Snickers bars!
So in this heat when you're looking to cool down with an ice cold beverage, stick with zero to low calorie options such as water and seltzer with fresh fruit or frozen fruit as ice cubes for flavor. Unsweetened iced teas and iced coffee with soy or skim milk are also good options and ways to get those flavors from other beverages you may be used but without all sugar.
Getting into the habit of drinking these options over sodas and other sugary drinks will be one of the best long-term health changes you make for yourself in the future. So long soda!
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