How do you cut Liquid Calories?

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-15-2003
How do you cut Liquid Calories?
5
Tue, 04-28-2009 - 10:34pm

Say Goodbye to Liquid Calories


LiquidCalories.jpg

We all spend so much time worrying about calories - and most of that is focused on solid foods. We often ignore calories we consume in liquids every day. That's a must-do for long term weight control. Multiple research studies point out the connection between liquids calories and weight gain, the most recent one just out from the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. So, what's the story?


Humans do NOT perceive the calories in liquids very well, compared to solid food. There are two ways this sabotages weight management. If you drank a smoothie containing 400 calories, you'd feel less full than if you ate a turkey sandwich with the same calories. Another way to think about is if you drank a glass of orange juice, for 150 calories along with your turkey sandwich, you wouldn't feel as if you'd consumed extra calories, So, those extra 150 calories are "invisible" and added on. A glass of juice with your sandwich every day translates into 10 pounds in a year


There's a lot of hidden sugar in all kinds of liquids that don't taste especially sweet. Plus, we've grown accustomed to preferring a super sweet taste. Whether it's a calorie-laden liquid with sugar, high fructose corn syrup, honey, brown sugar - it's all the same at 15 calories per teaspoon. A 12 ounce can of soda, with 150 calories contains 10 teaspoons of sugar and no nutritional value. More "invisible" calories. Plus, low-calorie sweeteners can drop the calories to close to zero, but the sweetness level is reinforced.


We DO have a hard-wired preference for a sweet taste, which is related to eating survival in cave-woman times, when we foraged for food. Taste buds (receptors) on the tongue perceive a sweet taste as pleasant. Mother Nature is pretty smart - and puts sugar in fruits (fructose, or fruit sugar), that make our taste buds tingle. Fruit is mostly water, so that's the main source of "liquid calories" in nature.



Enter the modern food industry where we are offered dozens of liquids, packed with all kinds of sugars, and until recently, only in giant sizes. One step in the right direction is portion downsizing, when it comes to liquids. You can now find 100 calorie drinks in products from orange juice to soda.


But you can take control of your liquid calorie intake! Check out my quick and easy ways to tame your sweet tooth - and limit the calories from liquids.



Sweeten drinks on your own. Buy unsweetened teas, and add a small amount of sugar (about a teaspoon for 8-10 ounces) or one packet of low-calorie sweetener. Avoid the pre-bottled varieties that are super-sweet, whether it's real sugar or a low-calorie product. YOU control the sweetness when adding yourself, and you want to work on adjusting to a less sweet end point. Pleasant, but not tooth-achingly sweet. This goes for hot and cold coffee drinks.


Reduce the calories. If you insist of juice, switch to low-sugar, light, or reduced calorie juices. No matter what the variety, dilute by half with water or seltzer.


Use low fat or non-fat dairy products. Switch to skim or low-fat milk for drinking, and use that in your coffee as well.


Eliminate soda from your diet. Or, save it for a special treat and look for the 8 ounce smaller cans, at 100 calories. Feel free to substitute diet soda - and try diluting it half and half with seltzer, to cut back on the super sweet taste. You'll notice that diet soda has a sweeter taste compared to sugar-laden soda.


Avoid smoothies and other "healthy" liquids, except for skim milk. While a combination of milk, fruit, yogurt and other ingredients (extra protein) is a healthful combination, you're talking the equivalent of up to 400-800 calories, depending on size. Not exactly a snack!


Use water as your go-to drink. Sound boring? Add a squeeze of lemon or lime - or try more unusual additions like kiwi, cucumber slices, watermelon, and pineapples.


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Nadine - deenie1979

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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-19-2003
Tue, 04-28-2009 - 11:57pm
Great reminders Nadine,
I drink tea but sweeten it here,
And then mostly water ..
No sodas for me :)







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iVillage Member
Registered: 06-20-2005
Wed, 04-29-2009 - 9:30am
I drink lots of OJ, and I don't always count those calories.
I need to tighten up on that.
Thanks for the reminder.

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iVillage Member
Registered: 01-22-2005
Fri, 05-01-2009 - 11:11am

Hiya Deenie,
Interesting stuff.

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iVillage Member
Registered: 10-07-2008
Fri, 05-01-2009 - 11:24am

Good for me..I do not drink lots of sodas. Only on picnics. This is good information to know. Thanks Nadine.


iVillage Member
Registered: 06-09-2008
Fri, 05-01-2009 - 11:42pm
Great info! Pop is something that should be a treat in my opinion-something to have only once in a while not 3 a day. I drink water and tea mainly and might have an occasional soda but not too often.