Is Your Drink Making You Gain Weight?: The Truth Behind Your Calories
Thinking of having a smoothie for breakfast? Before you bring out the blender, stop and think about the drink’s actual health benefits. While some smoothies may be good for you, others may not be as beneficial as you originally believed. The wrong kind of smoothies, as well as other presumably “healthy” beverages, might end up wreaking havoc on your waistline. To help you get started, here is a list of some commonly-believed “healthy” drinks and the real truth behind them.
Smoothies
Many people start their day off with smoothies. Depending on what you use to make them, some can contain plenty of vitamins and nutrients that are good for the body. For example, adding strawberries and bananas is a great way to satisfy your daily nutritional intake of vitamin C and potassium.
However, if not careful, smoothies might end up containing as many calories as a main-course meal, while also having excessive amounts of sugar. To prevent loading up on calories that cause weight gain, try to limit the amount of fruits that are naturally high in sugar (e.g. bananas), and use sweeteners (e.g. honey, agave syrup) sparingly.
Juice
Like its cousin, juice is similar to smoothies in that it can be store-bought or homemade, and also packed with plenty of vitamins and nutrients. Juicing has become a popular trend nowadays as a way for one to lose weight or cleanse the body, especially following a huge food splurge the day before.
However, like smoothies, juice might be high in calories and sugar, as well as not contain enough protein to keep one full for long periods of time (which could contribute to overeating because of spiked cravings). Juicing machines also tend to be very expensive, running between fifty to four hundred dollars. To save money (and also your waistline), a simple blender will be good enough to whir together your fruits and veggies. Using a blender will get you the whole fruit or vegetable, so your body can get both the nutrients and the fiber. Just make sure to limit the sugar content, so that you the drinks don’t catch up to you.
Yogurt drinks (such as kefir, dhalla, and lassi from the Middle East and East Asia) have been known to have plenty of fruit and calcium in each serving, but are also filled with high amounts of sugar, calories, and fat. Many of them also have beneficial probiotics, which aid in digestion. Choose selections that are low in fat, or contain no fat. Be careful though: if a label says “low fat”, make sure that they haven’t added extra sugar to make up for the change in taste.
Wine
Sometimes it’s nice to come home from work, pour yourself a glass of wine, and crash onto the sofa. Lucky for you, many studies have shown that this alcoholic beverage, especially red wine, contain ingredients that have been associated with reduced risks of heart disease, stroke, and Type 2 diabetes.
At the same time, though, too much of wine might work against those health benefits, as well as lead to weight gain. Since wine tends to increase appetite, it could lead to weight gain from overeating. A single serving of wine, occasionally, can give you the health benefits without spiking the health negatives. One glass equals about 5 ounces, so limit your consumption to one glass a day, two to three times a week.
Protein Shakes
Bodybuilders, as well as those who want to bulk up, often rely on protein shakes to enhance their fitness. The problem is that drinks do not directly increase muscle mass, but they help the muscle recover more quickly after intense workouts. Through recovery, only then will muscle growth occur. Containing the essential whey protein, these shakes provide a substitute for protein consumption in whole foods (e.g. chicken, steak, fish) when one wants to increase muscle, without needing to eat excessive amounts of meat.
Likewise, consuming too much protein can lead to problems such as kidney disease, chronic dehydration, and excess fat storage. Make sure you know exactly how much protein you need to receive daily, and be careful not to overload with it. Moderate amounts, along with proper exercise to build the muscles will lead to the maximum benefits possible.
12 thoughts on “Is Your Drink Making You Gain Weight?: The Truth Behind Your Calories”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
“While some smoothies may be good for you, others may not be as beneficial as you originally believed.” I agreed so. What I think that, some junk foods are not very good for your health, such as chips, or soft drinks. Especially for the senior persons, they might pay attention on that.
Wow! I didn’t know most of the drinks I love have too much sugar! I guess it’s better to stick to water then.
Omg! I really love smoothies I didn’t know it can actually ruin my diet. Thanks for this. I gotta cut back on sweet stuff now.
OMG Yoghurt is my favorite. I just realized it contains a lot of sugar! I ate youghurt a lot when I was pregnant and guess what…my baby was big but my blood sugar level increased too!
I should consider more when I buy juice, I always think juice are heathy and can help reduce my weight, however, it could be high in calories and sugar.
What a great post. this is super helpful for me because I always think for some reason that liquids don’t have many calories at all. But it’s true now when I think about it that it can really add up!
I agree that not everybody is aware of the high sugar content in their drinks. Some even have high fructose which is bad. Better know than be sorry!
Oh my gosh, I really love juice! Seeing that too much juice is not necessarily healthy made me realize that I should watch what I drink more.
I eat so too many calories as it is now, so I surely don’t want to drink calories. I’m making a gradual change starting by sticking to water. I know I have lonnng way to go but ya gotta start somewhere.
I used memory foam mattress before, it was quite useful in alleviate the pain and get me quick into the dream. I want to have a try at Serta 3-inch memory foam mattress topper.
I’m always so guilty about drinking juice all the time. Always giving myself the excuse it’s “natural.” This post is a good wake up call!
Yeah, me too. People tend to lower their guard on the natural stuff, but like the saying goes “you can’t have to much of a good thing”.