Thursday, April 25, 2013

What You Drink is Just as Important as What You Eat



So by now we all know how calories affect us, right? Food in - Activity out? Here's a picture to show how it works:


Now, it somehow seems that when it comes to our liquid diets, we treat it very differently. Because we eat until we are full, when we encounter something that does not stuff us, we sometimes treat it like it does not contain any calories. I understand that liquids usually do not give us that "full" feeling, but most liquids do contain calories and we need to consider them as part of our daily nutrition goal.

As you drink, pay attention to the nutrition data on the pack or use tools online to figure out the estimated number of calories in the drink. The 3 most popular liquids without calories are water, tea, and coffee.

Water is the ever-replenishing fluid that contains no calories and keeps all our organs running smoothly, so it is always advised to drink as much water as possible (usually about 64 fl oz in a day). Tea and coffee are also calorie-less liquids, but usually contain additives with a lot of calories including sugar and cream. 

Usually, the fancy coffees with names I can't remember or pronounce tend to contain the most calories. I almost got a heart attack at Starbucks the other day just looking at the caloric information. Like a coffee with 400 calories...what?! That's a waste of calories in my opinion. All my brain does when I see that is start calculating how much time it would take to burn them off.

This week, we are still trying to get in as much water as possible daily. My trusty water bottle is what I carry around to meet my liquid target. Just 3 more days until the April challenge is over, but I do want to keep some of these healthy habits going for life and you should too!

Cheers Eights & Weights!

Photo credit: cdc.gov

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