High-calorie drinks are often underestimated
When changing to a healthy diet beverages must also be considered.
To compensate the daily water loss, a person needs about 2 to 3 litres of liquids per day. In case of heavy sweating due to heat or sports even more. People are often not aware of the fact that beverages are of great importance for a healthy diet and for loosing weight. They may well influence success or failure of an obesity treatment.
Beverages are missed
In a healthy dietary change, beverages are often overlooked or underestimated in their effect, although many calories can be saved here. One reason for the carefree consumption of sugary lemonades or alcohol is due to the perception of the brain. Even if cola has a lot of calories - 44 kcal per 100 ml – it does not provide a feeling of satiety, as opposed to solid food with the same calorie value. Just because sweet drinks are no good thirst quenchers, there is a risk that people drink a lot of them. Therefore, it is really important to pay attention not only to how much you drink, but especially to what you drink.
Allegedly healthy
Another problem is the perception of “healthy” and “unhealthy” beverages, our selection can especially harm children. Soft drinks such as cola or lemonade are known as fattening whereas juices with its many vitamins are recommendable. But fruit juices have with 40 to 50 kcal per 100 ml as many calories as cola. Even more dubious are “Bubble Teas” – sweetened teas, which are often mixed with milk and fruit syrup and can contain 400 to 600 calories in 300 ml depending on their ingredients. Moreover, the covered starch pellets are a chocking hazard for infants. Also the so-called “flavoured waters” are inappropriate for an optimal nutrition plan. Almost all varieties have sugar added. However, they are often labelled as “low calorie”, as the limit for this is according to an EU regulation at 20 kcal per 100 ml – this sums up to imposing 200 kilocalories per liter. The same is true for pureed fruit shakes – smoothies. They contain a large amount of isolated fructose, which is difficult to digest.
Advisable for quenching thirst is mineral water, unsweetened tea, vegetable broth and spritzer with approximately 1/3 share of juice. If somebody cannot do without sweet cola, the diet or light version with sweeteners is often chosen. Although drinks with sweeteners are controversial, they are for overweight and obese patients the better choice as long as they are consumed only occasionally.
Alcohol – Loaded with Calories
Alcohol is one of the most inappropriate beverages in a healthy nutrition plan. One gram of pure alcohol contains 7 kcal – almost twice as many calories as sugar (4 kcal) and almost as many as fat (9 kcal). Additionally, there are also the calories from sugar, yeast and other ingredients in alcoholic beverages. Finally, alcohol also contains a disastrous double effect: it inhibits fat burning – because the liver is at first concerned with the removal of toxins – and alcohol has an appetizing effect. Who can not do without beer, should fall back on non-alcoholic beers.
Tips for Healthy Drinks
Jana Hösel, dietician and clinic coordinator at IFB AdiposityDiseases, knows the most common fallacies when drinking: “Many people who want to lose weight, underestimate the energy content of beverages. My favourites for the patients are all herbal teas such as nettle, peppermint, lime blossom, birch leaves, horsetail, yarrow and marigold, which you can also gather by yourself in nature within the warm season. Thus, it combines necessary movement with a healthy beverage choice.”
Martin Liborak
Keywords: nutrition & diet, causes of obesity
