31 Days to a Better Body: Day 22 – The Easiest Way Cut Calories
Switch to low or no calorie drinks.
In my experience, switching to low or no calorie drinks has been one of the easiest ways to cut calories. For many people cutting out or just cutting down on calorie laden drinks that have little to zero nutritional benefit could, over time, lead to drastically healthy changes in body composition.
Sodas
I’m convinced that sodas are going to be the cigarettes of tomorrow. There is no beneficial reason to drink conventional soda regularly. Shocking, I know. Enjoying one every now and then will most likely do nothing to harm your body. I know this is going to sound nuts but if someone is going to have soda I personally think it’s better choice to have a regular over diet if they are after “insane” health. Fake sweeteners are just too risky. I’ve read of people with serious soda habits to have overcome their addiction by drinking kombucha. I like kombucha but I love water kefir. It tastes like my favorite…vanilla soda! Whenever I have a soda craving I pour myself a cup and not only does it satisfy my soda craving, my body gets a dose of probiotics. A win-win for sure! Think about this all too common scenario. Someone who drinks 2 cans of soda (about 300 calories) a day is drinking about 109,500 empty calories year. By switching to water or unsweetened tea they could lose over 31 pounds in a year.
Juice
Juice is deceiving. At first it seems like it must be full of healthy vitmins and minerals. The truth is that most commercial juice is really nothing more than liquid sugar as most of the fiber is stripped during processing and the beneficial living enzymes are killed during pasteurization. A cup of ordinary orange juice is really not much more than 11o calories of sugar. You are much better off eating the fruit itself or juicing fresh juices that still have their living enzymes and have their natural vitamins and minerals.
Fancy Coffee Drinks
Coffee itself is a mixed bag with it’s lovers and haters each equally passionate that it will extend or shorten their life. Coffee itself is a zero calorie drink. The problem is most people don’t drink coffee by itself. Instead, they drink coffee drinks. A tall caffe latte has 150 calories and grande Frappuccino has 240 calories.
Alcohol
A 5 oz. glass of wine is about 115 calories. A bottle beer is about 150 calories. Most mixed drinks like Margaritas and daiquiris are 300+ calories. Not only does alcohol have a lot of calories, excessive alcohol consumption is hard on your liver, skin, and messes with your hormones. Speaking from experience, when I drink too much I also eat too much. I stop listening to what my body and decide to eat whatever and as much as I want. For me, it’s best to limit drinking to special occasions.
Calories aren’t the only problem
There is nothing wrong with calories. Calories are simply a measure of energy (Did I say that right, science people?) and our bodies need energy. The real problem with all these drinks is that they have little to no nutritional value. I don’t mind a higher calorie content if I’m my body is getting nourishment. I drink whole raw milk and while it may have 150 calories per cup it is also full of healthy enzymes, vitamins, and minerals.
Imagine this
Every week a person drinks a modest amount of calories in the form of 4 glasses of orange juice, a venti Frappucino, 2 glasses of wine, and two sodas. By just switching to water or unsweeted tea this person could lose over a pound and half in a month. That would be over 20 pounds in a year and that’s is without any other dietary changes or physical effort. Think about someone who starts every day with juice, drink Big Gulp or two during the day, and have beer every night. Switching to no or low calorie drinks could have an enormous impact on their weight and their health.
What do you think about drinking calories? What are you favorite zero or low calorie drinks?
Hugs and High Fives,
Jenn
Check out our family’s adventures at New School Nomads as we plan to take a year long road trip through the United States!
If you enjoyed this post you can follow one of three ways! 1. Subscribe to the RSS Feed 2. “like” on Facebook, or 3. Sign up to have posts emailed to your inbox. Simple dimple!
Pin It
This is my (almost) sane quest for insane health. Let's 
I agree wholeheartedly! I occasionally drink lemonade and beer or wine (less than weekly), but otherwise the only caloric beverage I drink anymore is unsweetened almond milk in my rooibos.
And I’m so curious to know how you make water kefir… it sounds very intriguing!
As soon as I’m done with this (long azz series! Ugh!) I’ll do a post on water kefir. I love it SOOOOOO much!
Oh dear, I selfishly made MORE work for you!! Thanks, it really does sound up my alley!
I love this: “I’m convinced that sodas are going to be the cigarettes of tomorrow.” Totally agree. Although I have to say that I’ve recently changed my stance on low-cal or zero-cal drinks. With the new research that’s come out about how bad the artificial sweeteners are for your health, now I try to stick with unsweeted herbal tea or plain water. If I’m desperate I’ll throw in a little stevia..
Oh man, I guess I wasn’t clear about the low-cal or no-cal drinks. I thought I made it clear in the soda section but I guess not….sometimes I afraid of offending people that I pussy foot around my opinions and it comes out muddled. :-/ Yes, I totally agree. I was referring to drinks like water kefir and kombucha as low cal and water and teas as no cal. Ha ha…about the stevia! I do that too!
I’ve always been a water girl, especially because I’m from Phoenix, Arizona. I just got in the habit from a young age of always carrying water with me. I had experienced serious dehydration and after that I kept it with me. You never know what traffic will be like (no a/c), or if your car is gonna overheat and you have to wait for help, or if the bus will be late, etc. LOL — I think there would be less road-rage in Phx if everyone had water with them! My European husband and his family used to laugh at me for always bringing water — that is until one time when they were parched and very grateful I packed water for them, too.
I lived in Phoenix one summer and I think it helped me to learn to carry around water too! It also introduced me to my favorite pizza ever at Oregano’s! I love that place!
I couldn’t agree more except this is where I hang my head in guilt with my diet soda addiction. I’m a 4 pack a day smoker in that metaphor
sometimes anyway! Curious about your water kefir too! Luckily I do LOVE water. And I’m with you on the alcohol leading to eating whatever and as much as pleased. Danger. For this reason (and probably this reason alone!) I am able to keep my intake reasonable.