Commenting on a New York City initiative to curb the consumption of unhealthy beverages, New York City Health Commissioner Thomas A. Farley recently said:
“Sugary drinks shouldn’t be a part of our everyday diet.
Drinking beverages loaded with sugars increases the risk of obesity and associated problems, particularly diabetes but also heart disease, stroke, arthritis and cancer.”
The reality according to the health department is that on average, Americans now consume 200 to 300 more calories each day than 30 years ago. Nearly half of these extra calories come from sugar-sweetened drinks.
When health department researchers surveyed adult New Yorkers about their consumption of soda and other sweetened drinks, the findings showed that more than 2 million NY citizens drink at least one sugar-sweetened soda or other sweetened beverage each day, equaling as much as 250 calories a pop.
People often feel bad about stirring one or two tablespoons of sugar into their morning coffee, but they don’t blink an eyelash when chugging down a soda, iced tea, coffee, or sports drink with 16 teaspoons of sugar in one can.
Here are 10 ways you can avoid pouring body fat directly into your skin:
- High fat dairy products: cream, whipped cream, whole milkCoffee drinkers pour cream and whole milk in coffee, tea, cappuccinos, lattes, and we even drink it straight.How many tablespoons of cream do you use? One tablespoon of cream adds more than 50 calories and 5 grams of fat to a cup of coffee.You can cut calories in half by ordering your coffee/latte products with skim milk instead of whole milk.Instead choose: 1% or skim milk, low fat or fat free creamer
For both this and the next point, you can flavor
- Sugar based sweeteners: sugar, syrup.
People pour sugar and various syrups into their coffee and tea, and they pour it all over fruit, pancakes, waffles, cereal, oatmeal, and God only knows what else.Sugar adds empty calories to your diet and spikes your insulin levels causing massive havok within your body. In simple terms, insulin spikes tell your body to store all free calories directly into fat tissue for use later. Not good.Hot chocolate is it’s own sugar based sweetener. It is nice for the kids in the winter, but moderate it.
Instead choose: Splenda, low sugar or sugar free syrups, cut out sweeteners all together, use sliced fruit on your food instead of syrup - Regular soda: Thirsty adults pour tablespoons of sugar down their throats with each can of regular soda that they drink. I mean, there’s more sugar in soda than most people put in your coffee!One can of soda contains as much as 16.5 teaspoons of sugar! Even a flavored regular iced tea can contain as much as 14 teaspoons.Cutting soda completely out of your diet is one way to lose 5-10 pounds quick.In my opinion, kids should not be allowed to drink any soda, period. We certainly do not allow soda drinking in our house.
Instead choose: water, flavored water, Capri-Sun Roaring Waters for the kids, Fresca, diet or unsweetened iced tea, seltzer water - Fruit juice: People pour just as much sugar into their kids’ systems with fruit juice, as adults do with coffee and regular soda.Your typical fruit juice has just as much sugar as a can of soda, if not more. Look for high fructose corn syrup on the nutrition label… I bet it’s one of the top 5 ingredients.To buy healthy fruit juice, look on the nutrition label for 100% juice with no added ingredients. Better yet, save the calories altogether by choosing a water product instead. Many of them are even fortified with vitamins.Heck, if you insist on drinking juice you might as well choose Sambazon Acai Juice – at least it contains 100% fruit juice and is loaded with antioxidants and other healthy nutrients.
Instead choose: water, flavored water, Capri-Sun Roaring Waters for the kids, Fresca, iced tea, seltzer water, 100% fruit juice, Zero Calorie Sobe Lifewater, Acai Berry Juice
- Regular energy drinks: Tired people think they are pouring energy into their system, but instead it’s mostly sugar and caffiene.Sure, the caffeine helps, but the sugar brings you up quick and crashes you down hard, which makes you want to drink more sugar or eat high glycemic index carbohydrates for another quick burst of energy.It all started with Red Bull, then Monster jumped on the bandwagon, now there’s about 20 energy drink brands at your local convenience store. Most of them are flavored differently and are packaged in catchy containers to make you want to buy.Don’t be fooled.
Eat brand of energy drink has 1, count them: 1, low carb or sugar free version. This is the only version you should ever buy.
Better yet, opt for one of those 5 Hour Energy or NOS Powershots for $3 at the register. They have few calories and will keep you going for 5 hours or more.
I recently had an OK experience with Venom Energy drinks, but otherwise I only choose the energy shots.
Instead choose: sugar free and low carb energy drinks, power shots, espresso, coffee, teaUPDATE: Energy drinks are not good for you at all. They are full of chemicals and other artificial ingredients. Your best choice would be to get a hold of a tea infuser tumbler that you can use to flavor your tea with all manner of spices and other healthy flavoring.
- Sports drinks: Gatorade, Powerade, Vitamin WaterAthletes and even regular folk pour sugar down their throats in the disguise of ‘healthy’ sports drinks.Sports drinks are mostly gimmick. Even a 20-ounce bottle of a sports drink can have 7.5 teaspoons of sugar. Essentially, drinking a sports drink is as bad as drinking a regular soda.There are times when sports drinks are recommended, for replenishing electrolytes and providing quick energy during exercise, but we should not be drinking them throughout the day.Instead choose: low calorie, low sugar, or sugar free version of sports drinks; flavored water, water with lemon juice, 0 Calorie Sobe Lifewater
- Salad dressing: regular, low fat, or fat freeEven health conscious people pour 20, 30, 40 grams of fat or more on their salad by using traditional salad dressings. A couple tablespoons of salad dressing can add 20 grams of fat and 200 calories to your salad without providing any real substance.You might as well just open up your belly and pour that dressing directly into the adipose tissue, because that’s where it’s headed anyway.To make matters worse, low fat and fat free dressing is usually loading with sugar for flavoring. Using salad dressing is a no-win situation.Instead choose: lemon juice, lime juice, low fat vinaigrette, extra virgin olive oil and vinegar, low fat dressings that are also low in sugar
- Condiments: ketchup, bbq sauce, sweet and sour sauce, sour cream, cheeseHungry people often douse their foods with condiments to add flavor.Do you know what that flavor is? It is usually either fat or sugar, and that’s the truth.Granted, you won’t ingest cups of sugar by using condiments, but it still doesn’t help.Using high fat condiments such as sour cream and cheese can add up to 200 empty fat calories to your meal. Nacho cheese is one of the worst offenders… mmmmm… nachos…
Instead choose: lemon juice, lime juice, mustard, low fat sour cream, anything with less than 3 grams of sugar per teaspoon, salsa - Alcohol: beer, wine, mixed drinks, shots
Alcohol is bad, mmmkay? People who drink alcohol are essentially pouring bodyfat directly into their trouble areas.One ounce or one shot of alcohol contains 70 calories on average, and who drinks just one shot?Beer, wine, and mixed drinks have added calories in the form of sugar and other carbs. One beer or glass of wine can contain 150-200 calories, while a mixed drink could contain anywhere from 300-800 calories per drink, depending on ingredients.Instead choose: light beer, use diet soda as a mixer, ditch alcohol altogether and switch to water and tea. - Butter and salt: Please don’t pour butter and salt all over your vegetables, potatoes, and popcorn.There isn’t a better way to add 200 calories of straight lard to healthy food, than by pouring on butter or margarine. And no, margarine isn’t any better for you than butter. It might have less fat, but margarine is often made up of 100% trans fats, which is like liquid death.Salt won’t necessarily make you fat, but too much table salt can increase your risk of high blood pressure and heart disease.
Instead choose: low calorie spray butter or other flavor sprays, seasonings, sea salt
Avoiding the foods listed above and choosing the healthier options, is one step you can take towards a leaner, healthier life.
It is so important to impart these ideals on our kids. Please don’t forget about them. Our children will be so sad when 80% of the adult population is obese in 20 years.
Childhood obesity is a real problem. Everyone needs to help. Including you.
Resources:
August 31, 2009: New York Daily News. Controversial new subway billboards show human fat being poured out of soft drink bottles
U.S. Department of Agriculture. USDA National Nutrient Database
Hi guys,
thks for the advise, very interesting…triying better options for loosing weight
I got a question related to the artificial sweeteners.. do you think that eating moderate brown sugar with the morning coffee is better than splenda?
I prefer splenda, but in the long run brown sugar may end up causing less cancer or something.
In short, just eat dry bread and drink water. Hooray for health!
hurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr durrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr…
go eat your bread and water, asshat
What if you add water to juices like cranberry or pommegranate – like 75% water and 25% juice. Would that be healthy enough?
I have been drinking SoBe Lifewater for the past 3 weeks and I absolutely love it. The only thing is that I have had a severe upset stomach, stomach cramps, and severe bloating for almost that long. I
can’t even leave my house until I have been up, eat breakfast, and wait
until I go to the bathroom at least 3 times. My daughter said it was
probably the Stevia derivative in the Lifewater. Now my dilemma is whether I continue drinking it and just live with the severe upset stomach & cramps, or do I give it up and drink water. I cannot ingest any artificial sweeteners. I have migranes and the artificial sweeteners will bring one on very quickly.
I suppose you shouldn’t drink Lifewater if it makes you feel sick. That’s just my opinion. Water is better for you anyway.
i don’t no if u guys have the same problem as we do over here but eating healthy seems to be the last thing the government want people to do …..i ask the question why do they want us to eat this way…..i have a high cholesterol level so i have lowered it but I’m wise others aren’t so….the fact still remains the same= unhealthy food is cheap and healthy food expensive why???? i understand cost etc etc but if they really cared about us all then they wouldn’t let us do this to ourselves wake up folks,its no coincidence that everything that is good for you can be grown out the ground while junk food is man made….there killing our kids and were letting them….wake up NOW
wow, what a brilliant ad. they needs to have one of those ads up in all fast food restaurants. shocking but effective.
That may be just what happens when we offer our bodies the sweet taste of diet drinks, but give them no calories. Fowler points to a recent study in which feeding artificial sweeteners to rat pups made them crave more calories than animals fed real sugar.
“If you offer your body something that tastes like a lot of calories, but it isn’t there, your body is alerted to the possibility that there is something there and it will search for the calories promised but not delivered,” Fowler says.
Perhaps, Bonci says, our bodies are smarter than we think.
“People think they can just fool the body. But maybe the body isn’t fooled,” she says. “If you are not giving your body those calories you promised it, maybe your body will retaliate by wanting more calories. Some soft drink studies do suggest that diet drinks stimulate appetite.”
interesting read: https://www.webmd.com/diet/news/20050613/drink-more-diet-soda-gain-more-weight
I have read, on multiple occasions, that artificial sweeteners still stimulate an insulin release because your body anticipates a huge surge in blood glucose. The low blood sugar that results from the insulin spike would then potentate the sugar craving that is most often associated with the consumption of artificial sweeteners in studies.
Yes, artificial sweeteners do tend to make your body crave carbs via a blood sugar crash, even though they do not contain the carbs that are usually necessary to stimulate a blood sugar crash. That stinks.
My sentiments exactly. I also love the people who drink diet soda all day. They are in the same category of people who think you can eat all the fat free yogurt you want and not gain any weight. ha! there’s like 20 or 30 somethin grams of sugar per container!!!!
And my friend Josh T weighs in on the diet soda controversy. haha
I literally got pissed off the other night when i went to shop for salad dressing. there was absolutely nothing in the entire 8 shelf area of salad dressing that didn’t have: sugar; high fructose corn syrup; corn syrup. not one single bottle. i grabbed the olive oil and vinegar and got out of there. it is criminal. I don’t even understand it. make people wanting to lose weight, fat?
Dude I feel your pain.
I know a LOT of my friends and family that are guilty of at least 3/4 of the things on that list. lol
I avoid soda altogether, as well as sweet tea and even regular Gatorade. Water, and crystal light are all i drink.
My favorite are the people who drink gallons of Gatorade because they think it is healthier than soda. I love explaining to them how much sugar and unnecessary sodium they are pouring into their bodies while they sit on the couch.
Sitting around and drinking Gatorade is not a good idea, but you are right it’s amazing how many people think they are doing their bodies good by sucking it down all day long. Crystal Light is the man.
So Fresca isn’t that bad for you? It is actually my favorite soda. Within the last year I have been avoiding all sodas and just drinking water. Would it be not unhealthy for me to drink one can of fresca a week? Or should I just stay with the all water routine?
Benji, you can have a Fresca, man. Have 3 Frescas a week if you want. It’s more like flavored water than soda.
Okay, one on topic question, and one pretty random question.
1) When you talk about adding butter and salt to your vegetables, are you thinking about fat soluble vitamins? Also, are you thinking about mental satisfaction and fiber content? I ask this because not only have I heard that some vitamins are fat soluble, and therefore better absorbed if you eat them with some measure of fat, but also because that I have found eating broccoli with butter and salt is and effective craving reducer. I can eat a bag of either steamed broccoli and/or cauliflower with some butter and salt and maybe some cheese, and my craving for microwave popcorn or mashed potatoes is satisfied. By doing a straight calories comparison, I am way ahead as long as I don’t go overboard with the cheese or the butter.
2) I have been reading a lot about super-sets. A favorite appears to be dumb-bell deadlifts combined with bent over row. I have found that when I do these lifts as a combination, I loose my concentration on maintaining my form during deadlift, which to me is a very very VERY important part of the lift. So, my question is, is there really any advantage to doing these lifts as a combined set, or is it just the work-out magazine’s way of trying to combine more lifts in a workout and/or looking like a new workout for people who aren’t brand-spanking-new to the idea of dumb-bells?
MTGirl:
1) My opinion is that there should be enough fat in the vegetables to allow you to absorb the vitamins and minerals in the vegetables. If there is any indication that we are losing out on vitamins because our vegetables don’t have enough fat, please forward me that info, because that would be a great topic for a research article.
When you compare vegetables with butter to popcorn or potatoes with butter, it sounds to me like you are going to put butter on any of those foods anyway, so if you are going to use the butter you might as well choose vegetables. Now, if you have to choose between vegetables with butter or popcorn without butter, I’d choose the popcorn once in a while, but sometimes I’d still choose the veggies. This article is more about cutting back on sugar than on making you quit your butter habit.
2) That doesn’t sound like a good superset to me. For one thing you are in the same position for pretty much both exercises and you have to hold the dumbbells for both exercises. Sounds to me like a recipe for grip failure and lower back stress, than it does for a good superset.
I would superset dumbbell deadlifts with calf raises, abs, lunges, squats, or shoulder or chest presses. I would superset bent over rows with the same exercises. I would not superset the deadlifts and rows ever.
I think recommending this superset is a result of basically every possible workout routine and superset already being in print somewhere. They have no more good ideas so now they will start spewing bad ideas. That’s what I think.
Oh no… beer is bad? Swole, ya just ruined my day. 🙂 Great article, BTW.