Fried items, chips, vada pavs, desserts, rice- are often blamed for weight gain. Even if they do make you fat to some extent, the sly foods that are actually making you fat lie somewhere else.
A recent research by a Professor at the LSU Health Sciences Center shows that weight gain and obesity are more linked to an increase in liquid calories than calories from solid food. Soft drinks, juices, sherbets, coffee, milkshakes, sweetened milk and alcoholic drinks- these are some of the culprits that get away after loading you with calories. No wonder that you are living off a liquid diet and yet are not losing weight.
What do you mean by liquid calories?
Calories that come through liquid sources like tea, coffee, juices and soft drinks are termed as Liquid Calories.
Why are liquid calories bad?
You remember when you go overboard with non healthy foods like an extra plate of dessert but do you give a second thought to how many cups of tea or coffee you had? Or do you include the number of calories in a packaged juice to your daily intake? Calories from liquids are even more concentrated than in solids but they are hardly given a second glance.
- High calorie density: For example, juices give you more calories than fruits. With no fiber and no pulp all that is left is concentrated fructose or sugar.
- Lower satiety value: You hardly feel full and satisfied just after a coke.
- More calories ingested in short period of time: You would take minutes to chew a burger, but can gulp entire fruit juice in few moments.
- Low oral activity and less transit time: Whether you feel full depends not only on how much you eat but also on how much you have to chew and how much your body feels went in. Liquids require little or no oral activity and even less time to reach the stomach so your body feels that you are not filled enough and demands more food.
- Evolution doesn’t support: From the onset of our evolution, the only liquid that humans drank was water. Even when we started drinking liquid foods, it is in the last 150 years of so that there has been an overload of calories and that come through liquids. Our physiology isn’t developed enough to deal with liquid calories which can be the cause of weight problems today.
So here are some of the sources of liquid calories that you should take care of:
Soft drinks, Sodas: Soft drinks served in all parties and meals can give you 100 calories per can. There is hardly any nutritious value to what Soft drinks give you.
Coffees and Teas: No, we are not telling you to stop your daily cup of tea or coffee, we are just telling you to change the way you make them. Tea and Coffee both are good sources of anti- oxidants, and are known to help fight cancer and other diseases. It is when we add milk, cream and sugar that they add calories to our diet. When we drink more than 3 cups of tea and coffee, then they can contribute to weight gain. So even if you are used to tea and coffee, take them with little or no sugar and certainly not the cream! Otherwise tea contains negligible calories.
Fruit Juices: Though drinking fruit juices may seem to be a good idea but we forget to note that unlike a whole fruit, fruit juices are loaded with sugar. Drinking fruit juices gives us empty calories which boost energy temporarily but make no difference to the appetite. Even if you are having fruit juices, go for natural and non sweetened variety.
Milkshakes: These are loaded with calories. With fruit pulp, sugar, milk and even ice-cream, milk shakes are alright once in a while but definitely not for daily consumption.
Alcohol: Alcohol is generally high in calories. These calories are also empty calories so they lead to weight gain. 160 ml of wine contains 150 calories, while beer contains 75 calories and vodka contains 360 calories. So if you are a regular drinker, imagine the amount of calories you are gaining because of alcohol.
Protein shakes: These are popular today due to Gymming. But research says that while protein foods have been proven to reduce appetite and increase satiety, protein in liquid form like in shakes does not decrease the appetite. Even if you do drink Protein shakes, don’t forget to count them in your calorie intake for the day.
Research conducted by Purdue University shows that we consume more than 17% of calories from beverages alone. These beverages on the whole are not only high in calories but hardly filling they even increase our sugar cravings which lead to more weight gain. If we reduce our consumption of sweetened drinks, juices and alcohol, we take a big step in reducing weight.
Now, you ask what to do with your thirst? Drink the good old water, instead!
