The Energy Drink Blog

Did you know that about 20 percent of the calories an individual consumes in a day are derived from drinks?  It is often over looked that the beverages that we consume in a day also contain calories, but truth is they do, and they are partly to blame for the added weight we carry around.

Starting with breakfast, most people drink coffee, juice or milk. These are all culprits of high hidden calories. For example, while plain black coffee has less than 5 calories, adding cream, and sugar can greatly spike the caloric value to an otherwise nonexistent calorie count. Just by switching from whole milk or cream to skim milk in your coffee, many calories can be cut.  Similarly, juice is often loaded with sugar and one glass can have upwards of 200 calories a glass! This is an important wake up call for those who are trying to lose weight.

Moving on in the day, caffeinated sodas are a diet disaster. Loaded with sugar these drinks can contain about 200 calories per serving. Many people realize this and have made the switch to diet soda. While diet soda may be the lesser of two evils, research shows that diet soda drinkers are 34% more likely than those who don’t drink it to develop a metabolic disorder. Also, it has been studied that diet soda drinkers are likely to have a high craving for sweets and eat more than those who do not. For most people, a diet drink and a bag of chips constitutes a lunch, however a whey protein shake is a much better alternative, as it send signals of fullness to the brain and is relatively low in calories with lots of nutrition.

Finishing out the beverage intake for the day, some people like to finish off the day with a drink. No matter if the drink is hard liquor, beer or wine, these beverages contain anywhere from 90 to approximately 200 calories per serving. This is another sneaky source of extra calories which lead to weight gain.

The best way to lose weight and cut out calorie intake from beverages is to drink water. Water can be flavored with many items such as citrus and herbs to add some flavor and depth without adding calories. Even hoodia extract can be added to water to help suppress the appetite.