Drinking Ourselves into Oblivion

July 19, 2011

Everyone has something that they enjoy, that makes them feel good. When it comes to food, usually those indulgences are not great in the way of our health. Mine? Pepsi. It reminds me of summers back home when my brother and I used to work outside, run around the woods, swim in the pond, and ride bikes till our bare feet bled! It reminds me of up north camping trips, birthday parties with family, watching the Tigers at the old Tigers Stadium, going to the movies, and so much more. Ok, I’m pushing the sentimentality of my relationship with pop a little bit, but I enjoy it! At the same time, I don’t remember the last time I had pop. And the last time I did, it was from a 2-Liter that lasted me about 3 weeks before it went flat and I poured out almost half of it anyways.

As Americans we enjoy our luxuries…wait. Scratch that. We will literally climb buildings and battle airplanes if we don’t get our Double Venti Mochiattoccino with 2 sugars and a dollop of whipped cream every morning!!! This is exactly the problem. These coffees, pops, sugar drinks, and other luxuries in life are meant to be enjoyed from time to time, not daily! About 80-90% of the people I talk to about losing weight will say some version of “I’m watching what I eat to cut down my calories.” This is great because most of us eat too much anyways! I then ask that person if they’d like to double their weight loss efforts. Of course!! Who wouldn’t!? My answer…drink water. WAIT, don’t stop reading just yet! Replace even 75% of your other drinks with water and you cannot imagine the changes you will see!

Let’s do an example. Let’s say you like Starbucks coffees, Vitamin Water, Diet Coke and Oberon. Your week looks like this: 3 Starbucks coffees with a couple sugars and a cream each, 5 Diet Cokes, 3 Vitamin Waters, and an Oberon 6 pack.

          #1: Calories = 2070
          #2: Sugar = 165 g

Yes, the calories are bad (and I rounded down on everything), considering that 3500 calories equals 1lb. With this example, you’re going to “enjoy” your way to an extra 2.5 lbs a month, or 28 lbs in a year ONLY through what you are drinking. My guess is it will actually be higher than that since you are consuming about 23 g of “real” sugar per day and even more in fake sugars. And no, your Calorie-free, Sugar-free Diet Coke is not your saving grace. These artificial sugars and syrups may actually be worse for your body, but are definitely worse for your weight loss efforts! One final straw for the camel, all these drinks have dehydrating abilities! So at the same time you’re downing all that sugar, you’re also causing your body to use up what little water it has for organ and muscle function, digestion, temp regulation, and so much more!! So while you look at the plate in front of you for weight loss help, keep an eye on that glass next to it. Get your 64 oz (at least!!) of water per day and use other drinks as a few and far between luxury! I’d love to talk to you more about your weight loss efforts! davids@ehac.com, MAC ext 311, EH ext 406. Be well!!

Pop drinkers check out this article: “What happens to your body within 1 hour of drinking pop.”