Eat Your Way Right Habit 7: Control Your Calories w/ Zero Sugar Beverages

Hard to believe

that we are 3/4 of the way through our end of year challenge! Are you feeling good? Are you learning some things about your habits and your body? Are you starting to see that good choices lead to good outcomes? Keep it up! This week we are going to focus on keeping the "sneaky" calories that really add up out our nutrition plan. Did you know that the typical large coffee has 35 grams of sugar in it? Just one a day is an extra 140 calories. Have one of those every day and that is an extra 980 calories a week, or 50,960 a year. That's enough calories to add 15 pounds a year - just from one cup of coffee a day! Ever taken a look at the nutrition info from a double mocha peppermint latte? Ouch! And even if you are not a coffee drinker there are plenty of other places where those calories are hiding. Soda, fruit juices, the wide variety of "sports performance drinks" that are supposed to be good for you. All these can add extra pounds and we don't even think about. Another downside to sugar in our beverages (even fruit juice) is how quickly it metabolizes and can cause blood sugar swings, which causes us to reach for more food, which adds up to even more calories. So this week it is time to focus on those labels and see if there any sugar in there. But don't be fooled by those sneaks, because they don't all use the word "sugar". Here's some other names for sugar you might just see. Barley malt Cane juice crystals Demarara Dextran Dextrose Diastatic malt Diatase Ethyl Maltol Fructose Fruit juice Galactose Glucose Golden syrup Lactose Maltodextrin Maltose Malt Syrup Maple Syrup Molasses Muscovado Panocha Refiners syrup Rice syrup Sorbitol Sorghum Sucrose Treacle Turbinado Wow! I would encourage you to start now to wean yourself off all calorie containing beverages, but start with the sugar. The simplest way to achieve this is to get used to drinking water, green tea, and sticking with black coffee. If you need a little cream that's fine, but the less calories you drink the more your body will thank-you! Make It Happen! Eat Your Way Right Habit 7: Drink only zero sugar beverages