Many people focus on how much food they eat in their count of daily calorie intake for weight loss but often forget that beverages drank also contribute to additional calories. While cutting on calories for food may take more time and effort to plan and follow, luckily, choosing the right beverages to help weight loss is much easier. In this article, we will help you identify the beverages to avoid to help with your weight loss journey.
Beverages certainly contribute to your total calorie intake per day, and your daily mood, and in the long term, will affect your body weight and can compromise your health. Many beverages, like caffeinated or carbonated drinks, contain high fats and sugar. Sugar is the main contributor to weight gain and obesity. Not only does sugar make it easier for you to gain weight, but it also makes it harder for you to lose it, which is why most diabetes type-2 patients are overweight or obese. Reducing your sugar habit can be accomplished with small daily changes. Do you know how much additional sugar you have in your beverages? Research shows that reducing or eliminating sweetened beverages in daily meals will help you cut more than 50% of added sugar daily.
Here is a detailed overview of the amount of sugar in Malaysia’s most popular beverages:
Hidden sugars
Next, let’s learn to differentiate and choose the better options for sugar-free and no-sugar-added labelled food & beverages.
According to the FDA, "no sugar added" can only be used if no sugar or sugar-containing ingredient is used during processing. Sugar-containing ingredients covered under this standard include honey, molasses, high-fructose corn syrup, malt syrup, and cane syrup.
The FDA guidelines require food containing less than 0.5 grams of sugar per serving to be labelled as "sugar-free." This includes naturally occurring forms of sugar and any ingredient that contains sugar. Technically, the food product does not have to be completely sugar-free as long as it meets the per-serving requirement.
Plain water is always healthier, but that does not mean you cannot occasionally enjoy your favourite drinks. There are many ways to enjoy plain water and to increase its benefit. You can try the following:
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Adding lime juice or lemon juice to your plain water can improve digestion, boost your body's immune & metabolism, and help curb your cravings.
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Infused water improves digestion, boosts energy, and tastes better than plain water. You can try to infuse different types of fruits and vegetables for different benefits.
If you are concerned about the calories in different types of beverages, you can refer to this table to guide your choices.
Also, remember that beverages' labels only indicate the number of calories per serving. You must look closely at how many servings you have during your meal time.
This article was brought to you by Naluri Dietitians. Naluri empowers you to develop healthy lifestyle habits, achieve meaningful health outcomes, and be healthier and happier through personalised coaching, structured programmes, self-guided lessons, and health tools and devices. Download the Naluri App today or contact hello@naluri.life for more information on utilising digital health coaching and therapy to become a happier, healthier you.