Don't Drink Your Calories

It's summer, it's hot, and you're thirsty. While those sports drinks and "Zero" thirst quenchers look tempting, think twice before packing your gym bag full of them.

While they taste great the drink you reach for could have more calories than you think. Sugars, sugar substitutes, and food dyes are all too common in the drinks we choose to cure our summer thirst.

All calories add up, the ones you eat and the ones you drink, but there is a difference in how our bodies react to them. Calories you eat from your meals, protein bars, and other snack help cure hunger and give our bodies a feeling of fullness. The calories that come from beverages on the other hand may make you feel refreshed, they have little to no impact on the feelings of hunger or fullness. This is a calorie over look that can cause us to add hundreds of calories to our daily intake without even realizing it and it could be why your summer diet of lean proteins and lots of salads may not be showing results. 

Some common beverages to watch out for:

• Gatorade = 34 g sugar, 130 cal
• Minute Maid Lemonade = 67g, 260 cal
• Snapple Iced Tea = 46 g sugar, 200 cal
• Coca-Cola 12oz = 39g sugar, 140 cal
• Vitamin Water = 33g sugar, 125 cal
• Apple Juice = 52g sugar, 240 cal
• Red Bull = 27g sugar, 108 cal

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Sweeteners have many names, be familiar with them!

• High-Fructose Corn Syrup (equivalent to 10 teaspoons of table sugar)
• Aspartame (Asp)
• Acesulfame (A.k)
• Steviol
• Saccharine (Sac)
• Dextrose
• Maltose

Hydration is an important part of our diets and fitness routines, just be aware of what else your drink may be adding to your diet. When in doubt stick to what's natural to our bodies... water!

Blog post by Erin Womboldt.