Liquid Calorie Overdose

If you are reading this, you're probably already paying attention to what you eat, and are trying to live a healthy lifestyle. Good intentions and having a goal to strive for is a great place to start, nonetheless, there is always something more that we can do to accelerate the progress in reaching your desired physique and improving your health. Quite often we overlook something just because of the habits we have developed, and in this way we could potentially sabotage all our great efforts towards reaching our desirable outcome.

Have you considered the calories you consume in a liquid form? It's not only about calories, because different nutrients affect your body in different ways, but in this context I'm mainly referring to sugar. We all know that it makes you fat. And for most people, the more you eat, the more you want. The fact is - it's even easier to overdose on sugar in a liquid form, whether you're enjoying a soft drink, juice, smoothie or your favourite beverage from Starbucks.

A Daily Mail article came out a couple of days ago, analysing the data recorded by five volunteers who recorded everything they drank for a week. As per usual with mainstream media, I don't agree to many of the "expert's" opinions e.g. only counting calories instead of macronutrients; everyone should get their calcium from milk; the idea that body can only absorb 30g of protein etc. However, despite all these fallacies, the purpose of the aforementioned article is to drive people's attention towards improving their health buy cutting out all the sugary drinks from their diet, and that is something that's always been a pre-condition I've set with my clients starting a body transformation programme.

Let's explore the biggest pitfalls of calorific beverages:

Evil Sugar

If you let sugar have the upper hand, you may eventually end up fighting constant cravings for sugary pick-me-ups and end up binging on sugary foods all day long. Eating lots of “empty” calories from sugar can actually diminish your ability to ever feel sated, and increase the hunger levels as your body is crying for real nourishment. Also, too much sugar stimulates the production of excess insulin that will make you gain fat, increase inflammation and eventually may contribute to serious illnesses e.g. diabetes, heart attack, cancer and arthritis.

Fat On Top

Would you like cream on top? And heart attack for takeaway? It really makes me cringe when I see already overweight people ordering the most sugar-filled drinks in a coffee shop and adding cream to make it even worse. After all, the combination of sugar and fat is proven to be the quickest way to add body fat, let alone clogging up your arteries. If you exercise and are in good shape already then you may treat yourself now and again if this is what rocks your boat. However, if you know that you already have a problem, why would you risk making it worse for a little bit of instant gratification that could easily be replaced with something much healthier and just as enjoyable?

Excess Fructose

Fruit juice and smoothies have always been marketed as the healthiest thing on Earth. Unfortunately it's not that great if you don't watch the amount. Recent research shows that when you consume food or beverages with added fructose, it will slow your metabolic rate and fat burning, and the liver will turn any excess fructose into fat very quickly. The liver can process a small amount of fructose easily, e.g. a serving of blueberries or raspberries. But when you consume it in a liquid form you may have more than it can handle and it gets converted quickly into fat, and the liver seems to favour putting the fat into muscle, the abdominal cavity, and the liver itself. It is called visceral fat and it's threatens your health by sending out inflammatory factors that promote insulin resistance, raising triglycerides, and degrading muscle tissue.

Sugar In Alcohol

Another thing to consider is the amount of alcohol you consume. The sugar in alcohol is absorbed even faster than the sugars in foods. We get distracted by its ability to relax or exhilarate, but functionally alcohol is a sugar. Go to any AA meeting where people are trying to kick the habit and you will find bowls of candy and boxes of donuts to help them with the sugar part of the addiction. If you want to reduce your sugar intake, cutting down on alcohol at the same time will help. Of course there are many more implications that alcohol has on your body. You can read more about that in my Weekend Tips post.

All depends on how much you really want it. Is improving your health and achieving your desired physique important to you? Or you may be happy with the way things are going and feel like a cup of sweet beverage serves you well. If you have a vision of what you're looking to achieve, you will find the self-discipline to eliminate sugary drinks towards a healthier and fitter version of yourself.