Category: Cut Calories

Sugary Drinks and Weight Loss

What They Say — Is it True?

Everyone has heard it. Cut sugary drinks from your daily diet. It’s supposed to be a popular and effective strategy for weight loss. Just eliminate extra “liquid calories” to create the caloric deficit needed to start shedding those unwanted pounds.

But wait! There is more to it than meets the eye. Current research shows it may not just be cutting the calories that helps you lose weight. It can also have something to do with the type of sugar you are consuming! The latest research reveals that the type of sugar in your beverage could affect whether or not you feel hungry after drinking it.

What’s the Real Culprit?

 

In a recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, researchers determined that your brain processes fructose and glucose differently. Apparently, glucose helped participants to feel full — but fructose did not.

You’re probably asking “what was the reason?” The study authors discovered that the glucose drink suppressed activity in the brain that regulates appetite, motivation and reward processing. Fructose based drinks on the other hand, were associated with reduced levels of insulin — a hormone responsible for sending satiety messages to the brain.

In a nut shell, fructose in its simple form may cause you to feel hungry based on the messages that the brain is receiving, but not because you really need food.

Four ways to limit too much fructose in your diet:

 

1)  Skip the soda. Based on the study, it’s best to avoid carbonated drinks with fructose and/or high fructose corn syrup to help you stabilize your appetite and curb overeating. You’ll benefit from the caloric reduction as well!

2)  Eat whole fruit!  It’s important to know that fructose found in fruit is absorbed differently in the body due to the fleshy fiber in the fruit. Skip the juice and eat the whole apple or orange instead.

3)  Add greens to your smoothie. Most smoothies are considered healthy foods, but if you’re noticing you’re ravenous shortly after having one, consider switching the majority of the fruit in the smoothie to greens. Include protein in your smoothie to help sustain you longer.

4)  Read the labels! Sugar comes in many different forms, so make sure to read the labels on drinks before purchasing. If the packaging lists dextrose in the ingredients, that’s glucose. Sucrose is 50% glucose and 50% fructose. If’ the label says “high fructose corn syrup” skip it!

And, don’t forget to make sure to check the serving information and calories before buying. Even if it is a “better” sugar, the drink could still have more calories than you wish to consume.

The more you know about what’s in your food, the easier it gets to make healthy choices that foster weight loss!

Have a question?  Ask me by leaving a comment below.  I love to hear from you!

Blessings!

Jennifer

 

 

 

 

Eat More Vegetables for Easy Weight Loss!

 

Tired of struggling with weight loss and/or maintaining your weight? Eat a diet loaded with vegetables to cut back on calories easily and naturally! It helps you feel more satisfied physically and psychologically. It is a great strategy that curbs things like high calorie snacking, and going back for unnecessary seconds — which can sabotage your healthy eating plan.

Five Ideas for Adding More Vegetables to Your Day


1)  Add an extra serving! Reach for two servings of steamed veggies with your protein and carbohydrate. Steam two different types of vegetables for variety!

Don’t have time to go to the farmer’s market? Buy frozen organic vegetables. They’re easy to cook, usually cost less, and you don’t have to worry about them going bad!

2)  Eat more salad! Get a healthy serving of vegetables by having salad with one of your daily meals! It will keep you from overeating. Just be sure to measure the dressing carefully. Two tablespoons is usually a serving. Choose one hundred calories or less per serving when buying bottled dressings.

3)  Add veggies to your entree! When cooking at home, pick “light” recipes that are loaded with vegetables. Some ideas are pastas, rice bowls, stir-fries, hearty broth-based soups, and stews. These can be veggie rich and still give you the protein and carbohydrates you need to fuel your body properly. Sites like Cooking Light and Eating Well are good resources for recipes.

4)  Snack on them! Try cutting up veggies like  carrots, cauliflower, broccoli, snap peas, & celery for go-to snacks.  Serve them with a single serving of hummus, cheese, peanut butter, or light ranch dressing. Add a serving of pita bread or crackers to help you feel more full and get the carbs your body needs.

5)  Have them for breakfast. Try adding vegetables to your morning fare. Add spinach or last night’s leftover steamed vegetables to scrambled eggs. Or, try putting raw spinach or arugula on an egg sandwich.

Like smoothies in the morning? Try adding kale, celery, cucumber, spinach, or parsley to your blended drink. If you’re too busy to make one, check your local grocery store for smoothies with vegetables in the ingredients. (Check out my friend Christiane Marshall’s smoothie recipe below.)

A healthy eating plan loaded with vegetables is one of the easiest ways to lose weight without dieting or feeling hungry. Add regular exercise and you have the best recipe for long term weight loss there is!

To your health and fitness!

Jennifer

Ginger Snap Kale Smoothie for Two or Three (by Christiane Marshall)

 

Green smoothies are an acquired taste, so I’m sharing a recipe with lots of options! Ginger gives this smoothie a little bit of a snap, so go slowly at first. Taste test it as you go along. (The beauty of ginger is both the taste and its ability to minimize inflammation. I use a lot of it.)

Blend all together: (Chop ingredients more finely if you have a challenged blender!)

1 to 3 cups of ice or water or coconut water (to taste) See tips below.

1 cup washed and chopped organic kale (or collards — kale is sweeter)

1/2 avocado for smoothness and healthy fat

1 cup fresh ripe mango (you can also use banana) for smoothness and sweetness

1/2 organic apple

1 small piece of fresh ginger (to taste)

1/4 cup of chopped celery (and/or carrots)

a pinch of Himalayan salt

Optional: 1 Tablespoon raw almond butter (makes it more hearty)

Tips:

1. Because the water in the fruit and vegetables vary, play around with the amount of liquid. Your texture preference matters too!

2. Begin with 1 cup of water, adding as you go. Blend till smooth with the least amount of liquid to get everything through the blades, but not so little that the blending stops. Add water to taste after everything is smooth.

Enjoy!

 

 

If I Skip Meals Will I Lose Weight?

Woman is Hungry Dieting

Does your new year’s resolution have you tempted to skip meals to lose weight? If so, you’re not alone. It’s very common for people to experiment by skipping meals to accelerate their weight loss — especially in January after the holiday festivities!

It’s no secret that you must cut and/0r burn calories to lose weight. And, while skipping meals may produce quick weight loss in the beginning, the reality is, the long term results of a “starvation” type diet can be devastating.

Four Reasons not to skip meals!

1)  Slows down your metabolism. When you skip meals, your body goes into “starvation” mode. This causes the body to slow the metabolism for survival and use less calories throughout the day. That’s the last thing you want when you are trying to lose weight!

2)  Unsustainable! Skipping meals to lose weight does not create habits that will help maintain your weight loss for good. It actually does the opposite. Once you’ve lost the weight and begin eating normally again, you will most likely gain all of the weight back. In many cases more than you started with!

3)  Harmful to your health! Skipping meals deprives your body of the fuel it needs to operate properly. It affects your blood sugar, which will cloud your thinking and cause fatigue. People who skip meals are usually robbing their body of essential nutrients and can experience a weakened immune system as well as other negative side effects.

4)  Causes Overeating! When you allow yourself to get overly hungry, you are more likely to overeat and/or binge. This will cause you to consume more calories than you normally would in one sitting, sabotaging all of your efforts to cut back.

Lose weight the smart way!

1)  Knowledge is key! Start by figuring out how many calories you need to cut out in order to reach your goal. Use an app like loseit to calculate what you consume versus how much you burn. Once you determine the deficit, you can decide each day what changes you want to make.

2)  Make a plan! The best way to lose weight permanently is to create a healthy eating plan and an exercise routine you can stick to.

A healthy (balanced) eating plan is usually a combination of three larger meals (aka breakfast, lunch, and dinner) with two snacks in between. Depending on what time you eat dinner, an evening snack may be needed as well. Don’t go to bed hungry!

Here’s an example of a balanced approach to a healthy eating plan:

  • Breakfast 400 calories
  • Snack 200 calories
  • Lunch 400 calories
  • Snack 200 calories
  • Dinner 400 calories
  • Total calories 1600.
This is for sample purposes. You’ll want to calculate your own total. You may discover you need more than 1600 calories depending on how active you are or how much exercise you plan on doing.

Skipping meals may seen enticing in the beginning, but long term success comes from a more balanced approach.  Besides, a balanced approach should sound a whole lot more fun and realistic to you than being hungry all the time.

Please let me know if you have any questions by commenting below! I am here to help you succeed!

Blessings!

Jennifer