Here’s a useful tip which most people tend to forget about when dieting:
Reduce your intake of useless calories.
Many individuals add on to their meals calorie total by drinking sodas and juices. Clearly, research shows that this just adds calories. In other words, you tend not to reduce your food intake to compensate for this. In terms of calories, it's a whopping change to go from a regular Coke to a Diet Coke. Just think to yourself for a second. If you’re drinking 12 Cokes a week, and believe me, this happens very frequently, you are consuming roughly 1680 empty calories.
Now, why do I say empty calories? Well the calories in these sugar filled drinks carry little to no nutritional value, not to mention taking in the evil high fructose corn syrup.
HFCS causes obesity and diabetes and deposits fat around critical organs like your liver. It's also contaminated with mercury from the manufacturing process according to studies done in past years. Even plain fructose (like in fruit drinks) isn't good for you unless it's in fruit that you're consuming whole.
HFCS, aspartame and other artificial sweeteners, and MSG are the worst substances anyone can consume.
Take a protein shake for instance. If you were to consume 12 shakes a week compared to 12 sodas or glasses of juice, you would be adding loads of protein and nutrients to your body which your body could use through the course of the week for muscle building and provide energy. Not so much with the others.
Now you see how this can add up?
My suggestions for limiting useless calories:
Replace soft drinks with water all together and limit your intake of fruit juices; use low-fat salad dressing or something else entirely; and forgo sweeteners altogether.
A simple step like having water with your popcorn instead of a keg-sized soft drink can save you 500 + calories.
What are some other foods that would fall under the “empty” calorie department?
- Beer, Wine, and other alcohol beverages. A can of beer contains about 150 calories from sugar and not much else. Also, calories from alcohol tend to be stored as fat in the abdomen and alcohol has been shown to slow metabolism.
- Candy. Again, loads of calories from sugar with no micro-nutrients.
- French Fries, Fried Chicken, Chips, and all other fried foods. Large fries equal up to 600 calories, not to mention 30 grams of fat and nearly 10 grams of Trans fat. Like above, tons of calories from fat and very little micro-nutrients.
Just remember, keep it simple and smart. Empty calories do nothing for your fat loss goals. Make sure every calorie you put in your body counts and is beneficial to you.
