Eliminating Sugar From Your Diet

[model_mom]

No refill please! Drinks can add on the pounds

Nutritionist Joy Bauer reveals the hidden sugar in some popular beverages


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What you drink might make you fat
Aug. 14: Nutritionist Joy Bauer offers tips and how your favorite thirst-quenchers could be adding on the pounds.








TODAY

Joy Bauer MS, RD, CDN
TODAY nutritionist and diet editor




TODAY nutritionist and diet editor Joy Bauer shares the sugar and calorie content in your favorite beverages and offers three tips to avoid packing on the pounds.
Obesity rates are staggering — it’s estimated 66% of Americans are overweight and liquid calories are part of the problem. Guzzle a 20-ounce bottle of Pepsi (or two 20-ounce bottles of Vitamin Water or Gatorade) and it will cost you 250 calories. Order that Starbucks Venti Caramel Macchiato and you’re looking at 340 calories.
Although, loaded beverages can be a delicious occasional splurge (I admit it!), when it comes to managing your weight, remember to account for those calories and moderate your intake.
Consider this: Trim 500 liquid calories from your daily diet and you’ll save 3,500 calories a week. That’s potentially ONE pound lost per week and more than FIFTY pounds lost at the end of the year!




Follow these three tips to avoid packing on the pounds:
1. Think before you drink
Be mindful of beverages loaded with caloric ingredients — sugar, corn syrup, fructose, milk, cream, syrup, special flavoring and even fruit juice. When it comes to managing your weight, calorie-free water will always be your best bet.




2. Calculate the “total calories” you’ll be drinking — not just one serving.
Many beverages list calories per serving, but pack 2 or more servings into each bottle. Make sure you look at the serving size… and calculate how many servings (and total calories) are included in one container.

3. Healthy drinks can also pack on the pounds
Just because a product claims to be “all natural,” or contain “no refined/added sugars,” doesn’t mean it’s caloric-free. For example, 100% fruit juice and fruit smoothies are filled with nutrition but also often high in calories. If you’re watching your weight you are better off eating fruit versus drinking it.

Total calories in popular beverages:
Soda

Soda (20-oz bottle) = 250 calories
7/11 Big Gulp (32-oz) = 400 calories
Large movie theatre soda (44-oz) = 550 calories

• 7/11 Double Big Gulp (64-oz) = 800 calories

Tea and Coffee Drinks

• Snapple Peach Iced Tea (16-oz bottle) = 200 calories
• Arizona Lemon Iced Tea (20-oz bottle) = 225 calories
• Starbucks Mocha Frappuccino:
  - Tall (12-oz) = 200 calories
  - Grande (16-oz) = 260 calories
  - Venti (24-oz) = 380 calories
  Starbucks Caramel Macchiato = Grande (16-oz) = 270 calories Starbucks Chai Iced Tea Latte = Grande (16-oz) 260 calories
• Duncan Donuts, Coffee Coolata (16-oz w/2% milk) = 190 calories

Fruit Beverages

Jamba Juice: Banana Berry (classic smoothie
- 16-oz = 280 calories
- 24-oz original = 450 calories
- 30-oz power = 600 calories
<LI class=textBodyBlack>POM Pomegranate Juice (16-oz bottle) = 320 calories Orange Juice (pint container, 16-oz) = 220 calories
Orange Juice (one cup) = 110 calories
Naked Juice-Orange Mango Motion (16-oz container) = 240 calories <
Odwalla Citrus C Monster (16-oz container) = 300 calories
Country Time lemonade (12-oz can) = 130 calories

• Minute Maid lemonade (20-oz bottle) = 260 calories

Flavored Waters and Sports Drinks

• Vitamin Water (20-oz bottle) = 125 calories
• Life Water (20-oz bottle) = 125 calories
• Gatorade (20-oz bottle) = 125 calories

 

[tigerrouge]

From personal experience, I find sugar very addictive, and function much better when I go without it. I end up with more energy, clearer skin and a reduced appetite, which means I'm not tormented by cravings.

Unlike a lot of people on this thread, I find eating fruit adds to the 'sugar situation' and in general I avoid eating it, in favour of getting those nutrients and fibre from low-GI vegetables instead.

I don't think it's unrealistic to say that people do differ in the way their bodies process certain foodstuffs - after all, not everyone develops diabetes. That's one major metabolic difference, for a start. We're not all cut from the same cloth, and no matter how many years they study the subject, a nutritionist will never know your body as well as you'll know it. I feel the answer to what regime will suit someone lies somewhere between expert advice and personal experience.

And I find the reporting of scientific findings can be a faddish thing, which is why I tend to be cynical about 'the latest advice'. I'm not cynical about the science, but the way in which its translated for the public. Certainly, if I compare what was being said about nutrition by experts 15 years ago to what's being said today, the advice is very different - yet back then, they too were convinced they were right. At the time.

 

[Liya]

I've eliminated sugar from my diet, and by sugar I mean sweets/desserts like cookies, cake, ice cream, etc. I get most of my daily sugar from fruit. Once I decided to stop eating sugar, it took about a week or two for the cravings to curb (which is a miracle cause i'm ADDICTED to sweets), but my body feels better and I'm less lazy as a result. You just have to make sure you get sugar in other ways through fruit or other healthy foods (you don't want your blood sugar to get too low)

 

[Rami]

the south beach diet is all about cutting/reducing sugar from your diet because thats where you get the cravings from. the first two weeks you pretty much cut sugar out all together as well as carbs. then the third week you slowly can phase certain fruits back in. i never knew how important it was to reduce sugar. im going to start working towards that...i get INSANE cravings!

 

[Rami]

liya- how long after you started cutting sugars out did you reduce or eliminate your cravings? did it take a while? i could only last 3 days on a LOW sugar diet...

 

[Alejandro]

sodas are your enemies.

 

[Alejandro]

oh and that starbucks article is sooo wrong!

the whipped cream on a frappuccino is about 150 calories ITSELF.

the syrups used in starbucks, and it says it on the bottle, ask yourself to seee the bottle if you dont believe, that's 70 to 90 calories per pump of syrup.

and im not even counting the calories on the actual frappuccino base.

but its wayyyy more than what that lady mentioned.

 

[Liya]

liya- how long after you started cutting sugars out did you reduce or eliminate your cravings? did it take a while? i could only last 3 days on a LOW sugar diet...

Probably about 2 weeks after I didn't really get craving. I mean if I see something sugary I still crave it, but I don't have a huge urgency to eat it. Which is a miracle, because in my opinion, sugary desserts are the best thing in life . I eat peanut butter every day, and that makes a huge difference is curning the cravings.

 

[MaxHavoc]

I recently elimented all HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP from my diet and household. It is quite a challenge as it's in so much besides the obvious soda, cookies, and breakfast cereals. It's also in most whole wheat bread, crackers, and even my beloved tonic water (I've switched to vodka soda ). There's a lot of concern over it at the moment. It's not a natural substance like cane sugar, it's a chemically charged super sweetner that many in the health industry fear may be causing the rise in diabetes and obesity in recent years. The reason I mention this in this thread is because unlike cane sugar HFCS actually seems to interfer with the body's ability to know it's full. I have definately found I am much more satsified with the smallest portion of something sweet made with cane sugar but craved sweets and overindulged when I ate something sweetened with HFCS. If you're trying to cut out sugar I suggest starting by removing all HFCS in your diet first and that should make the switch easier for you.

 

[fashionista-ta]

I have not cut out sugar altogether, and that's not a goal for me, but what I have done is stop drinking Dr Pepper (dark caffeinated beverage with sugar, in case anyone's not familiar ). It was a health (the acids in soft drinks are pretty bad for you, especially for women because they leach the calcium in your bones as I understand it) and calorie issue, and once I cut it out for a couple of months, there was really no need to go back.

Sugar's not great, but artificial sweeteners are poison, so please don't go that route ...

PS Actually the sugar in most Dr Peppers is high fructose corn syrup as mentioned in the previous post.

PPS I was thinking the same thing, Ale--those calorie counts look extremely low. More like 550 or something for the loaded drinks, isn't it?

 

[Jade///]

I just started reading this thread from the beginning and I find it rather inspirational!

Lately I have been putting on extra pounds and seeing my skin getting the worse its been in a long time and its been making me very angry. Im also worried because being overweight is a problem in my fmaily and for my longterm health concerns, this is making me aware that a change in my diet while Im young needs to be made.

Im thinking about drastically reducing my intake of sugars that don't come from a natural source. Im worried about how easy it will be for me to eat a cookie, some chocolate, or jsut get lazy that my alternatives dont seem as fun. But Im going to try!

 

[modela]

unfortunatly im jojoing with my weight.i have cut out sugar and used artificial sweets instead.so whats wrong with artificial sweets...could somebody explain that to me...!but anyway i have to start all over again.for me its becoming a health issue .my mom has diabetes and has hartproblems so theres no excuse for me now!

 

[fashionista-ta]

unfortunatly im jojoing with my weight.i have cut out sugar and used artificial sweets instead.so whats wrong with artificial sweets...could somebody explain that to me...!but anyway i have to start all over again.for me its becoming a health issue .my mom has diabetes and has hartproblems so theres no excuse for me now!

Well, they are weird chemicals that appear to cause weird cravings [see studies of diet soft drinks], that were approved in some cases in very dubious circumstances, and they are absolutely unnatural ...

 

[Mary-Anne]

I'm going to try this, starting tomorrow. My sister did it, and she is much happier this way. Cold turkey for two weeks and then slowly adding back some carbs. Anyway, I tend to study until laaate at night and find myself unable to resist the sugar cravings. They drive me nuts sometimes and it's getting to a point where I'm sick of craving some chocolate everytime I feel tired! This thread is really inspirational and wonderful advice here.

 

[misssakura]

I've cut out most sugary things I htink....or at least more than a lot of people. The drink in our house is water, tap water, we barely buy any fizzy drinks - if we do it's because we feel like 'treating' ourselves but it's rare..I think we've had one fizzy drink this month. Sometimes I buy liqorice, I love that stuff. I've cut out chocolate, even dark chocolate. Never have it anymore. Occasionally we'll have a cake made at home, lots of sugar in that though. I guess some other sugar comes from the soy milk I drink...but generally I wouldn't say I consume lots of sugar at all.

 

[Dohertysgirl]

I've never really made the decision to cut out sugar, I've just found myself in a situation where I don't crave sugar and sweets at all. I don't really know how it happened cos I haven't denied myself to eat anything. I do occasionally eat a piece of chocolate or some ice cream, but the cravings I remember having before are completely gone - and it feels great to have control over my habits.

 

[misssakura]

My mum lost her sweet tooth when she was quite young...now she barely eats anything sugary at all..

 

[Mary-Anne]

It's been giong very good for me so far! No sweets or junk food

I am wondering how much I should cut down on carbs in general though? I definitely took out the sweets/junk food... but I'm not quite sure how to go about it involving carbs, such as breads, and rice...

 

[Dohertysgirl]

My mum lost her sweet tooth when she was quite young...now she barely eats anything sugary at all..

Actually, my mum has never been much of a sweet eater herself. Maybe it's a genetic thing?

 

[modelbehavior228]

I have been doing pretty good limiting the amount of white sugar I have been eating lately. I have just been eating fruit and other healthy stuff instead of donuts!