How to Lose Weight With One Simple Change

I’m going to tell you how to lose weight, but we aren’t gonna talk about what you eat. Well, not yet, anyway. We’re gonna talk about what you drink. Beverage sales are through the roof all over the country. You see a coffee drink in every hand on your commute daily, energy drinks fuel a decent portion of our workforce every afternoon, and a soda with dinner is commonplace in many homes every evening. Not to mention the various bottles and cans than inhabit desks and car cupholders throughout the day. We’re all on something – juice, coffee, soda, sweet tea – so let’s take a minute to really think about what we’re pouring down our throats. I recently asked a client, “Is it acceptable to you to be drinking 4 Diet Cokes in the morning?” Her reply was that she hadn’t thought much about it. She was drinking them for the caffeine and it had just become a habit. It seems that this is common for many of us. Calories aside (yes, I know there are no calories in a Diet Coke), if you really push yourself, you’ll probably agree that it is not human nature to drink Diet Coke (or whatever is in your cup) at all. In fact, humans are the only animals that drink anything other than water or nursing milk in the food chain. Our biology agrees with that line of thinking: in nature, calories are designed to be metabolized through the foods we chew. The process of digesting and processing those calories starts in the mouth but most of the food molecules are broken down in our stomach and small intestine. When you drink your calories, the molecules are already mostly broken down and so they shoot right into your blood and don’t sit in your stomach very long at all. We now know that these calories get stored in fat cells more rapidly than the calories from food, which is why so many of us are trying to figure out how to lose weight. If you are thinking that your beverage doesn’t have calories in it, because it’s artificially sweetened, you’re not off the hook. Is it human nature to be drinking chemicals? Those chemicals are contributing to an increased appetite and cravings, and they may also be messing with your palate by keeping you from being satisfied from naturally sweet foods. How to Lose Weight With One Simple Change: Critical thinking 101: If you are chugging something (other than water) ask yourself  ‘is it reasonable to me to be drinking ____ x ____ times per day?’ Critical thinking always brings me back to human nature and biology — the only thing we should drink like water IS water. Still, we are at the top of the food chain for a reason, and so we should make the most of our critical thinking and large brain capacity. There is still room for delicious drinks in your Nutritious Life. I promise. Choose water, seltzer and tea the majority of the time. Incorporate greens juices and a glass of wine into your healthy eating plan. A glass of wine with a nutritious meal or an all green juice with a handful of nuts for a snack. Leave the juice, sports drinks, novelty drinks and the rest in the rarely to never category. Break your beverage habit. If you start with healthy drinking, it will lead to healthy eating, and you’ll find yourself suddenly with an overall healthy diet. I promise that if you go back to your natural drinking nature, you’ll shed some extra weight and feel like king of the jungle.  

Stevia in Your Diet: Yay or Nay?

Do the green leaf and the word “natural” on the box of Stevia at the supermarket make you wonder if it should be on your shelf? Is it any better of a sugar substitute than aspartame or sucralose? Are you picking up a pack of gum, a bottle of tea or a container of soy sauce and wondering, “What’s the deal with stevia in the ingredient list?” If so, you’re not alone. Stevia is deemed GRAS (generally regarded as safe). It’s in the company of things like annatto, carrageenan and chlorine in our food supply. In other words, GRAS doesn’t necessarily mean much. Uber-reputable sources are giving it the nod. But, as someone skeptical of any kind of sweetener, I look at it very closely. Let’s break this down a bit. What is Stevia? Stevia is a natural sweetener and sugar substitute extracted from the leaves of a shrub called Stevia rebaudiana. Chemically speaking, the sweet components of the stevia leaf are called steviol glycosides, and the stevia leaf contains more than 40 of these glycosides. Stevia-based sweeteners you buy at the store (of which there are many) can contain one or several steviol glycosides. Depending on which ones are used, and what the stevia is mixed with (erythritol, inulin, maltodextrin, xylitol and monk fruit, to name a few), these sweeteners can be anywhere from 25 to 400 times sweeter than sugar! Despite this, stevia has zero calories and zero glycemic index. I know what you’re thinking: “Yippee! sweet deliciousness with no calories!” I hear you. We do know, however, that your taste buds taste the sweetness and even when no calories are linked to the bite in your mouth, hormones may still be stimulated. Your mouth tastes the sweetness in sweeteners and assumes that calories are supposed to follow. You’re supposed to get those calories in your belly and digestive hormones are then supposed to kick into place. When no calories come, your body sends signals to your brain, saying, “What’s the deal?!” It makes sense to me that there would be some confusion with what your brain thinks is going on and what actually happens in your stomach. This is where my relationship with stevia used to end. Keep reading. Pros and Cons of Stevia The Nutrition Action Healthletter, put out by CSPI (Center for Science in the Public Interest) is a resource I often check out. They take the most important nutrition issues of the day and attack them from scientific, political and environmental angles to get to a succinct bottom line. They reviewed artificial sweeteners and reminded me that in the ‘90s, the FDA rejected stevia because of the “potential impact on blood sugar, sperm count, kidney function and cardiovascular systems.” But they did give it a safe rating. Why? Even though a couple studies (using extremely high doses) have linked stevia to changes in DNA, studies didn’t show an increased risk of cancer, fertility problems or offspring with disabilities. On the flip side, studies have shown that one of the sweet compounds in stevia may lower blood pressure. (Note: Large doses were used during these studies.) Other studies have linked stevia to a reduction in blood sugar and potential glycemic control in people with diabetes, while still other studies have shown stevia’s possible anti-inflammatory benefits. So, in other words, there are probably many worse things in our pantries than stevia. Bottom Line on Stevia Refined sugar has absolutely no nutritional value and may cause inflammation, cancer, diabetes and obesity. Yet, it is not realistic for most people to take sweets completely out of their diet. If you are someone who can control and maintain a very small amount of refined sugar in your diet, you may be fine with keeping it in. For others, stevia is an alternative. The takeaway is that you shouldn’t add it in because, “Oh, hey, it’s healthy.” Rather, it may work for your lifestyle as a better alternative to refined sugar and other artificial sweeteners because of its zero calories and zero glycemic index. In either case, you don’t want to be pouring packets into your mouth. Of course, the best way to consume stevia is by growing it and harvesting it from your garden (yeah, people are doing this), or you can order the leaves online. More Reading Exactly How Much Sugar Can I Eat in a Day? (Image: Shutterstock)