The past few days I have been educating myself by watching many food documentaries. I have watched Vegucate (which is very pro vegan), Forks Over Knives (which promotes eating a more plant based diet over meat), King Corn (which talks about the amount of corn in our diet today), and Fat Head (I am mid-way through this video, but it makes it a point that we are in charge of our own food choices).
At this point I am not sure what is the best and most healthy method to get all my nutrition. Honestly, it seems that everyone has their own opinion with facts to back it up. When basically all the facts boil down to eating a balanced and whole foods diet. We need to stop drinking our calories and start eating them with yummy fruits and vegetables.
One of my goals for 2013 is to limit (if not eliminate) my sugar intake. The biggest goal for that is to quit drinking soda. For me, there is something about that yummy bubbly goodness that I just crave. While watching the documentary, Fat Head, one of the commentaries mentioned that soda is liquid candy. I was shocked… but totally agreed. There is so much sugar (and calories) in a glass of pop it is insane! No wonder many Americans (myself included) love their pop!
Did you know that if you drink one soda a day your changes for getting diabetes are double that of someone who only drinks a can of soda every once and a while!? That statistic is nuts! It makes me want to put away the pop permanently… especially since I have a family history of diabetes.
When we drink our calories (see the image above) our body isn’t able to signal our brain alerting us that we are full. We essentially drink ourselves fat through all the beverages we consume each day. This was a total wake up call for me!
I am sharing this with you today, because I learned something new! I hope you did too. And, if you see me running on the treadmill while heavily engrossed in my Netflix food documentary, who knows… it may be the topic of another blog post!
If you follow me on twitter or facebook, you have heard me share that I have been doing a lot of research with many different types of diets. Vegan, Vegetarian, Paleo, and more are the types I am researching! I have even checked out sites that talk about the metabolic effect of how hormones effect the way our body processes food. Amazing stuff for this science lover.
Basically what I am leaning towards is that I need to focus on not drinking my calories, maintain a whole foods approach to my nutrition (the closer to the earth the better), and listen to my body’s hunger cues. No two bodies and people are alike. What works for me might not work for you.
Now to break the habit of soda. Not that I drink it often or in mass quantities… it is just the fact that I drink it. Some days more than others, and I ultimately am drinking my calories for the day. Those liquid calories go unnoticed and unmarked in my food log… but are recorded by my body and my hips.
Stacie Michelle says
I definitely agree with you that we “drink ourselves fat through all the beverages we consume each day”. I used to be a bad one for drinking energy drinks almost daily. Even though I found them to make me sleepy rather than more alert, there was something about them that I liked. Luckily I’ve now kicked that habit.
I find by putting some lemon juice in water, I drink so much more water throughout the day without even realising. I also love Celestial Seasonings teas, which I make into iced tea, but without any sweeteners. When I do occasionally crave soda or something bubbly I’ll turn to soda water and a few drops of flavoured liquid stevia.
Rachel says
Thanks for your encouragement, input and suggestions!! I need to slice up fresh lemon/cucumber to flavor my water. I love water… but sometimes it is just so BLAH that I want a splash of flavor. 🙂 And the soda water… I will totally check that out! Thanks! 🙂
Lisa says
Ouch! You got me on this one. Pepsi was my “thing” years ago until I did a fast from it for 40 days. Then I started drinking homemade ice tea because it was smoother going down without the carbonation. I’ll admit, I’ve been known to call my ice tea, “the elixir of the Gods” LOL! However, then I found a recipe for homemade frappucino and that’s become my new “thing”. I so need to stop this craziness and get back to drinking my 64 oz of water a day! Thanks for the kick in the pants and a new resolve! C’mon girl, we CAN do this!!
Rachel says
Thanks! I used to be a Mountain Dew kind a gal all through college. I gave that up. I even have gone so far as to give up ALL soda when I was younger and training for races (highschool – not elite athlete) 😉
But somewhere through the years it crept back in and it is one of my vices. I KNOW it needs to go… but oh it tastes so good. Liquid candy.
Thanks for your encouragement and support!! I can do this! 🙂
You can do the water… I can do the water!! WE CAN DRINK OUR WATER! 🙂 Let’s do this! 🙂
Renee says
I can totally relate. I was struggling with the last fifteen pounds of baby weight after number three and struggling with making better eating choices. I didn’t drink a lot of Pepsi, but typically had one 12oz can a day, sometimes more. Like you, I just enjoy the bubbly goodness!!! I finally just stopped… Since cutting back wasn’t working I decided if it had to be all or nothing, it was going to be nothing. And you know what? Making other, better food choices became easier once the Pepsi was gone and those 15lbs?? Gone!!! I have had a couple of pepsis over the holidays but am back on the no pop wagon as I was starting to slip back into old eating habits. Good luck!!
Rachel says
Awesome job!! Thank you for the kind words of inspiration! 🙂
Melissa @ Treats With a Twist says
I stopped drinking soda probably 8 years ago. But I have been very strategic about not drinking my calories. In the summer I’ll mix calorie free soda water with some sugar-free Torani syrup if I crave it, but I also love LaCroix bubbling water drinks that are lightly flavored but calorie free. I splurge on calories every now and then when I get a Starbucks latte (treat!) but I always get soy (dairy and I don’t mix) which is 90 cals per cup, so I get extra shots to lessen the milk in it a bit (and never get the sugar syrups in there bc that’s wasting more calories)…or I’ll order a coffee with a splash of soy and a pump of a sugar-free flavor and then sprinkle cinnamon on top!
Anyways! Great talk! It’s so hard to remember that what we drink needs to be watched just as closely as our food!
Kierston says
I seldom drink my calories. It’s very seldom that I will have pop. I like my coffee black. I will have the odd latte from time to time but not every day. I like food 🙂
erin says
I stopped soda a year ago. In its place I drink carbonated water – like La Croix. Love it and soda tastes funny nowadays!
deb says
I absolutely did not know that drinking a soda a day doubles my diabetic chances. I gave up soda a couple weeks ago and now I’m so glad I did. I agree that just eating a balanced diet with lots of fresh food (& no packaged foods) is the best way to go.
Good luck!