DRINK UP?
Juices—yay or nay? I don’t like juice. I like flavored waters like Crystal Light or the juice Motts has out that is 50 percent water, 50 percent fruit juice. You’re paying for half a jug of water, but if that’s what it takes! Juice is added calories and has no satiety value, which means it doesn’t fill you up at all. You digest it quicker. Most containers contain multiple servings, so when you look at the label and it says 80 calories, it might be three times that. If you’re going to drink juice, stick to the six-ounce servings and have it with food. The sugar content in juice is actually going to make you thirstier than you were before.
Are diet sodas really that much better than regular sodas? Calorie-wise, yes. If you’re going to drink a soda, drink diet. If you can get away from soda altogether and drink water or flavored water or milk, those are the better options.
Gatorade? I don’t like Gatorade for anybody who is not an extreme athlete. If you’re a high school player and have two-a-day football practices or you’re a marathoner or you’re doing landscape work in the middle of summer, I
would say Gatorade is okay for you. It’s very high in calories. Now that we have options like G2, Propel, Vitamin Water, all of those things that have electrolytes but virtually no calories, I would say go with those. Gatorade is almost the same as soda, and you buy the one-liter. People will drink it all day. You see a person in the gym drinking Gatorade as they’re walking on the treadmill. It’s a lot of empty calories.
Are wines really that good for me? More the reds than the whites. For a woman, it’s one glass a day and for men, it’s two. If you go over that, it’s almost dangerous. So it’s a thin line. If you don’t drink wine, don’t start drinking it just for the benefits
of wine. You can get the same benefits from cranberry juice, for example. But if it is a pleasure thing for you, again moderation. And no, you can’t save them all up for the weekend!
Does beer have any redeeming nutritional value? It has some, in moderation. They’re saying a beer a day is good for you because of the hops and the barley in it. The darker beers are better, but the darker beers are higher in calories. It depends on what you’re looking for.
Don’t Leave Home Without This List!
Is coffee bad for me? No. But coffee has caffeine. It’s a natural diuretic. It’s going to pull fluids from your body, so make sure you drink other fluids. Don’t just drink coffee all day because you’re going to become dehydrated. And it’s no calories. If you are a coffee drinker, try to eat a little something with it—a protein bar, a small piece of fruit, a boiled egg. Don’t let it be your whole breakfast.
Here are Brianna’s top tips for being a better grocery shopper: 1. Plan out your meals for the entire week. 2. Make a list of what you need and stick to it. 3. Don’t go to the grocery store hungry. 4. Bring your coupons and use them!
Brianna Liles is a clinical dietician who has worked at Munroe Regional Medical Center since 2004. She graduated from Florida State University with a Bachelor of Science in nutrition and the University of Memphis with a master’s in clinical nutrition. She encourages every reader to speak to his/her physician regarding diet and nutrition.
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