DRINKING FOR A BETTER ME

I'm so proud of all you wonderful ladies who are checking in week after week. Most of the time I'm getting great reports of a loss after loss each week.

However, I really love when I see you still checking in after a slight gain. I'm thrilled that you are not giving up when you do gain or don't have a loss. Rather you are getting back on track and then reporting a loss the next week. Way to go!

This week I thought we would talk about what we are drinking durning the week.

We all know our bodies are made up of mostly water. So it only stands to reason we all need to keep our bodies hydrated in order to make sure everything is working properly.

Having plenty of fluids helps to flush out toxins and waste products from our bodies.

So what are you drinking? Are you making the best choices for your body? Let's take a look.

If you are like me, you love fruit smoothies. With summer just around the corner and all the great fresh fruits coming out, fruit smoothies can be very healthy for you.

Toss some fresh fruit, juice and ice or even a bit of frozen yogurt in the blender and you have a great drink. You get lots of vitamins, it's low in fat and comes up to about 200-250 calories depending on what you put in there.

We have all seen the stores that sell fruit smoothies. While they taste good they are not the same as making your own smoothie at home. Depending on what kind you get, you could be having 500-900 calories per drink! YIKES!

I'm not a big alcohol drinker but when I do have a drink I like the fruity foo foo drinks. You know the blended colorful ones that you can't even tell has alcohol in them.

Well ladies, you can be having tons of empty calories with those type of drinks. They are loaded with sugar. No wonder they taste so good.

Plus alcohol is a diuretic and rather then hydrating your body you are actually going to become dehydrated.

So while they may look pretty and taste good, you may want to stay away from these type of drinks. No...the fruit or juice does not counter act the fact that these are not good for you.

How many of you drink the sport drinks like Red Bull? I've tried them before but I can't say I drink them really. I didn't like the effect it had on me.

Most taste like a punch. The bad thing is they are 110 empty calories which means there is no real value to your body. Plus they are loaded with caffeine which is not good for your heart. The flavor comes mostly from sugar.

So are these worth it to drink while you are trying to get healthy and/or lose weight? My thoughts would be no. You could find much better things to drink. But, if you like them then by all means enjoy them.

Just please be careful and don't have to many of these.

Now I know most of you are coffee drinkers! I'm one of the rare people who never did like coffee. Nope, not even the fancy ones from places like Starbucks.

Everyone knows there is caffeine in coffee. In fact, that's why most people drink it. To get a little pick me up.

But, did you know that some of the fancy coffee drinks can have up to 500 or more calories! Wow! That's a whole meals worth of calories.

Plus, other then the pick me up, you are not really getting anything good for your body when you drink a cup of coffee.

If you must have your coffee try to have it black or with just a touch of milk in there. Also, limit your intake to only a cup or two a day.

Fruit and vegetable juices are not only good tasting but are also good for you.

If you don't eat enough fruits or vegetables then juice may be a wonderful way for you to get your daily requirements in.

An 8 oz glass of juice has about 100 calories for juices such as orange, apple or grapefruit. It can have up to 170 for juices like grape or prune.

Since you don't get all the fiber and vitamins in your juice, like you would if you ate the actual fruit or vegetable, it's recommend that you only substitute up to two of your fruit or vegetable servings with fruit a day.

OK, here is my down fall. Diet sodas. These drinks are really not good for you at all. They are loaded with chemicals and caffeine. Nothing else really.

So I'm going to ask you to do as say and not what I do here. Don't drink diet sodas!

If you must then at least cut down how many you have. Try to not have more then one a day.

So is non diet sodas better for you? Well, that depends on who you talk to. It also has chemicals and empty calories of around 150 per serving. The calories come from the sugar.

So, it's still a debate. Is real or diet soda better for you.

To play it safe we should cut all sodas out of our diet. Yet, for most people, that won't happen.

I'm going to leave this one up to you. You can decide if you want a real or diet soda but again, try to cut down the amount you drink and don't have more then one a day. We have already talked about mixed alcohol drinks. But what about wine?

Studies have shown that a glass of red wine a day is good for your heart. However, since one can be good that does not mean that more would be better.

Wine has 120-270 calories per 6 oz serving.

If it's worth it to you to use those calories then by all means, have a glass. Just remember that one glass of wine a day will add up to 3360-7560 calories per month.

It is only 3500 calories to either gain or lose a pound. So is it worth it to you to have that glass of wine? You could be losing 1-2 pounds a month just by not having your glass of wine a day.

Same goes for a 1 oz shot of straight alcohol. You will have 90-110 calories of empty calories per shot.

Is it worth it to you? Maybe, but not to me. I would rather eat something for those calories.

Beer will give you 150 calories for a 12 oz glass. Again, the diuretic effect comes into play here. Plus you are more likely to eat as your will power seems to go out the door with the more beers you have.

I believe beer is another drink to stay away from while trying to lose weight or get healthy. Some people prefer to switch to low calorie beer.

Tea seems to be a pretty good choice of drink. It's low in calorie and while it does have some caffeine it's no where near the amount as in coffee.

You can always have herbal tea which comes in a variety of flavors and has no caffeine.

Of course, water is the best thing for you to drink. It's what our bodies are made up of and what we need to replace in order to be in the best health possible.

No calories, no caffeine just pure water. If you don't like water because it taste so bland then add a slice of lemon, orange or cucumber to it.

So before you drink something, think about it. Are you drinking the best thing for you. Is it worth the calories? Is there a better choice for you?

I'm not here to tell you to drink or not drink something. That's up to each of you. Life is about choices. The better choices we make when it comes to what we put into our bodies the more we can look at our self in the mirror and say "now that's A BETTER ME".

If there is a topic you would like to have me discuss for next weeks A BETTER ME please let me know. I'm open for any and all sugestions.