LL made a great point: Don't buy it or bring it home if you shouldn't eat it. Especially since no one else should be learning to eat it, either.
Today I would like to offer the first of several tips learned from reliable sources (doctors, trainers, dietitians, independent research reviewers).
Don't Drink Calories
Soda, punch, lemonade, sunny delight, sport drinks and even real fruit juices are very calorie dense. With the exception of fruit juice, there is very little real nutrition in them. When I decided to cut out just the soft drinks a few years ago, I lost several pounds even though I hadn't made any other changes in my diet yet. An added benefit of eliminating these beverages from your diet is the reduction of high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) in your diet. Regardless of what the HFCS producers' ads say, it isn't just the same as sugar. We should reduce the amount of sugar in our diets, too.
There are a couple of exceptions to this rule:
1. milk- skim is best (look for brands without added milk solids-aka powdered milk) and if you just can't do skim, stick with 1% milk.
2. vegetable juices such as V8 or tomato. Keep it to no more than 11 oz. per day because of the sodium.
3. one (yes- only one!) 4-6 oz serving of 100% fruit juice, if you just can't give it up. If you are trying to lose weight instead of just eating better, then you should give up juice for a while.
And on a sad note: new research suggests that regular use of artificial sweeteners can actually contribute to weight gain. The theory as to why this occurs- the sweet taste keeps your "sweet tooth" active and stimulates cravings.
So in a nutshell, think about your liquid calories; make them minimally processed or refined and nutrient dense. If there is one healthy habit you can give your kids, this is it!
Mom commented earlier about not buying junk for other people. I always get something "for the kids" when really I know it is for me, but I feel like if it is for them too then I'm somehow justified eating junk. Since Mom's comment I've stopped buying them treats. They still end up with plenty of junk (still finishing their Christmas candy, little by little, they get a sucker in nursery sometimes, haircut suckers....still plenty of junk in their world.)
ReplyDeleteI'm trying not to drink calories anymore, although I've started to have a glass of juice with dinner or breakfast since I stopped eating junk. I didn't used to do that, but now get my sweet fix that way. In moderation. And the boys used to drink a milk when they got up, after resting time, and before bed, and then juice or water with meals and snacks. Now they drink milk during meals and then water most of the time with a small cup of juice a couple of times a week. I like things better this way. They eat a better breakfast earlier in the day now and don't pee the bed as often. :-) And we save money by not buying so much juice!
Another bad thing about drinks (soft drinks especially) is that they have tons of sodium - soda has lots of other crap besides HFCS in it that you shouldn't get so much of. I'm feeling good about cutting out the root beers. A little sad, but good.
Ah, one more thing. Carbonated drinks can cause UTIs. Learned that (the hard way!) after Mauri was born and I was drinking tons of soda for awhile.