If you want to shed a few pounds, water can be your new best friend. I myself consider it the best beverage for losing weight. It is not only fat and calorie-free, it can also help you eat less. Here’s how:
• You’ll feel full if you drink water or have a bowl of broth-based soup before a meal. Water takes up space in your stomach that you would otherwise fill with food.
• According to the book, Fight Fat, Secrets to Successful Weight Loss by Alisa Bauman and the editors of Prevention Health Books for Women, drinking enough water helps your body operate under optimal conditions and may help you perform at peak metabolism. This means you may be better able to burn fat. Drinking ice water burns a few more calories because the body heats the water to its own temperature.
• If your hands and mouth are busy, you’re less likely to eat. During parties, if people are stuffing themselves at the buffet table, you can sip water and not eat first. Then when you do eat, you won’t eat as much because your stomach is already full.
Like other caffeinated beverages, coffee makes you feel hungrier and thirstier.
Coffee may be harmful to weight-loss efforts because of what is added to it. A plain cup of coffee has between five and 15 calories depending on the brew, and no fat.
Irish coffee has more calories than a slice of chocolate cream pie.
Here are some suggestions you may want to consider when you drink coffee:
• Drink no more than two cups of coffee a day. When people drink too much coffee, they sometimes feel they need to eat something to "settle" their stomach. If you are one of them, two cups a day may be what is ideal for you. Moderation in anything is best.
• Replace whole milk with skimmed milk. Instead of adding whole milk, cream, or half-and-half to your coffee, try skimmed or law-fat milk. Doing so will save you about seven to 11 grams of fat.
• Try flavored beans. Using fruit, vanilla or dessert flavored coffee may be a good way to get added flavor without calories or fat.
• Spice it up. For great taste without added calories or fat, dust your coffee with cinnamon.
• Many of us, including myself, take coffee with something else like, say, an oatmeal cookie or a sandwich. Some opt for something more fattening like a doughnut or a rich chocolate cake. It is okay to have your coffee and eat something along with it, but it need not be something so rich or fattening all the time. You have other options. Instead of a pie you would normally eat, you may try Graham crackers or whole wheat crackers. Instead of a cake with a lot of icing, you may want to try a piece of banana cake.
You may also add cinnamon to your coffee and think of it as dessert so you’ll feel satisfied.
It’s about the choices we make for we have many. Once in a while a slice of chocolate cake is all right, but maybe not every time you have a cup of coffee. Challenge your taste buds. Try something else, perhaps something less sweet. Drink coffee and read a good book. Coffee is nice with a good conversation with a friend. The choice is yours.
Just remember that the healthier choices are the better ones.
Make the healthier choice and empower yourself!
(E-mail me at babyjackster@hotmail.com)