Healthy Beverage Ideas
Changing my lifestyle (and losing weight) had more to do with changing the liquids I put into my body than any other single factor. You'll hear this from me time and again - for me, weight loss was due to major changes in my beverage consumption. Here's six ideas to get you thinking about healthy beverage choices. Hopefully you can use these ideas as inspiration for your own new healthy habits.
1. Replace Coffee with Green Tea
People who live in countries where green tea is a staple food tend to be healthier. It's been proven in multiple peer-reviwed studies that green tea is a health super-food. Coffee, on the other hand, is considered an intestinal poison by some health experts, like Dr. Andrew Weil (the American guru of healthy eating and living) and the caffeine buzz from coffee just isn't worth it to me. I've found that a hot mug of decaffeinated green tea wakes me up just as well as a cup of joe, and I think green tea played a huge part in my initial weight loss, especially considering how much sugar I used to dump in my morning coffee.
2. Cut Back on Beer
This thought came to me while I was looking around at other sites and blogs for inspiration for my first venture into blogging. I came across a great blog called The King of Beers that did one thing really really well. Rather than focusing on a single topic, the writer has a shotgun approach, posting about any and everything he finds interesting. But that's not the lesson I really learned - something about the site, the name of it, and his frequent comments on beer inspired me to run and check out the calorie counts on my favoritre bew. I'm pretty sure I passed out (kidding, kidding) and when I finally came to, I decided that beer was going to kill any weight loss progress I made. You may be shocked to discover how bad even one or two beers a day can be, calorie-wise. So cut back! Not only will you lose weight, you'll probably feel better in general.
3. Reward Yourself for Drinking H2O
If you've done any research at all into healthy eating and a healthy lifestyle, you've heard it time and again - drinking pure water is vital to maintaining a healthy weight, keeping yourself hydrated during exercise, and can even improve the look of your skin. I struggled a little with drinking my doctor's recommended amount of water (as you've no doubt heard me say before on this blog), and the best trick I can offer anyone is the good old reward system. When I drink my 8 cups of water a day (or at least come close to it), I reward myself with a small cup of frozen yogurt. The immediate effect was to sort of trick my brain into WANTING to drink water. Now, I've gotten so used to my trusty tub of water that I bring to work, I can honestly say that I prefer a tall glass of ice-cold water more than a caffeinated or high-calorie soda.
4. Give Up the Energy Drinks
I can't stress this enough . . . commercially-prepared energy drinks can easily screw up even the best diet. I was as big a Red Bull junkie as anyone else, and the sugar content was destroying my ability to keep my weight down. Giving up the energy drinks was crucial to jumpstarting my new healthy lifestyle. Instead of grabbing that high-sugar energy drink, you may be surprised to find out how much of a boost you can get from a twenty minute cat nap or a quick walk around the block. I'm proud to say I haven't bought any sort of energy drink for well over a year.
5. Add Sparkling Water to Your Grocery List
If you are struggling with sodas or just afraid that you will have bad soda cravings, sparkling water can help you make the transition from sodas to water. I'm not sure what it is about water with bubbles in it (maybe it's just the similarity between sparkling water and carbonated sodas) but I've seen friends totally give up their diet drink habit by switching first to tonic water or some other sparkly beverage.
6. Take a Day Off
I'm sure I'm starting to sound like a broken record, but I think giving yourself a break every now and then is the best way to keep motivated. If you follow your new diet (including changes to food, liquid, and exercise) for six days in a row, take the seventh day off. Drink a soda or two, maybe have a beer if you want it, and reward yourself with otherwise forbidden beverages. One day out of the week won't make a big impact on your overall weight loss, and as I've said a million times before, rewarding yourself keeps you in the game and can really lift your spirits, especially when you're struggling with the scale.
