Are you drinking too many Calories?
Photo courtesy of Dmitry Kichenko and jesiehart
When losing weight, a popular method of tracking food intake is counting calories.
However, many people forget to include the various beverages they drink during the day for their total calories consumed, which can add up to hundreds to potentially thousands of calories, into a daily caloric consumption.
Let’s measure the calorie impact of two popular beverages…………….:)
Take a look at these two nutritional charts. The left one is a standard 8 fl oz glass of apple juice and the right is an apple, in its raw state.
How much sugar does the juice contain? How many calories are in this small glass? How many calories are in the whole apple?
Not including the additional benefits of eating fresh fruit, the apple, based on the Nutritional Facts alone, is much more beneficial.
Nutrition data provided by US Apple Association
As an example, if you’re trying to stick to a 1,200 calorie a day eating plan, for a single serving or apple juice you would consume 10% of your daily allotted calories in a single glass of apple juice.
This is only one example as most fruit juices will result in the same number of calories.
What about alcoholic beverages?
Surprisingly beer and wine are not required to have a nutrition label. In fact, the industry has strongly resisted any legislative efforts to change that, so I don’t have an example of a nutrition label for wine. However, I do have some of their nutritional facts.
Before I mention the nutritional data, I would like to share with you the Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2005 Key Recommendations for the consumption of alcohol:
KEY RECOMMENDATIONS
- Those who choose to drink alcoholic beverages should do so sensibly and in moderation—defined as the consumption of up to one drink per day for women and up to two drinks per day for men.
- Alcoholic beverages should not be consumed by some individuals, including those who cannot restrict their alcohol intake, women of childbearing age who may become pregnant, pregnant and lactating women, children and adolescents, individuals taking medications that can interact with alcohol, and those with specific medical conditions.
- Alcoholic beverages should be avoided by individuals engaging in activities that require attention, skill, or coordination, such as driving or operating machinery.
Of course, the legal age for drinking alcoholic beverages is 21 in every state.
In regards to calories, on average, both wine and beer contain more that 150 calories per 12oz glass.
To make an educated decision about the value of the calories in wine, you need a bit more information:
1. In 1992 Harvard researchers included moderate alcohol consumption as one of the "eight proven ways to reduce coronary heart disease risk."
2. Research has also suggested that specifically red wine is the most beneficial to your heart health. The cardioprotective effect has been attributed to antioxidants present in the skin and seeds of red grapes.
Scientists believe the antioxidants, called flavonoids, reduce the risk of coronary heart disease in three ways:
- a. by reducing production of low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol (also know as the "bad" cholesterol)
- b. by boosting high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol (the good cholesterol)
- c. by reducing blood clotting. Furthermore, consuming a glass of wine along with a meal may favorably influence your lipid profiles following that meal
- Source: Yale-New Haven Hospital
So now have some facts about fruit juice, beer, and wine.
Are you including too many drinks in your daily eating plan? Is your weight loss effort being unconsciously sabotaged by the over consumption of beverages?
In the upcoming weeks, I’ll be posting about the nutritional aspects of some other beverages--like soda, water, and “power” drinks--because
After all, it’s about a healthy lifestyle!
24 Comments
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Comment by Metroknow on April 28, 2008 at 11:40am - Juice is one of my big constant battles for two reasons: 1) The caloric intake or course, and 2) It definitely triggers my cravings for sweet things. When juice is in the house, I want it, and find myself essentially "snacking" on it all day, little by little.
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Comment by MamaMaven on April 28, 2008 at 1:36pm
- When I had gestational diabetes the endocrinologist told me to think of fruit juice as partially digested fruit--that image pretty much cured me of drinking juice, its been 7 years and I can count the fruit juice I've had on one hand.
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Comment by Metroknow on April 28, 2008 at 2:42pm
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@Eve: First we get a photo of the leavings of a dog on another post here on IowaAve, and now a visual of partially digested fruit. Boy, you would think that people assume that we can all be adults about this stuff! :)
@Christine: What is the "sniffer debacle"?
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Comment by David on April 28, 2008 at 5:07pm - The amount of calories in alcoholic beverages are enormous. Besides the other cost/benefit of drinking, people really need to be careful in what, how much and often they imbibe.
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Comment by Lisa Newton on April 28, 2008 at 10:03pm -
@MamaMaven I can see where labeling fruit juice as "partially digested fruit" would cause you to think twice about consuming it. Personally, I only drink two kinds of juice, cranberry (BTW, if you haven't tried the new 5 calorie kind by Ocean Spray, you're missing out), and REAL apple cider.
LOL@Metroknow Personally, I loved the freedom to be able to post a picture of dog droppings. It's a problem, especially for walker like me, and it felt very good to be able to say something. I think that's adult behavior........................:)
I'm sorry you can't enjoy all the different smells of food, especially cantaloupe. Does this also work with high fat foods like bacon? Now, that might be a perk.................:)
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Comment by Cynthia on April 29, 2008 at 8:15am - I don't bother with fruit juice... it's too easy to overdo on serving size. Whole fruit is better and more satisfying. In the fridge now are red grapes, watermelon, tangelos and Fuji apples.
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Comment by Carol on May 2, 2008 at 10:14am - I got the shock of my life when I realized how many grams of fat I was putting into my coffee. I figured since coffee was my only vice, plus it's just a drink, that it would be alright. But I use a LOT of cream. Anyway, I figured out how many grams of fat I was drinking per day from half n'half and it was 60 grams! I try not to go over 30 grams of fat per day and I was doing DOUBLE just by my coffee! So now I'm on fat free half n' half.
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Comment by Lisa Newton on May 2, 2008 at 7:28pm
- I really don't think people realize how all of these small changes make such a big difference. It's amazing. BTW, Carol, does your coffee taste different? Do you miss the high fat cream?
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Comment by Carol on May 2, 2008 at 8:59pm
- Yes it tastes different. It's vile!!!! But I have to have my coffee. It's been a couple of months that I've been drinking it and it isn't getting any easier. Yes I miss my full fat half n' half immensely. But I'll deal with it if it means 60 grams less of fat.
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Comment by Metroknow on May 2, 2008 at 10:18pm
- You might also do some reading on the new information on Fat - that it actually isn't as bad as it has been portrayed. Calories are one thing, but fats in and of themselves are not actually the enemy. . .Reason I say this is, well, I LOVE my half and half too! :)
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