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A Nutritionist’s Tips to Save Calories with Smarter Drink Choices

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A Nutritionist’s Tips to Save Calories with Smarter Drink Choices

What you drink makes a bigger difference than you think, especially when you’re trying to manage your weight. Research shows that many Americans get more than 200 calories a day from beverages alone. That translates to 20 pounds of weight per year! Also, there’s strong evidence that liquid calories don’t fill you up like calories from food.

Let’s say you have a 16 oz. caffinated‚ mocha with breakfast (260 calories), a 20 oz. bottle of soda with lunch (240 calories), and a beer after work (150 calories). You have drunk a whopping 650 liquid calories in one day. That’s the equivalent of eating a Whopper from Burger King!

You don’t have to sacrifice your morning cup of coffee or occasional happy hour drink to be healthy. You can retrain your palate as you reduce or eliminate sugar in drinks. Give yourself a few weeks and you’ll lose your taste for all the mega-sweet stuff.

This summer, start making some smart swaps for huge savings. Cooper Clinic Registered Dietitian Elana Paddock, RD, LD, CDE, offers some ideas:

  1. Coffee: Avoid making black coffee a minefield of sugar and fat. Replace heavy cream, sugary flavored syrups and whipped toppings with a splash of skim milk and artificial sweetener. For a thicker consistency, try soy milk or fat free half and half. If you prefer a bit more flavor pizzazz, try a few pumps of sugar-free vanilla or hazelnut syrup. Enjoy iced coffee dressed with the “lighter” stuff as a delicious summer drink.

  2. Tea: If it’s tea, it must be healthy, right? Not, if you’re guzzling down sugar-loaded specialty tea drinks. Try unsweetened black or green tea with or without artificial sweetener or look for sugar-free specialty teas that come in a variety of flavors.

  3. Juice: If you’re not careful, juice can be as packed in calories as soft drinks. There are some redeeming qualities in 100 percent juices with no added sugar, however it’s preferable to bite into a piece of fruit for more in fiber and far fewer calories. Trade up an 8 ounce glass of 100 percent apple juice with 110 calories and zero grams of fiber for a small apple with 77 calories and 3 ½ grams of fiber. If you really have to have the juice, try a splash in a tall glass of water to quench your thirst.

  4. Alcohol: Alcohol is double trouble for the calorie conscious since it can boost your appetite and add extra calories. An 8 ounce cosmopolitan cocktail or margarita top out at more than 350 calories! Your “better” bets are: light beer at 100 calories for a 12 ounce bottle; a shot (1 ½ ounces) of hard liquor at 100 calories mixed with zero calorie diet soda; a small (5 ounce) glass of wine (120-150 calories); or a 6 ounce wine spritzer at just under 100 calories. Tip for cocktails: use a smaller, skinnier glass so it looks like you’re getting a more voluminous drink.

  5. Water: Water is very refreshing, especially during the hot summer months. Drinking two glasses of water before a meal may even help you feel full more quickly, so you don’t eat as much. Skip the designer sugar-laden waters. But, if you find plain water a bit boring, get creative by whipping up your own spa infused water.

For more information on Cooper Clinic Nutrition Services, click here or call 792.560.2655.