Sugary drinks are a big ‘No No’ if you’re on a health kick and trying to get in shape for summer.
If you want to lose weight or lean up then you’re going to have to knock things like fizzy drinks, fruit juice and energy drinks on the head.
They have little or no nutritional value, they’re packed with empty calories and the high fructose sugar content will send your blood sugar haywire, make you crave more sugar and probably make you put on weight and body fat if you’re over-doing them.
So what about ‘diet’ or ‘sugar-free’ drinks then?
While Diet Coke, for example, has zero calories and zero sugar, it’s still a grey area in diet and nutrition terms.
There’s a lot of ‘information’ about on the internet that says they’re even worse than the ‘full fat’ fizzy drinks, so to speak, because of sweeteners, additives and chemicals.
This infographic has been doing the rounds – making all sorts of claims about Diet Coke ‘causing cancer’ and ‘switching fat storing mode on’, which have now pretty clearly been debunked.
https://twitter.com/SpireHull1/status/682174298765697024
FoodForFitness are one of many to pull together research that shows that diet fizzy drinks might not be so bad.
Sports nutritionist Scott Baptie pulled this infographic together with some of the key arguments that debunk some of the ‘facts’ around the issue…
https://twitter.com/ScottBaptie/status/732223383786692608
The bottom line is that Diet Coke is never going to be the healthiest of drinks. But it’s certainly not the worst offender compared to drinks with high sugar and calorie content.
But the best advice is: if you want something that’s good for your skin, speeds up your metabolism, aids brain function and hydrates and properly satiates you, then just drink water.
