A Fat Sip

You may be piling on calories while you quench your thirst. Read on to know what to drink this summer to stay fit

You may be piling on calories while you quench your thirst. Read on to know what to drink this summer to stay fit
When the summer heat gets unbearable,the first thing you reach for is a cola can or,if you are health-conscious,orange juice in a tetrapack. And as most of Indians cant do without chai,cold tea seems an option too. Does it make health sense? Yes,youd say. After all,its less fattening than the hot fudge or the warm gulab jamuns you have been gorging on all winter. A quick check proves that you are wrong. If an equivalent amount of calories is being consumed through,say,a gulab jamun and a can of cola,then the latter is worse because it doesnt fill you up and leaves you hungry enough to consume a full next meal. A gulab jamun is undoubtedly unhealthy but it fills you enough to limit your intake in the next meal, says Dr Honey Khanna,dietician,Max Healthcare,New Delhi.

An effective yet less demanding way of shedding the flab is by cutting out sweetened beverages from your diet. Such drinks have no nutritional value and pump more liquid calories into your system,without making you feel full. When Purdue University researchers had people consume 450 calories a day from either jelly beans or soft drinks for four weeks,the soda drinkers consumed 17 per cent more calories a day.

It was a study done in 2000 but has been reinforced by many others. For example,researchers at the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health have conducted a study published in this months issue of The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition on 810 adults who wished to reduce their overall calorie intake over an 18-month period. Those who reduced their liquid calories lost more weight than those who didnt. Reducing liquid calories by a serving a day was linked to a half-a-kilogram loss of weight after six months. Thats not much,but for every 100 solid food calories a day that people cut,they lost an average of 0.06 kg. And for every 100 liquid calories they cut per day,they lost an average of 0.3 kg.
Researchers divided beverages into sugar-sweetened drinks,diet drinks,milk whole milk,low-fat milk and skimmed milk,100 per cent fruit/vegetable juice,coffee and tea with/without sugar and alcoholic beverages. They found that only sugar-sweetened soft drinks made a significant difference to weight loss.

But doctors say any liquid calorie has no satiety,be it sweetened or otherwise. A juice made from four to five oranges will keep you feeling hungry for your next meal. But eating four to five oranges kills your appetite, says Dr Khanna. She recommends a diet that excludes sweetened beverages. They have no nutritional value and removing them completely from the diet doesnt put you at nutritional risk, says Dr Khanna.

So,how do we quench our thirst in a healthy way? Dr Parmeet Kaur,chief dietician with the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences,New Delhi,says our body needs 2.5 litres of liquid every day and loses,on an average,1.5 litres daily through urine and sweating. To make up for the loss of electrolytes,Dr Kaur lists the best summer drinks:

Water: This is the best zero-caloric cooler ever.
Coconut water: With just 20 calories per 100 ml,this is an excellent source of potassium which promotes rehydration.
Lime water: Having 200 ml of zero-cal lime water is a good source of potassium and electrolytes.

Aam ka panna and beal sherbet: Rich in electrolytes which are required for normal movement of body parts and proper brain functioning.
Curd: Helps you cool,but make sure it is only from low-fat milk.
Sugarless Fruit or herbal teas: Best option for those who love tea,but if you are a stickler for masala chai,have it in moderation.