Delectable drinks while dieting

Looking to shed those extra kilos without compromising on taste? Here’s how you can get the right mix of nutrition and flavour 

Are you trying to watch your weight and keep it within permissible limits? In other words, are trying to slim down? There are some who sincerely believe that substituting drinks for food can bring about weight loss. But the truth of the matter is that not all of them help in weight loss.

Cutting down on your intake of fizzy, sugary colas and sodas will be helpful, no doubt. But many don’t realise just how many calories they consume each day with their seemingly harmless quota of tea and coffee. Even a spoonful of sugar with each cup increases calorie intake, and if you think that using sugar-free tablets in place of sugar makes it permissible, you’d better know that taking too much of aspartame is not good for your health either.

When you go out shopping, you might opt for a mocha instead of a burger. Did you know that a coffee mocha, with its usual trappings, could be well over 500 calories? If you really want to stick to a healthy diet, you should learn to differentiate between what considered to be “junk drinks” and what’s considered to be “healthy”. Here are a few that could help you reach your weight loss goals.

Many aren’t aware that vegetable juice is as nutritious as fruit juice and that it has only half the calories of the latter. Besides, while fruit juice does not contain fibre, most vegetable juices are rich in fibre. Fibre is not only good for health but also makes one feel full — which means, it reduced the amount of food intake.

DIY recipes

Fruit juice made at home is healthy as it does not contain sugar or preservatives. Commercial fruit juices have (no matter what the advertisements claim!). So, do have all those oranges and lemons and include as much pulp as you can when extracting juice as it is good for you. If you must have it sweet, you could add a dash of honey but never white sugar.

Fruit smoothies are said to be healthy too. Make your own fruit smoothies using your favourite fruits and a little milk (skimmed, if possible). Again, if you wish to sweeten it a little, add honey. Or else sweeten it by adding some sweet fruit – pieces of chikoo, mangoes, grapes or dates. Fruit smoothies sold in shops come with loads of sugar and cream and are high in calories.

Black coffee hardly has calories and is therefore, another healthy drink. It is rich in antioxidants and is said to be helpful for those dealing with sugar problems.
But it is best to limit it to two-three cups a day.

Green tea is another healthy drink that contains antioxidants and helps boost your metabolism, and thereby speed up the body’s fat-burning mechanism.

Low-fat, skimmed milk is yet another option that is rich in calcium. But you should limit your consumption to just two glasses a day and not more.  Buttermilk and low-fat yoghurt drinks are both tasty and healthy and you could have them in various ways. A favourite drink during summer, make the most of the salted lassi rather than its sweet version as the latter is loaded with calories.

Coconut water is yet another delicious health drink that contains more electrolytes than most fruit juices and artificial energy drinks. It speeds up your metabolism and gives you more energy to workout longer.

And the last one is plain, lukewarm water which helps keep you keep fit and lose weight if you drink at least eight glasses a day.

Now, did you know that you can burn an extra 250-500 calories a day if you drink the water ice-cold? This is because your body has to burn extra calories to convert ice-cold water to normal body temperature.