Often the easier way to approach weight loss is to add – not remove. Start exercising (even a walk a day will do it); add healthy fruits, vegetables and whole grains; drink more water … Eventually, by starting these healthy habits, you begin to shift the less-than-good-for-you things you have done and eaten. However, there is a drink to consider cutting out your diet immediately when you commit to losing weight, which it is the drink most closely linked to weight gain in America: soft drinks.
According to a study published in the journal BMC Public Health, 20% of the total calories you consume in a day come entirely from beverages. For the average person who consumes 2,000 calories a day, about 400 calories are added to your diet from beverages alone. So what exactly are the 400 calories? The BMC The study showed that it was a combination of coffee and tea (with the supplements), energy drinks, fruit juices and beverages, milk and alcohol. But these energy-dense drinks pale in comparison to the drink that binds to contribute the most calories to your diet: soda.
The study showed that soft drinks anywhere between 35 and 141 calories contributed to your diet per day, depending on your age.
It should come as no surprise that soda is linked to weight gain, as it contains about 150 calories per can.
Speaking of which, these calories are completely empty and come entirely from sugar. In fact, a can of soda anywhere contains between 35 and 61 grams of sugar per can! (Related: 30 worst sodas that are never worth drinking.)
The average American adult consumes 13 pounds of sugar exclusively from soft drinks each year. And studies shows that consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages such as soft drinks contributes to weight gain in both adults and children. This is especially the case because many soft drinks contain corn syrup with high fructose. Your body can only process the fructose from this sweetener through the liver, and it cannot use fructose for energy as it can with glucose. This contributes to even more weight gain along with metabolic disorder and impaired glucose tolerance.
Over the years, dozens of studies has linked soft drink consumption to weight gain. And it’s getting worse International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity The study showed that although participants retrained their consumption of soft drinks, they still increased. In other words, exercise will not help you ward off the weight gain associated with drinking water.
Soda is not only linked to weight gain, it also has a terrible effect on your overall health, as the drink has been linked to type 2 diabetes, heart complications, depression, liver disease and the risk of premature death.
Because reducing calories – all calories from any food or drink – will help you lose weight, you do not have to rely on removing soda from your diet alone to lose weight. This is especially true because fewer and fewer Americans drink soft drinks regularly (45.8% of US residents Examined in a recent study reported that you do not consume any soft drinks at all.) But if you are a soft drink drinker, you should seriously consider cutting back on your habit. Replace your fizzy drink with water, or try one of these 25 healthy, low-sugar reading options.
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