Here's a question for you: What on earth does water have to do with weight loss?
Actually, probably a lot more than you previously imagined. While we're on the subject, you might not even know as much about diet sodas and other artificially sweetened drinks as you think.
Read on......
Did you know that some studies have shown that your brain cannot distinguish between hunger and thirst?
Sometimes when your body is telling you that you are thirsty, your brain may be hearing that you are hungry. So what do you
do? You put food in your mouth when a glass of water might have been sufficient. Most food has calories, most water
doesn't. Simple equation. 'Nuff said on that topic.
By the way, ever wake up in the middle of the night and crave a snack? Nine times out of ten, a glass of water will do the trick. I know, I didn't believe it either until I tried it. It really works!
 Within your body, tissue, muscle, cells, even blood are all comprised
to a large per cent of water. When your brain starts getting
signals that water is needed...well, remember the confusion factor
mentioned above? We eat something instead of giving our body
what it really craves and needs! Your entire body works much
better, by the way, when the fluid levels are kept up where they need
to be.
BUT I DRINK LOTS OF LIQUID AND STILL GAIN WEIGHT!
Sure you do, but what KIND of liquid. I won't even talk about
sodas, coffee, or tea sweetened with sugar. I'm going to
assume that you already know that sugar is not the way to go if you
want to lose weight, but what about the artificially sweetened drinks?
Did you know...
ARTIFICIAL SWEETENERS CAN CAUSE YOU TO GAIN WEIGHT?
Some studies have shown that using artificial sweeteners can contribute to weight gain in at least two ways.
First, there is the confusion factor. When you use artificial
sweeteners, you, and your brain, become confused about the calorie
content of the food you eat. You may actually find yourself
eating more in an effort to satisfy an internal urge or interpretation,
and this urge may be related to the assumed "fact" that the sweet soda
you just drank didn't have that many calories, so neither does this
cinnamon roll. Actually, before artificial sweeteners, our
bodies and brains were pretty good at relating calorie content to food
based on the sweetness.
A WORD FOR PARENTS!
Our bodies' understanding of "sweetness" and the development of the
internal calorie estimating apparatus mentioned above apparently occurs
in childhood. Early use of artificial sweeteners could cause
the grown-up years later to ingest more of sweet foods than they
should.
The second way in which artificial sweeteners may contribute to weight gain is what could be called...
THE SUGAR TRAP!
Your body is a complicated device which has developed a huge number of
inter-related, synergistic, stimulus sensing and automatic response
mechanisms. It has learned to begin things happening inside
when something sweet is detected. The digestive system is
prepared to receive a certain type of fuel...which it
welcomes! When you ingest food or drink which has been
artificially sweetened, all your little hormones, glands, cells, and
systems begin asking, "What's going on?" Like prisoners in an
old movie, they start rattling their tin cups and yelling out, "FEED
ME!" Oh yeah, that was the plant in "Little Shop Of Horrors",
wasn't it?
Anyway, your internal messengers are now not very happy, nor will they
be until you send down some calories for them to munch on.
See the trap? It reminds me of when I managed a restaurant
when people would order a salad and diet drink and then smother the
salad in high-calorie, high-fat dressing and have ice cream for
dessert. Get the picture.
WAIT! IT MIGHT EVEN BE WORSE!
Artificial sweeteners are much sweeter than ordinary sugar, and that's
why you can sweeten a cup of coffee with one little white
pill. However, there are some studies which indicate that
artificial sweeteners become somewhat addictive. If that
isn't bad enough, this brings us to one of the most popular drugs in America...
CAFFEINE
Even though a lot of people who want to lose weight are drinking
artificially sweetened drinks, a lot of these drinks - coffee, tea,
sodas - contain caffeine. Caffeine is a diuretic.
It dehydrates you, causing your body to lose water. Remember,
water = good. When you are dehydrated, low on internal
liquid, your metabolism slows down. This means your body gets
by on fewer calories and stores the rest as fat. Think it
through: You get dehydrated, you get thirsty. You
just drank a cup of tea, coffee, or soda, so you can't be thirsty, can
you? Since your brain can't really tell the difference
between hunger and thirst signals, it tells you to eat something when
all that's really going on is that you need a drink of water.
SO WHAT CAN YOU DO?
1. Substitute water for most of the other stuff you're
drinking.
2. "Buy" your artificially sweetened drinks. My wife came up with this idea on her own, but I have seen it used in other contexts as well. If you drink an artificially sweetened drink and/or one with caffeine, buy it back with at least an equivalent sized drink of water. Eight ounces of coffee? Follow it with eight ounces of water.
3. Is water boring for you? Then try flavoring your water with lemon or something else. Use herbal teas that have
their own flavor and might not even need to be sweetened.
4. Include soups and juices in your diet. These are high liquid content. Just be aware that while nutritionally
better for you than diet drinks or drinks with caffeine, they DO contain calories.
5. Can't do without sweetened drinks? Try stevia. This is a natural food additive available online and
at most health food stores. While it has a sweetening effect, the FDA does not allow it to be called or marketed as a
sweetener. Due to its chemical makeup, it does not seem to produce the cravings for more food as do other non-sugar
sweeteners. I read that in a book, but I tried Stevia and that's how it worked for me. I was drinking four to eight
cups of coffee sweetened with artificial sweeteners a day, and munching tons of snacks as I drank the coffee! I started using stevia,
and the desire for constant snacking went away. I will warn you, while technically VERY sweet, it does have an acquired
taste. I figure if I could get used to it, anybody could. It's the only sweetener in our house now.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Donovan Baldwin is a 69 year-old bodybuilder, freelance writer,
certified optician, and Internet marketer currently living in the
Atlanta, Gerogia area. A University Of West Florida alumnus (1973) with
a BA in accounting, he has been a member of Mensa and has held several
managerial and supervisory positions throughout his career. After
retiring from the U. S. Army in 1995, with 21 years of service, he
became interested in Internet marketing and developed various online
businesses. He has been writing poetry, articles, and essays for over
40 years, and now frequently publishes original articles on his own
websites and for use by other webmasters.
He has an online store of various health products which can be found at http://nodiet4me.com/health_products/.
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Web Page Copyright 2022 by Donovan Baldwin
Diet Sodas and Weight Loss
Page Updated 10:04 AM Tuesday, August 16, 2022
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