Only drink the calories you love - learn to love water

The EAT Better Strategy:

1. Build your meals around a healthy protein package
2. Load up on veggies, fruits, legume, and whole grains
3. Balance your meals with healthy fats
4. Avoid ultra-processed foods
5. Only drink the calories you love - learn to love water
6. Stop eating when you are 80% full
7. Go 12 hours without eating

Putting It All Together
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Your body has a complex system to alert you to eat when hungry and stop you from consuming too much,

Drinking beverages with calories bypasses this control and leads to over-consumption, excess calories and energy overload.

In other words, drinking your calories makes it more likely you will get fat.

Substituting water for calorie-laden drinks not only eliminates the extra calories, studies show Increasing your intake of water can contribute to weight loss via two mechanisms:

1. Decreased feeding - replacing liquid calories with water leads to a decrease in overall caloric consumption.  Being fully hydrated leads to early satiation, that feeling of fullness that decreases your appetite.  Many people do not adequately distinguish between hunger and thirst and eat when thirsty.
2. Increased fat burning - though not completely understood, many animal and human studies show that increased hydration can increase your metabolism by expanding cell volume, fat breakdown, and energy expenditure.

Of course, water does so much more - it is vital for virtually all body processes, including digestion, energy metabolism, blood pressure regulation, immunity, muscle and bone function. 

Getting enough water should be simple - drink when you are thirsty.  Many fail to heed their thirst and forget to drink, becoming chronically, mildly dehydrated and prone to weight gain.

So if you cannot remember to drink, let your urine be your guide.  Drink to maintain your pee at a light yellow colour.  Dark yellow and orange urine tells you your body needs more water.

How to get more water?  
Start your day with a glass of have and carry a water bottle with you all day and make drinking it a habit.

If water seems boring, try infusing your water by adding:

• lemon
• lime
• grapefruit
• orange
• cucumber
• ginger
• mint
• crushed berries

to a pitcher or even directly to your water bottle.

Missing the carbonation of pop, then carbonate your water before infusing it.  Carbonation, while lowering pH, has no detrimental effects, and if it gets you to drink more, it is worth the effort.

What about coffee and tea? 
It is a myth that the caffeine in coffee and tea dehydrates. The only thing you have to watch out for is what else is in your favourite drink.  Many of the beverages from Starbucks and other cafes are amongst the most calorie-laden, sugar-packed concoctions ever created.

Alcohol is a double whammy -  not only does alcohol itself have calories, but most drinks also are loaded with calories from fast carbs.

Bottom line - only drink what you love; learn to love water.

​Need help applying this to your busy life?
Get a personalized nutrition plan to gain clarity and improve your health:
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The  TARGET Nutrition Plan takes a personalized, evidence-based approach to help you make better choices.  Our nutritionists assess what you are currently doing and provide you with a personalized plan (including meal plans).  Everything you need to transform your diet.​