I bet you've heard it said, or maybe even read in a reputable source that drinking anything containing water is just as good as the pure stuff.
The truth is, as with anything on the topic of weight loss, you're always going to find mixed messages when you go looking to popular media. Unfortunately, even spending your money or time with qualified nutritionists or weight loss experts can give you a conflicting info overload.
Which is why you need to keep reading my articles! I'll always do the research for you, I'll look at both sides of the story, and I'll make sure that you only get the cold, hard truth.
Even if it hurts.
So listen up. If you've read or otherwise heard that you can include coffee, tea, flavoured water (even sports drinks or vitamin water), and fruit juice as part of your daily water intake, then I'm going to have to burst your bubble.
Not only are these drinks not hydrating, they actually take water away from your body and can CAUSE YOU TO GAIN WEIGHT!
Here's how it works:
1. ANYTHING containing caffeine or sugar is toxic to your body. Your body wants it outta there - and fast!
2. This causes your body to take existing water stores and use them to flush out any sugar/caffeine/synthetic vitamins. Yes, this does include unsweetened fruit juice. I know it's natural, and no, it's not toxic, but it will still spike your blood sugar.
3. Where do these existing water stores come from? Well, the fastest way to get water is from your muscles.
4. This makes your muscles less than functional, leading to lowered performance and a sluggish metabolism (at least for the short term)
5. If you drink these beverages daily, your body is continually battling to stay hydrated, and your metabolism is always under attack.
But wait, there's more. And it ain't great.
Drinks with sugar added: sugar causes insulin to be released into your blood stream. One job of insulin is to store fat!
Caffeinated pick-me-ups: Caffeine stimulates your Sympathetic Nervous System, causing an excess release of cortisol and adrenalin. These are stress hormones whose is also - can you guess? Yep, to store fat.
How To Stay Hydrated and Stop Gaining Weight From So-called Innocent Drinks
Pretty simple, really. In a perfect world, I'd ask you to drink only water and herbal tea. But in reality, that's not even what I ask of myself! What I will suggest is that you drink enough pure water to start with (see my article 'Secret #2: How I Dropped Five Pounds in two Days - The Sure-Fire Back-up Plan). Next, what you need to do is replace every sweetened or caffeinated beverage with an additional TWO glasses of pure water. Yes, TWO.
Finally, if you're drinking more than three (total) of these drinks, seriously consider cutting down. I'd suggest two per day, max, and preferably before lunch. This gives your metabolism and hormonal system time to normalise before bedtime, ensuring you'll recover and burn fat during the night, rather than store it.
Happy drinking!
Katrina Eden
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Katrina_Eden
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