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Drinks
offer convenient way to pile on pounds
July 19, 2007
Suzanne Havala Hobbs
If
you want to gain weight, have a drink.
That’s because when you drink your calories in liquid
form, you are likely to take in more calories than if you
chewed your food instead. It’s an observation confirmed
recently by research reported by nutrition scientists at Purdue
University.
Researchers there gave study participants lunches that included
sandwiches plus water, solid food, or caloric beverages. Participants
could eat as many sandwiches as they wanted followed by an
unrestricted amount of dinner.
Compared with the water-drinkers, study participants whose
lunches included caloric beverages ate more calories over
the remainder of the day than did those who ate only solid
food. This held true whether the food and beverage test foods
were high in carbohydrate, protein or fat.
Why would taking foods in liquid form result in greater calorie
intake? Possible explanations include:
* Liquids go down easily. In fact, it’s a strategy commonly
used by hospital dietitians for patients who need nourishment
but feel too sick to eat. Liquid supplements such as Ensure
Plus or Carnation Instant Breakfast can pack 350 calories
per cup – as much as a ham and cheese sandwich, but
much less effort to consume.
* Drinking is quicker. You can down a large glass of fruit
juice or a smoothie in a few minutes and take in a sizable
number of calories before your body says, “I’m
full.” Chewing solid food takes more time. You’re
more likely to stop because of feelings of fullness or external
cues, such as a clock, that tell you mealtime is over.
* Liquids often contain little or no fiber. Fiber is filling.
Think of it this way: If you ate a fresh apple, you’d
likely feel a sense of fullness, though you may have eaten
fewer than 100 calories. The same number of calories from
apple juice – less than one cup – would barely
register on the fullness meter.
* Psychologically, we don’t “count” beverages
as food. The beverage is just something that washes down the
meal. It may get little notice – there’s no smell
and none of the satisfaction we get from chewing and the texture
of food.
All of these factors may play a role in explaining how liquids
can add calories – and weight – over time. What
are the implications for weight control?
For starters, people who are overweight should try sticking
with water or calorie-free beverages with and between meals.
Liquid meal replacements such as Slim-Fast may not be as effective
as eating solid food. A diet of mostly whole, unrefined foods
is not only healthier; it’s also a more realistic approach
for long term weight control.
On the other hand, people who need to gain weight or prevent
weight loss for therapeutic reasons – people who have
no appetite or are excessively thin because of a chronic illness,
for example – can boost their calorie intakes and benefit
from adding food to their diets in a drinkable form.
The potential for liquids to pump up daily calorie intakes
also underscores the need to pay particular attention to what
children drink. Given rising rates of obesity among young
people, it’s important to limit soft drinks, sweet tea,
2 percent and whole milk, sports drinks and other caloric
beverages, and to encourage more water with and between meals.
If you’re like most of us and need to work to avoid
weight gain, take a cue and rethink that drink.
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