Please accept this as my absence note...............................

Sorry for not posting for the last week.  I had every intention to post last Wednesday night after work and going to the gym.  But unfortunately this................................................

distracted me on my way home from work last Wednesday night.  Yup, after 3 1/2 years of living in Utah, Peppie and I were involved in a car accident.  Note that I said involved, not the cause.  We were just patiently yielding at a green light waiting to turn left, and a fun ol' Utah driver decided to run his red light and hit Peppie and a Tahoe.  So I blame the Utah driver for my broken car, wacky equilibrium, and blog posting absence.  So let's catch you up on the weight loss now.

Week 19

Week Weight Loss = 2 pounds

Total Weight Loss = 26 pounds

Week % Weight Loss = 0.7%

Total % Weight Loss = 9.32%

So rock on!  A broken toe will not stop the weight loss.  A wacky equilibrium making it hard to stand on two feet without falling over will not stop the weight loss.  I am realizing the only thing that will stop my weight loss is me.  Outside factors are going to happen all the time.  It would be easy to just stop and give up when things like this happen, but I can't.  This is important to me now.  I've seen how much losing weight has done for my overall health, appearance (I know I need to post a new picture, but I don't have one yet.  Soon, I will post one, soon...), and self esteem.  I just have to keep motivated.  When things get hard and I mess up, I'm not going to stop.  All I need to do is fix what went wrong and keep on going.  There is no point of even starting over, just pick up where I left off and keep going.  So there is my motivational/emotional soap box for the night.

Now onto my nutritional soap box.  One of my favorite nutrition newsletter is the Tufts University Health and Nutrition Letter (I should have gone to school there.  Maybe Grad School?).  This week I was reading some old articles and stumbled upon this great treasure.  I have been trying to increase my water consumption, and this article really helped.  I hope you enjoy it.

Tufts University Health & Nutrition Letter

The Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy

"Beverages Total 22% of US Calories - But Who's Counting"

MARCH 2007

AMERICANS DRINK ALMOST a quarter of our daily calories, according to a new analysis of government dietary data. And when we consume sweetened, high-calorie beverages, adds a Penn State study of mealtime habits, we don’t compensate by cutting back on the calories from solid food.  Those two new findings add up to a double dose of alarm about the role of "liquid calories” in the American diet.

The What America Drinks report, commissioned by the Milk Processor Education Program, used data from more than 10,000 Americans, ages four and up, collected by the government’s National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) between 1999-2000 and 2001-2002. The report found that calories from beverages make up 22% of the total energy intake in the average US diet. Half of the added sugar that Americans consume comes from beverages, according to the analysis.


But many people don’t “count” liquid calories—just those from foods they eat, warns dietitian Carolyn O’Neil, RD, a spokesperson for the report. “People just may not be aware of how these calories are sneaking into their diet.… and not understanding what an impact it has on body weight.”


What America Drinks found that in a typical day the average American consumes:
38 ounces of water
17.5 ounces of sugar-sweetened beverages such as soft drinks (which alone added up to 12 ounces daily) and teas
8.9 ounces of coffee (which may also be sweetened)
7.5 ounces of milk.


Soft drinks were found to be the source of 36% of all added sugars and 6.4% of total calories in the American diet. Nearly half of all Americans drink at least one sugary soft drink on any given day, according to the report.


BUT WHEN PEOPLE CONSUME sugared beverages, do they balance those extra liquid calories by reducing portion sizes on their plates or by eating less of the solid food they’re served? That’s the question Penn State researchers, led by nutritional sciences professor Barbara J. Rolls, PhD, and doctoral candidate Julie Flood, set out to answer.


The research team invited 33 adults—18 women and 15 men—to eat lunch once a week for six weeks. In this cross over design study, the same foods were served at each lunch, but the accompanying beverage was rotated among cola, diet cola or water. Two different portion sizes—12 ounces and 18 ounces—were also tested.


The study, published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, found that subjects ate approximately the same amount of solid food, regardless of which beverage was served. So total calories consumed shot up when a sugared soft drink was the beverage du jour.

Similarly, the bigger the beverage served, the more the participants drank. When the cola serving size increased 50%, from 12 to 18 ounces, men drank 26% more liquid calories and women drank 10% more.


The findings support the idea that liquids are less filling than solid food—making beverages especially dangerous for those trying to control their calories. People have a different mindset about drinking versus eating, Rolls adds, and thirst and hunger are actually governed by separate mechanisms in the body.


Looking to put a stopper on your liquid calorie consumption? The Healthy Beverage Guidelines, released last year, can help. Switching to diet beverages can be a good first step, and low-fat milk is important for dietary calcium and vitamin D. Ultimately, though, nothing beats plain old water for quenching your thirst—with zero added calories.

So as you are watching your food intake, make sure you also pay attention to your beverage intake.  It can be really easy to have the calories add up quick, especially since we typically drink 2 or more portions of fluids at a setting.  As the article stated, there are a lot of options for beverages to help you conserve calories.  The debate between regular drinks verses diet drinks will be ongoing and ever changing.  If you are undecided with what side you want to choose there is an easier decision to make.  Choose water!  Water is great for you.  It's calorie free, can help prevent diseases, help with weight loss when included in a healthy diet and exercise program, properly hydrate you, help with your physical appearance (can we say clearer complexion?), and much more.  Plus it's free!  My goal for this week is to try to get at least 64oz of water per day.  So grab your reusable water bottle (let's save the environment too!) and fill it up multiple times throughout the day.  I will be doing just that.  Bottoms up!