Remember these seven words: Stick with beverages that contain no calories. For the most part, that means water, coffee, tea, and diet soda. These are your choices because most drinks—other than those already mentioned—are packed with carbohydrates, which are off-limits during the Fat-Burning Time Zone.
In addition, liquid calories are far easier to overconsume than those in solid food. They also tend to have little impact on appetite. For instance, in a recent study, Pennsylvania State University researchers fed men lunch once a week for 6 weeks, along with either a 12- or 18-ounce regular soda, diet soda, or water. The result: The study participants ate the same amount of food no matter the size or type of beverage served. Which means the men consumed significantly fewer total calories when they drank water or diet soda compared with the calorie-packed regular soda. What’s more, their ratings of satiety and hunger were identical after each lunch, showing that the extra calories provided by the regular pop had no benefit.
So skip the caloric drinks and focus on beverages for hydration. And don’t forget the other valuable compounds—such as antioxidants—that some of the beverages for hydration provide. Keep in mind that this guideline doesn’t apply to protein shakes. Because unlike other beverages, protein shakes are filling and have been shown to reduce appetite. Also, since carbohydrates are encouraged in the Reloading Time Zone, you can add milk, kefir, and 100 percent fruit and vegetable juices to your drink list at that time. As for alcohol, we like it and, in fact, think it’s perfectly fine to drink in moderation. It does have its downsides, though, which we’ll explain in the pages that follow.
In short, simply drink as many no-calorie beverages—water, coffee, tea, and diet drinks—as you desire, and you may allow yourself as many as one or two alcoholic beverages per day. For more details on each type of beverage, read on.
Water
Coffee
Any type of unsweetened tea
No-calorie beverages
Alcohol, in moderation
As a general rule, try to drink 8 to 12 ounces of water for every 2 hours you’re awake. That ensures that you’re well hydrated, especially in the Fat-Burning Time Zone, since low-carbohydrate diets have a natural diuretic effect. This natural diuretic effect isn’t bad; it just means your body isn’t retaining as much water as normal and that you need to make sure you’re providing it with plenty of incoming H2O. Keep in mind that this is especially true if you drink caffeinated beverages—coffee, tea, diet soda—which also act as diuretics.
Why is proper hydration so important? For starters, researchers at Loma Linda University found that guys who drank five 8-ounce glasses of water a day were 54 percent less likely to suffer a fatal heart attack than those who drank two or fewer. But it’s also critical for your muscles. That’s because they’re composed of about 80 percent water. Consequently, even as little as a 1 percent decrease in body water has been shown to impair exercise performance and adversely affect recovery. Not only that, but adequate water intake also helps you build muscle faster. Researchers in Germany found that protein synthesis occurs at a higher rate in muscle cells that are well hydrated. The bottom line: Water is good; drink lots of it.
If you rely on a couple of cups of coffee to jump-start your morning, here’s good news: After years of research, most health experts regard it as not only safe, but highly recommended. In fact, a recent study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found no evidence of an association between heart disease risk and coffee consumption of up to six cups per day. Plus, it’s packed with disease-fighting antioxidants. In the Fat-Burning Time Zone, use cream to flavor; in the Reloading Time Zone, use milk. In any timezone, you can use products such as NutraSweet, Equal, Splenda, or Sweet’N Low to sweeten. The best choice at Starbucks? A Caffè Americano, which is nearly carb-free: A 16-ounce grande contains just 3 grams of carbs, an amount not even worth worrying about it.
Tea is widely known for its beneficial health effects. And you can thank its high content of catechins—antioxidants that help fight cancer, heart disease, and Alzheimer’s. Tea also helps reduce stress, according to researchers in the United Kingdom. In the study, men drank either four cups of black tea daily, or a placebo beverage that contained the same amount of caffeine. After 6 weeks, the study participants were then asked to engage in stressful activities while scientists monitored their physiological and psychological anxiety. The result? The tea drinkers exhibited 20 percent lower levels of stress hormones than those who drank the faux tea. They also reported feeling more relaxed than did the placebo group. The likely reason: Antioxidants in the tea may act on areas of your brain that calm your central nervous system.
If you’re feeling drowsy at work, don’t be tempted to reach for a soda. British researchers discovered that people who downed a sugary drink containing 42 milligrams of sugar and 30 milligrams of caffeine—the amount in a 12-ounce cola—exhibited slower reaction times and a greater number of lapses in attention for the next 90 minutes compared with those who sipped a sugar-free beverage. Although a sugar rush has been shown to boost cognitive performance, the effect is short-lived, lasting just 10 to 15 minutes.
Your best option for a brain boost: a sugar-free drink, such as 8 ounces of black, unsweetened coffee that delivers 100 milligrams of caffeine. When Austrian scientists measured brain activity in 15 men after they consumed either 100 milligrams of caffeine—about the same amount as in a cup of joe—or a placebo, test results showed that the caffeine drinkers registered higher levels of activity in the regions of the brain responsible for short-term memory, attention, and concentration. Although researchers aren’t sure why caffeine boosts brainpower, they speculate that it may improve cerebral blood flow and the transmission of nerve signals. However, there’s a time limit for coffee, too: In the study, the benefits diminished after 45 minutes, but without the brain crash that occurs with sugar drinks.
Although green tea gets the most press, black and herbal teas provide similar health benefits. To get the most from any product, steep your tea for at least 3 minutes; any less than that results in lower amounts of the disease-fighting antioxidants. Just as with coffee, you can flavor with cream (Fat-Burning Time Zone) or milk (Reloading Time Zone) and use artificial sweeteners as desired.
Diet sodas and other diet drinks such as Crystal Light make our list for one reason: They have 5 or fewer calories per serving. (That’s a negligible amount.) As a result, these beverages have no physiological effect on your ability to lose fat. However, they also don’t have any health benefits to tout. So feel free to drink them, but in addition to the recommended amount of water, and with the knowledge that unsweetened coffee and tea are better choices.
Also, a quick word about artificial sweeteners: The majority of research on aspartame (NutraSweet), sucralose (Splenda), and saccharin (Sweet’N Low) shows them to be safe for human consumption. Yet there are some rodent studies, as well as anecdotal reports in humans, that suggest they may carry negative side effects in high amounts. What’s that mean to you? Don’t consume them in huge amounts! We can’t say that doing so would cause you any health problems, but it does lead to one problem: You drink less of everything else. For instance, one or two diet sodas a day is fine, but if you’re downing five or six 12-ounce bottles, then that means you’re limiting your intake of healthful beverages, particularly water.
Rooibos (ROY-bus) is a vibrant red tea made from a South African legume. The tea is caffeine free and also naturally sweet, so you won’t need to add sugar.
Why it’s healthy: Rooibos is loaded with disease-fighting antioxidants. Pakistani researchers found that it lowers blood pressure in rodents. It’s also been shown to boost the immune system—in fact, a recent Japanese study on mice and rats suggests that rooibos tea may help prevent allergies and even cancer.
Where to find it: Look for Celestial Seasonings rooibos teas (we like Madagascar Vanilla Red) in your local grocery store, or try one from Adagio, an organic product that features 13 different all-natural flavors (www.adagio.com).
When it comes to alcohol we think the phrase, “you can get too much of a good thing” is right on the money, but not because of a bad frat-party experience. In moderation, alcohol appears to improve levels of good cholesterol and has a relaxing, stress-reducing effect. Plus, you might not realize it, but wine and hard liquor don’t contain carbohydrates, and “light” beers only have a couple of grams of carbs per 12-ounce serving.
There’s one key figure you won’t find listed on a nutrition label: caffeine content. So, to determine how much of a jolt you can expect from popular diet soft drinks, University of Florida researchers decided to analyze them. Below, we’ve highlighted the diet beverages tested, and compared them with the gold standard—a regular black coffee from Dunkin’ Donuts.
143 milligrams per 16 ounces, 8.9 milligrams per ounce
64.7 milligrams per 8.3 ounces, 7.8 milligrams per ounce
39.6 milligrams per 12 ounces, 3.3 milligrams per ounce
38.2 milligrams per 12 ounces, 3.2 milligrams per ounce
33.8 milligrams per 12 ounces, 2.8 milligrams per ounce
27.4 milligrams per 12 ounces, 2.3 milligrams per ounce
zero milligram per 12 ounces, zero milligram per ounce
The downside is that excessive amounts of alcohol prevent your body from burning fat for energy. This effect is exacerbated when combined with carbohydrates, such as those found in regular beer or in mixers. (See “How Alcohol Makes You Fat,” page 94.) So it’s important not to overdo it. You can toe the line by sticking with one or two drinks—at most—per day. In fact, you’ll find a glass of wine makes the perfect complement to any meal. (It’s also great as a “dessert.”)
Binge drinking can literally lead to a killer hangover. Harvard University researchers found that throwing back a few too many alcoholic beverages can elevate a person’s risk of atrial fibrillation—a condition that may up your stroke risk by 500 percent. Your safe limit? Three drinks in a 24-hour period, says study author Kenneth Mukamal, MD. Trouble is, a new report from Duke University shows that the Harvard study’s definition of a standard drink differs substantially from the amount an average guy is apt to pour for himself. Here’s how the two compare, drink by drink.
The Harvard standard: 4 ounces
The average guy’s: 7 ounces
The Harvard standard: 12 ounces
The average guy’s: 13 ounces
The Harvard standard: 1.25 ounces
The average guy’s: 2 ounces
The Harvard standard: 1.25 ounces*
The average guy’s: 4.2 ounces*
* Denotes amount of liquor
1. Avoid mixing alcohol with any type of fruit juice or non-diet soda, which add unnecessary calories and carbohydrates. Combined with alcohol, these can lead to fat storage.
2. Avoid regular beer. It’s packed with carbohydrates. Go with a light beer that contains less than 3 grams carbohydrates per 12-ounce serving.
TNT-APPROVED ALCOHOL |
|
| TYPE OF ALCOHOL | ONE DRINK |
| Wine | 4 oz |
| Light beer | 12 oz |
| Gin | 1¼ oz |
| Rum | 1¼ oz |
| Whiskey | 1¼ oz |
| Vodka | 1¼ oz |
Red or white? Just say yes, according to a new study from the University of Connecticut. Although previous research only touted the cardiovascular benefits of drinking red varietals, scientists discovered that white wine may protect your heart just as well as cabernet and merlot. To make the white variety, winemakers remove the grapes’ skins—which give red wine its color—before fermentation. Because the skin is the only part of the grape that contains resveratrol, an antioxidant that improves blood flow to the heart, it was assumed that red was far more healthy. Not so, says study author Dipak K. Das, PhD, whose laboratory determined that an unidentified antioxidant in white wine offers similar heart protection. The bottom line: “Consumption of one to two glasses of either red or white wine daily should be equally beneficial,” says Dr. Das.