My Food Revolution: Don't Drink Your Calories

Long before I had ever heard of this 'Food Revolution' my sister Shana kept telling us not to drink our calories. That if something was calorie filled it probably wasn't good for us. My sister was also one of the first I know on the natural foods movement, she watched the documentary Food Inc. three years before I did. Shana and her husband Mark have not only changed their eating and drinking habits, they've also removed plastic from their lives when the rest of us thought it was wacky. As I've previously stated, my sister is Libertarian, this isn't a Left vs. Right thing it's about learning what is going on out there and choosing our health. Now we're learning why plastic is not only bad for us, but bad for the environment (more on that this week.) So when I started My Food Revolution I knew two of the things I had to give up were fast food and soda, I've already seen the benefits but here's how I get through the day without soda.

Now I never drank diet soda, to me it just tasted funny and I couldn't stop gagging when drinking it. It was not what we 'knew' about artificial sweeteners in diet soda that concerned me as much as what we didn't know, and my taste buds told me that I shouldn't trust it, so I never did. Giving up soda is a painful decision, every time I see someone drinking a Mountain Dew I have a moment. You and I both know what that feels like when dieting, when you want something so badly but you know how bad it is for you. It's not torture, it's just a moment and it goes away after awhile. While giving up soda made with High Fructose Corn Syrup wasn't easy, every time I read a book on food or watch a documentary it just reaffirms my decision to leave it from my diet.

While I can't give anyone any tips on how to give up soda as it really is that hard, I can give tips on how to increase your water intake. The trend in my office had been bottles of water, then we got a UV filter through the Culligan to make our tap water purified. Once that filter came to our office there was an increase of us drinking water from a glass, and I did drink a fair share of water. I am a firm believer of knowing how much water you are drinking, I think it motivates you to have at least 64 oz every day.

A recent trend in our office has been the Camelbak BPA Free water bottles. These water bottles hold 750 mL or approx. 25 oz. They come in many different colors and their biggest selling point is the straw. To drink from this water bottle you have to bite the rubber mouthpiece and then take a sip. One of the reason I love this is working out (which I haven't done for some time to be quite frank.) Whenever I was on the treadmill or elliptical and desperately needed a drink of water I wouldn't dare drink it for fear of taking a sip and having half the bottle drench me. These bottles don't do that, you don't even have to tip them back, just simply bite and sip.

On most days I find myself drinking anywhere between 64 oz to 125 oz of water. Harder to drink your calories when you're drinking so much water. On days when I do decide to have a Coca Cola (from the glass bottle of course) I make sure I've already had 64 oz of water. Most days it postpones my Coca Cola consumption assuming I do drink it. I've been using Simply Orange as a late night treat, sweet to drink and much better for me. What are your tricks?