7 of the most unhealthy drinks when trying to lose weight

Get these drinks out of your diet

You want to lose weight, so you’re watching what you eat. Makes sense, but what you drink is just as important. However, it’s much harder to see if drinks are healthy based on their looks. It’s easy to tell that a cookie with lots of sugar and chocolate doesn’t do much for your diet. But is apple juice healthy or not? And a smoothie? In any case, the following drinks can be taken out of your diet.

1. 100% apple juice

Apple juice, it’s actually not healthy in any form. It might sound healthy – because it contains apples – but it isn’t. And 100% apple juice is the unhealthiest of them all. Not what you’d expect. The high percentage of concentrated sugar and calories in the fruit juice can lead to weight gain. There are of course vitamins in 100% apple juice, but not enough to counteract all the sugar. The amount of sugar is even comparable to that of a can of soda.

2. Orange juice

Orange juice, like apple juice, is usually not very healthy either. The drink is low in fruit juice, usually only 5% to 10%. In addition, there is a lot of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) in orange juice. HFCS is derived from corn starch and is cheaper than sugar, which is why many food manufacturers like to use it. It is also sweeter than sugar and absorbed by the body more quickly. As a result, the blood sugar level can drop quickly thus making you want even more sugar.

3. Smoothies

A smoothie can be very healthy, but most pre-packaged smoothies found at the grocery store are not. This is a big disappointment for many people. The drink seems to be very healthy. There are fruit and vegetables in it, right? Correct, but it also contains a lot of sugar. One smoothie can even contain as much, sometimes even more, sugar than a can of soda. Pressing fruits and vegetables removes most, if not all, of the fiber. As a result, especially the sugars remain.

4. Soda

This shouldn’t be a surprise on this list. Soda contains a lot of sugar; we all know that. But did you know that the average can of soda contains around 12 teaspoons of sugar and around 130 calories? That’s twice as much sugar as in a bar of chocolate. If you drink soda daily, there’s a good chance you’ll get a bit of a belly. But this can also lead to more visceral fat, the most dangerous kind because it goes around your organs.

5. Alcoholic drinks

They don’t call it a ‘beer belly’ for nothing. Drinking a beer every day can lead to weight gain. But that’s not the only alcoholic beverage you should avoid when trying to lose weight. Too much wine and liquor can also lead to extra kilos and belly fat. Alcohol also hinders your body’s ability to burn fat. The drinks can also decrease the quality of your sleep and mess with hormones that affect hunger and feeling full.

6. Milkshakes

We’re mostly talking about the kind you get at fast food restaurants. Besides ‘normal’ milkshakes, there’s also a thing called freakshakes, the superlative of milkshakes. With a base of ice cream and decorated with everything that is unhealthy. Unfortunately, a regular milkshake isn’t much healthier. Take, for example, a large McDonald’s chocolate milkshake. You’ll take in over 400 calories and 60 grams of sugar, making it one of the least helpful drinks for weight loss.

7. Mixed coffees

Coffee can be found in all shapes and forms nowadays. With caramel- or vanilla flavors for example… or the frozen version, iced coffee. Because of all the (sweet) additives, the drinks hardly resemble coffee anymore. The most luxurious varieties sometimes contain even 560 calories, 14 grams of saturated fat and 80 grams of sugars. Wow! If you drink one of these (with whipped cream) every day, you can easily gain half a kilo in a week. If you still want to drink coffee, black coffee is always the healthiest option.