Photo courtesy of Dmitry Kichenko and jesiehart

When losing weight, a popular method of tracking food intake is counting calories.

However, many people forget to include the various beverages they drink during the day for their total calories consumed, which can add up to hundreds to potentially thousands of calories, into a daily caloric consumption.

Let’s measure the calorie impact of two popular beverages…………….:)

Take a look at these two nutritional charts. The left one is a standard 8 fl oz glass of apple juice and the right is an apple, in its raw state.

How much sugar does the juice contain? How many calories are in this small glass? How many calories are in the whole apple?

Not including the additional benefits of eating fresh fruit, the apple, based on the Nutritional Facts alone, is much more beneficial.

Nutrition data provided by US Apple Association

As an example, if you’re trying to stick to a 1,200 calorie a day eating plan, for a single serving or apple juice you would consume 10% of your daily allotted calories in a single glass of apple juice.

This is only one example as most fruit juices will result in the same number of calories.

What about alcoholic beverages?

Surprisingly beer and wine are not required to have a nutrition label. In fact, the industry has strongly resisted any legislative efforts to change that, so I don’t have an example of a nutrition label for wine. However, I do have some of their nutritional facts.

Before I mention the nutritional data, I would like to share with you the Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2005 Key Recommendations for the consumption of alcohol:

KEY RECOMMENDATIONS

• Those who choose to drink alcoholic beverages should do so sensibly and in moderation—defined as the consumption of up to one drink per day for women and up to two drinks per day for men.
• Alcoholic beverages should not be consumed by some individuals, including those who cannot restrict their alcohol intake, women of childbearing age who may become pregnant, pregnant and lactating women, children and adolescents, individuals taking medications that can interact with alcohol, and those with specific medical conditions.
• Alcoholic beverages should be avoided by individuals engaging in activities that require attention, skill, or coordination, such as driving or operating machinery.

Of course, the legal age for drinking alcoholic beverages is 21 in every state.

In regards to calories, on average, both wine and beer contain more that 150 calories per 12oz glass.

To make an educated decision about the value of the calories in wine, you need a bit more information:

1. In 1992 Harvard researchers included moderate alcohol consumption as one of the “eight proven ways to reduce coronary heart disease risk.”

2. Research has also suggested that specifically red wine is the most beneficial to your heart health. The cardioprotective effect has been attributed to antioxidants present in the skin and seeds of red grapes.

Scientists believe the antioxidants, called flavonoids, reduce the risk of coronary heart disease in three ways:

• a. by reducing production of low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol (also know as the “bad” cholesterol)
• b. by boosting high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol (the good cholesterol)
• c. by reducing blood clotting. Furthermore, consuming a glass of wine along with a meal may favorably influence your lipid profiles following that meal
• Source: Yale-New Haven Hospital

So now have some facts about fruit juice, beer, and wine.

Are you including too many drinks in your daily eating plan? Is your weight loss effort being unconsciously sabotaged by the over consumption of beverages?

In the upcoming weeks, I’ll be posting about the nutritional aspects of some other beverages–like soda, water, and “power” drinks–because

After all, it’s about a healthy lifestyle!

© Iowa Avenue