Don’t Drink Your Calories

We’re sure you remember these words from nutrition classes at the Pritikin Longevity Center: “Steer clear of high calorie drinks especially if you’re trying to lose weight.” That’s because the calories you drink are less satiating than the calories you chew, so after a glass of orange juice, for instance, you’re more likely to consume more food (and more calories) than if you’d eaten a whole orange.

High Calorie Drinks

Many Americans have in fact cut back on sugar-rich, carbohydrate-rich beverages such as soft drinks and juices, but recent research confirms that any calorie-containing beverage, whether high in fat calories, high in carb calories, or high in protein calories, is bad news for your waistline.

Reporting in the online edition of the International Journal of Obesity, Purdue University scientist Richard Mattes and colleagues directed 120 men and women (half were normal weight and half were obese) in a three-day study.* The researchers tracked every calorie the subjects consumed for all three days and asked them, hour by hour, about their feelings of hunger and fullness.

Different lunches

On the first day, all 120 subjects ate a lunch of chicken sandwiches and water (the control lunch).

On days two and three, the 120 men and women were divided into three groups of 40 each, and instead of water, a calorie-containing liquid or solid food accompanied the sandwiches.

The first group drank a high-protein drink (milk) or ate a high-protein food (cheese). In the second group of 40, it was either a high-fat drink (coconut milk) or high-fat food (coconut meat). The third group drank a high-carb beverage (watermelon juice) or ate high-carb watermelon.

The 120 men and women were then told to eat as much as they wanted for the rest of the day.

The results: All three groups consumed the most total calories on days when the lunch meal included calorie-rich liquids. “Total daily energy