The Skinny on Low Calorie Drinks & Hydration

The Skinny on Low Cal Drinks & Hydration

One of my favorite people to follow is Molly Kimball. She is a registered dietitian, and writes timely articles about health and nutrition. In this segment, she also includes a chart breakdown on low calorie drinks. Great information here. Enjoy !!

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In preparation for Ochsner half-Ironman and Crescent City Classic, it's time to talk hydration



By Molly Kimball  Times Picayune

We’ve had a long run of breezy days and cool nights, but with the Ochsner half-Ironman and the Crescent City Classic sandwiched between the French Quarter Festival and Jazz Fest, it’s time to talk hydration.



The Times-Picayune ArchiveA runner grabs water at the two mile water stop on Rampart St. during 28th annual Crescent City Classic race Saturday, April 15,2006 in New Orleans. Runners had near perfect weather to tackle the 10-kilometer along the streets of the French Quarter and Mid-City.

Staying well-hydrated is critical to maintaining optimal energy levels, as well as preventing muscle cramps, headaches and more serious issues such as heatstroke and seizure, and even death.

But that doesn’t mean you have to force down gallons of water or bottles of sugary sports drinks.


Any type of fluid (with the exception of alcohol) can be hydrating. Even caffeine-containing beverages can count toward your fluid intake. For years, they were though to be dehydrating, but an abundance of research has proven otherwise. The amount of caffeine typically found in standard servings of tea, coffee, and soft drinks appears to have no diuretic action, meaning that these beverages don’t cause us to lose more fluid than they provide.

But we still don’t want the majority of our fluid intake to come from caffeinated drinks; most health organizations recommend that we limit our caffeine intake to 300 milligrams a day, the amount found in two or three cups of coffee.

Food can count toward your fluid intake, too, particularly foods with high water contents such as fresh fruits, yogurt and soups.



View full sizeSo how much is enough when it comes to staying hydrated? (Click on link above)


A general guideline is to aim for about half of your body weight in ounces of fluid, plus an additional 16 ounces for every pound of sweat lost during exercise or work in the heat. So a 150-pound woman needs about 75 ounces of fluid to meet her basic daily needs. If she loses 2 pounds of sweat during her morning workout, she’ll need an additional 32 ounces of fluid, for a total of about 107 ounces for the day.



Again, this doesn’t mean that she has to drink 107 ounces of plain water. If she drinks coffee or tea in the morning, has a protein smoothie for breakfast, a broth-based soup with lunch and a Greek yogurt with fresh fruit as a snack, she may have already consumed 50 ounces of fluid ““ about halfway toward her goal for the day — before factoring in the first sip of water.



Good news for those of you who aren’t crazy about drinking water: You have plenty of other options. An abundance of flavored drinks is on the market, many of them available in small packets that can be kept in your purse or pockets to add to a water bottle, so there’s little excuse for not staying hydrated.



Here’s a list of 21 low-cal drinks and how they measure up in terms of calories, use of artificial sweeteners and electrolyte content.
 (Click on link above)