Health Habits: Watch The Hidden Calories
Snacks – Especially Beverages – Can Sabotage Your NEWSS
by Michael D. Hume, M.S.
You might want to grab a can of pop, or a bag of chips, to enjoy while you’re reading this.
Then again, you might not.
Americans love their snacks, and June’s edition of the journal of the Institute of Food Technologists reported that the trend is not only continuing, but growing. If you’re an average American (no such thing, right?), the Institute says you get about a fourth of your total daily calories from snacks.
That’s 580 calories a day… just in the “hidden” intake of snacks! And, according to the journal, you’re spending around seventy minutes of your day – over an hour! – grabbing those snacks.
Here’s the really sneaky part: you are drinking about half of those 580 calories. Every day. The journal states that most people don’t equate beverages with calorie intake, and are less likely to take those beverage calories into account. I know this to be true… I used to drink coffee constantly throughout the day and evening, and loaded each cup with synthetic coffee “creamer” and spoonfuls of sugar. When the weather was hot, I’d drink cola like it was water. I’d never go to the golf course without a good supply of ice – and pop. I finally learned that my “drinking problem” was about the worst thing I could do to my body, and learned to like decaf coffee, black or with a little real cream (and no sugar). And pop is now an occasional indulgence (and only the better diet kinds), not a continuous part of my day.
]]>
Another good move I made was to make sure I was drinking at least two liters of water a day. Not only does that water bring lots of good health benefits, it makes me less “thirsty” for other beverages.
Drinking water is only one of the five key daily health habits I call The NEWSS: Nutrition, Exercise, Water, Sleep, and Supplements. Even if you own your own business and are crazy-busy, you can improve your energy – and your life – by starting with a little discipline in these five areas. Cut the garbage out of your diet – if you must snack (and you must, of course), try popcorn or fruit. Exercise vigorously at least three times a week (it only takes about a half hour a day). In addition to getting your two liters of water every day, make sure you also get your eight hours of sleep every night. And take at least one good multi-nutrient supplement… your body can’t get everything it needs from today’s convenience diet alone.
Don’t forget those “hidden” calories. Offset them. Account for them. Don’t let them sabotage your good work on your personal vitality and energy.