Mocktail Minutes

Drinking Your Calories

• Mocktail Minutes • Episode 99

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Have you ever heard the advice "don't drink your calories"? This is super common dieting advice. But, we don't love giving this blanket recommendation. Why? Because you can strategically drink your calories and have it work in your favor. In this episode we are breaking down what drinkable calories we love and why!

If you have questions, or topics that you want to hear about, head over to our Instagrams https://www.instagram.com/bayleethedietitian/ or https://www.instagram.com/brianna.dietitian/ and send us a DM!

Featured Mocktails:
Just Ingredients - https://www.instagram.com/just.ingredients/

Kin Euphorics - https://www.instagram.com/kineuphorics/ 

Click play, sip back, and be empowered.

Baylee:

Hello, everyone. Welcome back to this week's episode of Mocktail Minutes. This is Bailey.

Brianna:

And this is Brianna.

Baylee:

This weekend, I am drinking the Just Ingredients Strawberry Limeade.

Brianna:

Nice. I like it.

Baylee:

A little sonic drink. How

Brianna:

all you need is a little ice, you know, like the Sonic guys. I'm doing kin euphorics. I don't know if you've seen this. I've been seeing them in my store. So it's like, I'm going to try it. They're called a functional beverage for modern rituals. They have like a calming one. I did that yesterday.

Baylee:

did you feel?

Brianna:

very earthy. It kind of tasted like a flat root beer. So like, it wasn't horrible. I could do it, but it's also not something I'd be like, Ooh, I'm really looking forward to it. But this one has Shashandra in it, which is an adaptogen that I've been hearing about. I heard about it from Dr. Stacey Sims on one of the podcasts she did, and it's supposed to like, wake you up, give you energy, but it's not a stimulant like caffeine. So it's not going to mess with your sleep or your nervous system. I think it did okay. Taste is okay. It's earthy. It's really hard to get.

Baylee:

aren't my favorite.

Brianna:

Yeah, it's hard to get away from it, but this one was better than the calm one. So, if you're going to try it, I'd probably try that one.

Baylee:

I'll have to look for that one. Today, we are talking about liquid calories. They, they get a bad reputation.

Brianna:

They do. They do. It's like the, it's like the age old diet, like tip, like don't drink your

Baylee:

your calories.

Brianna:

I love protein shakes or like smoothies, you know, but yeah,

Baylee:

And really the idea, I mean just like with a lot of dieting rules, they came from a good place I think, but, the idea is that they don't fill you up in the same way as solid food does, so it's like a lot easier to drink like a bunch of sugar from soda versus like, have a bunch of cake in a way. Or, Really, I'd say the focus was more on like decreasing the sodas and the fancy coffees with all the syrups and not so much realizing that, oh, you can actually drink calories in a beneficial way too.

Brianna:

Yeah. Well, I think it's like, you know, people walking around, not realizing like, Oh, the coffee I'm getting from Starbucks every morning is 450 calories. Like, I think people just not knowing it. So it was a way of like building awareness, but there's also a lot of really good ways you can get calories from liquids in a beneficial way. Bailey is like dying, coughing. If you see the video, you'll see it, but. She's alive. She's here.

Baylee:

I'm good.

Brianna:

You know, things like smoothies, protein shakes, and even like lattes like your morning, your morning coffee can be beneficial, especially if you have a hard time eating in the morning or like you don't feel like you like a full meal that you have to chew, you know, things like that. You can drink it.

Baylee:

And I think this is especially helpful as you're working to increase your metabolism. Like if you've gone years of under eating and you don't feel hungry in the morning, it's a lot easier to drink something that's liquid than to like sit down and eat some eggs.

Brianna:

Right.

Baylee:

I think it's also helpful for those who are on GLP 1s and your appetite is not doing so hot. Okay, let's see what we can drink. I really like to recommend the Chobani Complete Yogurt Drinks.

Brianna:

I like those.

Baylee:

I mean, 20 grams of protein, I think those are fantastic to have on hand.

Brianna:

hmm. And they taste really good. Yeah, anyone, especially if you have ever been a long time dieter or you've counted calories, I think it's really normal to not feel hungry in the morning and I think like 95 percent of the people I work with either skip breakfast or have skipped breakfast. And so I tell people it's really hard to go from having nothing in the morning to a full meal. So we're trying to build up eating regular meal times, probably increasing your calories, especially if you need to increase calories. It's your calories as in your reverse dieting. Let's make a smoothie. Let's, yeah, the Chobani completes. Any of the ready, like, I'm not going to say any of the ready made smoothies, but I like the Fairlife. Those are decent. But even like your coffee, like you can put collagen in it. You can put some heavy cream in it. You know, things are going to be beneficial, give you some health, like some fat, give you some protein, but you're not having, you know, zero, like five calorie black coffee, which is nice. we're telling you, you can enjoy your coffee again.

Baylee:

Yes, and it's all, you know, it depends, right? So we're not saying that you should go and drink your soda and it's going to be all fine and dandy. I think this guideline is helpful so that you're not just adding a bunch of sugar I mean you can get 70 grams of sugar from a Mountain Dew and we don't blink an eye but like if I were to hand you that much sugar and like A powder form, you'd be like, oh my god, that's insane. So I think it helps to kind of look at it in that way and think, okay, what are ways that I could benefit from different types of liquid calories? Not so much the soda. I mean, juice, yes and no. We've done an episode of juicing, so I think it kind of depends, like, what kind of juice are we doing here? Okay.

Brianna:

So it's easier to digest. It's a liquid. You're not having to break down food. And then it doesn't feel as heavy, but you can still get protein, healthy fat and fiber, which is awesome. And then it helps to support your metabolism because you cannot keep skipping meals and expect to have a good, healthy functioning. Metabolism. So whenever I hear don't drink your calories, I'm like, unless you're skipping breakfast, then I drinking your calories,

Baylee:

Yes, so yeah, we want to focus on those nutrient dense options still so things to like watch out for it's going to be like I mentioned The juices because honestly, I wouldn't want to just drinking juice by itself in the morning Even if you are doing like fresh cold pressed juice, you're just getting carbs at that point. You're not really getting any fiber, you're not getting any fat, you're not getting any protein. So it's gonna run through you pretty quickly. you want to pair it with something else. I don't even care if you pair it with a cheesesteak. Just start somewhere. Mm

Brianna:

especially because juice doesn't have a lot of calories. So like in general, really high carb, low calorie. Yeah. Like do it. Yeah. Cheese stick. I don't care. Add something spoonful of peanut butter. There you go.

Baylee:

you need to do. It's funny, I saw in this like dietitian group today, someone Had asked about like orange juice because their client was doing like the light orange juice and asking, well asked to compare like the light versus regular orange juice. The only difference is the light orange juice it just had water added to it. Now like at that point you might as well just get the regular and just water it down yourself.

Brianna:

Make it last longer. Yeah, I know. Isn't that interesting? Like marketing, you know the other thing to watch out for is alcohol. And this is a big one because I feel like, you know, as humans, we're always trying to like get around it, right? Like loopholes, cheats. So that's where a lot of the seltzers come in like, oh, there's zero, yeah, they're a hundred calories and zero zero carb or whatever they are, which I would say is a better option if you're going to drink alcohol. But I think a lot of times we see that and we're like, oh, I can have this light beer, this like seltzer, whatever I want, or this organic tannin free wine or whatever it is. even though they're low in calories, they're low in carbs, maybe all the things you've been trying to watch out for, they are not going to be great in terms of weight loss or in terms of like long term health, that sort of thing, because it's alcohol. I always tell people like, There is no healthy alcohol, you know, there's better options, but none of them is going to be like, Oh, I'm getting health benefits from this alcohol.

Baylee:

You're picking your poison.

Brianna:

yeah, exactly. So you're being more mindful of the poison you're picking, which is great. I love that. But this is where people go a little wrong is they think, Oh, I can just have as many as I want. And then you actually end up overeating. choosing higher sugary options later because alcohol does reduce your blood sugar, it makes you more hungry, more snacky, and then you're slightly inebriated and you're not going to order grilled chicken.

Baylee:

And just because you're doing a vodka water doesn't mean it's like unlimited. Like it's still alcohol. Sure. Yeah. It doesn't have carbs, but it still has calories. Like it still has nothing beneficial in it. It's still going to affect your body. And I think that's important to recognize that. Just because you're drinking vodka water. It's not the same thing as just drinking water.

Brianna:

Just drinking water.

Baylee:

You're still drinking alcohol so I would say I mean overall we want to keep alcohol less than two times a week because of its effect on a metabolism and you have a weight loss goals and You're really struggling. That is such an easy thing to adjust

Brianna:

know. People don't want to hear that. They don't, and I get it, it could be a lifestyle change, but if you are drinking more than twice a week, and I would even say more than two drinks in a sitting twice a week, which means four drink max. you're really doing yourself a disservice. And I know that's hard then people are like, well, why would I even drink? I'm like, well, then maybe,

Baylee:

Well, then just don't, I guess.

Brianna:

maybe don't. And again, and they always rebuttal with that. It's like really low calorie, like no carb. And that's not, that's not the point, but you know,

Baylee:

Well, if you, I was saying about this the other day, I'm like, you can't sit there and complain about your progress if you're not fully committed. And it's not meant to be like a F you type of thing, it's more meant to be like, you can't want this quicker progress or you want to see more results if you're not willing to put in more work. That's the reality.

Brianna:

I know. And people hate that, but it's. It's true. Plus everything that you do, especially if you're working with one of us on your way to seeing weight loss is all going to be beneficial for like long term habits. So long term, you don't want to be drinking alcohol multiple days a week. It's just such an easy way to have calories add up, carbohydrates add up, bad habits add up. You know, make you a little less insulin sensitive, all those, all those things. So how to incorporate liquid calories strategically. So again, if you're going to drink your calories, which is totally fine, make it work for you. So we kind of already talked about some of these, but have a protein packed smoothie. I like the ready made ones every now and again for like. On hand. I'm in a pinch. You mentioned the Chobani's. I love those, but I would say, try to make it a full protein, healthy fat fiber smoothie. Okay. But some protein powder in it, you know, some sort of fat source, like a nut butter, some chia seeds, you know, fruits, vegetables. It's such an easy way to get in fruits and vegetables. And if you're doing a smoothie correctly, it's actually a great meal replacement.

Baylee:

And one thing, I'm actually bringing up Red Co. right now, because I was looking at a drink there the other day. Just to point out things, let's say you got a 20 ounce soda. 20 ounces. That's about 70 grams of sugar.

Brianna:

You know, it's so

Baylee:

That's just 20 ounces. Let's say you got, what else was there? Oh, like one of their juices or lemonades or something. Let's do like the citrus punch.

Brianna:

56.

Baylee:

That is Ooh, do you want to guess? Ooh, 69

Brianna:

Dang, that's a lot,

Baylee:

total sugars. And I also feel like we tend to gravitate like juice is better than soda. Which I, I don't honestly agree. I think it depends on what you're doing. Something like this, I mean, they have about the same amount of sugar.

Brianna:

right? It's like, it's, it's equal. Like maybe you're getting a little bit more nutrients, right? From some, right? Cause we've talked about that before, like not all juices have like a lot of the nutrients are taken out of it. So it's like, it's such big mole prints.

Baylee:

Ooh, mango

Brianna:

that often. I look up soda amounts of sugar in soda often because I work with a lot of people that have diabetes. I'm like, alright. And then my doctor is sending me and they tell me all the things that they eat and I'm like, okay, I don't care what you're eating, we're not even going to, we're not even going to touch it. Don't care. Stop drinking your four Dr. Peppers throughout the day and that will lower it by like 140 something grams of sugar a day. Like your blood sugar. So much happier. don't

Baylee:

I mean, this mango smoothie has 42 grams of total sugars, so this isn't separating added sugars, I will say that, but if you look at the ingredients, first ingredients is a mango blend, which has water, mango puree, banana puree, white grape juice, orange juice. That's

Brianna:

up because I think, you know, we're talking about smoothies, right? And a lot of these places actually are kind of fall. So like, I don't think smoothie King's going to listen to this, you know, whatever. But that's a big one. Cause they're everywhere. A lot of theirs are marketed as like low sugar. because they don't add sugar into it, but the blends that they're using do have sugar. So, like, while you're trying to get, like, be more health conscious and like, okay, they told me to start my day with a protein smoothie, you might actually be getting just as much sugar. Yeah.

Baylee:

you get picky, like me. When I get a smoothie from anywhere, I honestly just automatically take out any sweeteners. Like if it has honey or agave syrup, I don't really care what it is, I just don't do it. I get the sweetness from the fruit and I've kind of, my taste buds have adapted where I enjoy it and I don't need that extra sugar. So yeah, that's a great point to bring up, because a lot of these places will use juice. So that's the second thing that I like to adjust. Instead of juice, I have them either use, I mean, most of the time we just have them do water. Because the almond milk, it's usually, it's going to be less sugar, but they're usually using a sweetened almond milk. So it kind of just depends, but I'll kind of fluctuate between there and kind of adjust what I can. The one thing I was looking at at Bredco the other day was the iced chai latte, 48 grams of sugar.

Brianna:

It's a

Baylee:

Again, total sugar, but still, I mean, sugars,

Brianna:

have we done, we've done, we've done an episode on added sugars. Like you should be having like 25 grams or less a day

Baylee:

mm hmm, of added sugars.

Brianna:

added, of added sugar. So that's kind of a lot. I mean, not kind of, it is but yeah, get, get kind of like annoying, you know, like be the person that asks, like every time I see the new drinks at Starbucks, I'll always see like, Oh, like they have one right now. It's like a midnight. something. It's like a blackberry with like some sort of milk and it looks really good and it's like only 160 calories or it's like pretty low calorie for like a large. And in my mind I'm like, I don't really care about the calories so much. What is it made with? You know, like they recently just have their matcha powder now is now unsweetened, which is great because people would get matcha being like, Oh, such a better health option. And there were sweetener matcha powder. sweetener in the almond or soy or oat milk. So I know where the advice comes from. Don't drink your calories because it, it does get sneaky, but you can be strategic. You can ask, Hey, what is this sweetened with? What do you make this with at smoothie places? Can I get water? They'll do it. I mean, it's like a 9 smoothie.

Baylee:

that's gonna be beneficial. The midnight drink, so I think it's supposed to have, like, coconut in it, correct? Yeah, coconut, so

Brianna:

it's like coconut milk.

Baylee:

a little bit more fat. There's only 3 grams of fat. There is 24 grams of sugars.

Brianna:

I knew it. I knew it, which is where

Baylee:

two grams of fiber,

Brianna:

alright, you're getting some from the blackberries there from like, you know, and that's where I tell people like sometimes calories is the least interesting thing.

Baylee:

Yes, if you look at the ingredients, ice, blackberry, refresher base, which the ingredients in that is water, sugar, white grape juice, natural flavors, blah, blah, blah, blah. But like, I mean, your first few ingredients are sugar.

Brianna:

Sugar. Yeah. And so that's where I'd say, like, if you're someone listening to this and you're like, I need to actually eat more calories, I'm trying to reverse diet or I'm just trying to start eating more. And so, you know, I can get away with like those, that's fine. I would say, don't fall into that pitfall. Be like really specific. You're trying to build a new habit of better meal timing, eating breakfast, healing your metabolism, kind of get picky. With, with how you do it instead of just being like, Oh, I can get away with this. I see that a lot. Like, I mean, football is big here and it's just like, everyone's like 14 season, like eat everything, do all the things that doesn't matter. And I'm like, Oh, you'd be such a better, you'd have such a better performance. If you did it a little better, you know, like I know that water burger mail is giving you 900 calories, but like, We can, we can get 900 calories all over the place, not, not bagging a water burger, but

Baylee:

It is so good.

Brianna:

it is, it is good, but you are, try to eat that and then go play in the hot sun, you're going to feel, that's, I'm telling you, you could have been more strategic, but, so your calories matter, get, you know, I think we're so used to being like,

Baylee:

Black and white thinking

Brianna:

yeah, black and white thinking, so get strategic, get, get picky.

Baylee:

and some people are like, well, how do you know this? Like I look it up like I don't memorize these menus. I look it up. In fact, well, I don't want to do that Okay, you can choose to Not take an information. You could choose to be uneducated in this topic, but you can also choose to be educated It does not take long. I mean it took me about 20 seconds to type in midnight drink Starbucks, and it takes you right to the page, and it tells you what's in it.

Brianna:

Yeah.

Baylee:

So it's up to you. Not saying it's like bad either way, but again, you cannot sit there and complain about progress if you're not willing to put in the work. Not saying that you have to be a hundred percent, not saying that you have to do everything right, or you suck. Your commitments are gonna lead to your progress.

Brianna:

Yeah. And you gotta build awareness, especially if you want it to last long term.

Baylee:

Yeah,

Brianna:

Like, why? Why am I skipping this drink at Starbucks, or why am I ordering it differently, you know?

Baylee:

Yeah, I think that's a big key with this episode too, is just like, be aware of what you're putting in your body. Like we said, smoothies are great, but as you mentioned, a lot of smoothie places, especially around me, it's like, you think you're getting a great smoothie, but when you actually look at the ingredients, there's hardly any actual fruit in it. It's just mango juice or something. And there's

Brianna:

tastes great, but it's like, eh.

Baylee:

there's like no protein, there's very little fat, because everyone is so concerned about the calories. Where we don't look at the big picture like I'd rather you eat a 200 calorie protein bar than 140 calorie midnight Starbucks drink Starbucks do me.

Brianna:

I'd rather you get the, you know, breakfast sandwich that has the higher carbs than that drink. Because odds are, at some point, you're gonna eat while you're sipping on that drink for the next two hours.

Baylee:

and We're not saying you can never do any of these things. It's what are we doing most often like they get Starbucks For example, they have fun drinks that come out all the time. Usually they're gonna have sugar. No So anytime I want to do them if I can address The amount of syrup they're using. I will do that or if you're like, I'm just like, you know what? I really just want this. I do it maybe twice a year. Does not

Brianna:

like this. Mm hmm. Mm hmm. Yeah,

Baylee:

Then I just do it and like I'll go on a walk afterwards. your blood sugar right down.

Brianna:

I just want this drink. Great. It's all about, I guess, just no awareness, knowing I know I'm doing something that's probably not great for my blood sugar. I'm choosing not to care right now. Cool. Move on. Like, great. But again, if you're kind of stuck in that rut of like, I'm doing everything right, maybe you could do things a little more strategically. But again, you can drink your calories. It's a very good way to increase your nutrients. get better at meal timing, easy way to pack a lot of, you know, nutrition into a little amount of thing that's an easy to drink. Also easy to overdo if you're doing certain things, which is why it's so recommended not to drink your calories. But again, do it's in the gray, you know, it's not black and white.

Baylee:

It depends.

Brianna:

Yeah. Again, it depends.

Baylee:

All right, everyone. We hope you enjoyed this episode. Let us know your thoughts or questions about liquid calories And we will be back next week with a brand new topic. Talk to you then. Bye

People on this episode

Contributor

Baylee

Host
Contributor

Brianna

Host