Ineffective Liquid Diets
Including Health Risks

Written by Sky Taylor, Diet Bites

Dangers of Liquid Diets

What is more nutritious?

- A canned liquid diet OR

- A glass of water and a multi-vitamin?

We can tell our readers that the safest manner of weight loss doesn't come in a can or bottle.

Our bodies may have started out with the sole ability of processing liquids, but after we exited infancy, our needs changed. Solids became a necessity.

When our stomach doesn't receive incoming food for processing, the metabolism tends to slide into slow motion, realizing that something is amiss - so it does its part by conserving calories, keeping the body operating until things stabilize.

Meal Supplements Higher in Calories Than a Healthy Meal

What about canned diet concoctions used as meal supplements?

- A small salad with lean slices of deli meat and a few cubes of cheese contains far less calories than most canned diet supplements. A canned diet supplement may contain 250 calories or more!

- Common sense tells us that obtaining our vitamins naturally is the best method.

Satisfying Powers of Liquid Diets Very Poor

To test the appetite-satisfying powers of liquid diets, drink one at meal time. On the following day, try enjoying a serving of oatmeal with 1/2 cup of skim milk and a spoon of sugar - about two hundred calories.

Which sticks with you longer - the oatmeal, or the liquid diet?

Liquid diets can be brutal when it comes to a raging appetite - and given the calorie content, the body would be better satisfied with a real meal deal.

Here are just a few diet menus at Diet Bites for comparison to canned liquid diets. Most liquid diets contain 250 calories or more per serving.

For about 300 calories you can enjoy:

Little Taquito: 1 scrambled egg scrambled in buttery no calorie, non-stick spray. Roll into a small flour tortilla with 1/2 slice of real cheese and a dash of salsa.

1/2 cup of melon

1 cup of skim milk

coffee/tea if desired prepared with low fat creamer and no calorie sugar

For about 350 calories you can enjoy:

Spaghetti & Meat Sauce - 1 cup of your favorite pasta plus 1/2 cup of meat sauce.

Enjoy a side-salad of the lettuce and tomato, served with 1 teaspoon light Italian salad dressing.

coffee/tea if desired prepared with low fat creamer and no calorie sugar

Liquid Dieting Dangers & Risks to Good Health

Before going on any liquid diet, you should seek the advice of your doctor. If a particular hidden condition exists, a liquid diet may prove fatal.

Because most are negligent in dietary fiber, the digestive system suffers. Waste become difficult to remove from the body.

While a daily vitamin can assist when one is attempting to lose excess body fat, vitamins in a can which comprise the day's meals can cause more harm than good.

Symptoms to monitor include:

- fast heartbeat, tightness or pain in your chest

- feeling like you're going to faint or light-headed

- abdominal cramping

- tremors or 'the shakes'

- confusion

- diarrhea or severe constipation

- feeling of unwellness

- other symptoms that you do not normally exhibit

Weight Gain Caused by Common Beverages

If you haven't changed your daily diet lately but have been experiencing weight gain, you may find the cause of weight gain in your glass.

Sodas tend to contain about 140 calories per cup - and most individuals don't pull out a measuring cup when filling their glass. The average glass holds closer to two cups than one.

Juices are another hot-spot when it comes to calorie content and is presenting an issue in the smallest of humans with many health professionals advising to limit juice in those early months.

While one plump orange provides about sixty calories, one cup of orange juice contains almost twice the calories. Here are a few other eye-opening comparisons based on sweetened juices and the calories contained therein:

1 Peach contains about 35 while 1 cup of peach nectar contains about 140

1 small Apple contains about 80 while 1 cup of apple juice contains about 130

1 large Apricot contains about 17 while 1 cup of apricot nectar contains about 150

1 cup of Cranberries contains about 45 while 1 cup of cranberry juice contains about 150

1 cup of Grapes contains about 55 while 1 cup of grape juice contains about 150

1 Grapefruit contains about 70 while 1 cup of grapefruit juice contains about 120

1 cup of Pineapple contains about 75 calories while 1 cup of pineapple juice contains about 150

And if the individual's favorite glass holds two cups, that serving of juice can add up to about 600 calories if enjoyed twice daily.

Milk, although healthy and calcium-spirited, is also pricey in calories when whole is chosen over skim. Whole milk contains about 160 calories per cup (more than most juices) while skim milk contains 1/2 the calories, for about 80 calories per cup.

How Beverages Cause Weight Gain

When beverages are mined with sugar or alcohol, calories can get out of hand before one realizes.

Even many diet-type drinks contain a plethora of calories, such as the canned drinks often substituted for meals.

Another culprit are the liquid cans intended for breakfast. Those vitamins and minerals come at a high cost when tallied up by calorie content.

Another calorie-glut comes in the form of athletic drinks. Again, dehydrating cost a lot of calories and unless the individual has sweated out precious minerals which put the body out of balance, the individual would do well to simply hydrate with water.

In Summary

Sugar contains about 800 calories per cup and those high calories spill over into sugar-sweetened drinks.

Reach for clear water to wet your whistle, and opt for diet-friendly sodas and other calorie-wise beverages. You may save enough calories to halt weight gain in its tracks.

Ineffective Liquid Diets Including Health Risks