The #1 Worst Drink for Your Metabolism, Says Dietitian
As much as you try to exercise and follow healthy eating patterns, your metabolism can also play a big part in losing weight. If your metabolism can easily burn calories and convert them to energy, then weight loss can be an easier task. This isn't the case for all. Others try to do what they can to speed up their metabolism, and it doesn't always pan out.
Although it seems like you're putting in all the effort, there may be some factors that are causing your metabolism to slow down. It may be time to start cutting back on certain insatiable foods and drinks to help boost your metabolism. According to Molly Hembree, MS, RD, LD the worst drink for your metabolism is a sugar-sweetened beverage.
"I chose sugar-sweetened beverages because they are full of empty calories that provide our body with little to no health benefits," says Hembree.
These drinks are bad for your overall health. However, Hembree emphasizes that these drinks are not the cause of metabolism change.
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"Our metabolism is an intricate set of processes in the body that influence everything from weight to rate of digestion and temperature regulation," Hembree explains. "The vast majority of metabolic rate is subject to variation from person to person based on factors like weight, sex, genetics, and muscle composition."
With that being said, Hembree suggests that individual drink choices are unlikely to change metabolism, but making consistent healthy decisions, including avoiding poor beverage picks, can set your metabolism up as best as possible within your control.
This is why she chose sugar-sweetened beverages, which include drinks like sweetened teas and juices, sugary specialty coffee drinks, and regular sodas.
The added sugar in these sugar-sweetened beverages has been known for slowing your metabolism due to the type of sugar in these products. That sugar? Fructose.
A study published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that people who drank fructose-sweetened beverages significantly slowed metabolism by decreasing the number of baseline calories burned every day.
Sugary-sweetened beverages have also been linked to being the worst for belly fat, and this is due to their ingredients. For example, fructose-sweetened beverages caused increased fat in both overweight and average-weight adults. It also has the effect to decreases sensitivity to insulin. Also, increasing the chances of dyslipidemia: an overflow of fats in your bloodstream.
Moreover, beverages like sweetened juices and teas as well as sodas all use added sugar to make them taste even sweeter. These sugar-sweetened beverages have empty calories, which not only makes the drink unsatisfying in feeling full but also adds unnecessary calorie intake. If you don't feel full, it can lead to eating more, which may cause weight gain. Instead, consider replacing your soda intake with any of these 25 Healthy, Low-Sugar Soda Alternatives.
