Obesity Tax

I am sure you have been following along as our new President tries to fix our ailing economy. But have you been paying attention to what some of the States want to do?

They are hurting jst as much as everyone else. There are a lot of states, if not all, that are having to cut budgets and are coming across shortfalls. The chances are that any tax breaks we get from the federal government are going to be offset by higher taxes by the states.

The one that really caught my attention is the one they call the 'obesity tax'. It is called that because there are some states that want to tax those items that are contributing to obesity. The State of Florida is looking at taxing all non-diet soft drinks.

I don't know about you but I don't need anymore taxes, especially on food. Luckily, I don't drink soft drinks. Most people shouldn't.

My tip to you this week will not only help your waist line but also your pocket book. Drink more water. Yes. It is that simple. Our bodies were made to drink a lot of water, not all of these sugary drinks. That is especially true during the hotter months. The sugar drinks will not rehydrate your body the way it needs to be.

Definetly stay away from sports drinks. They are made for athletes or people who work out intensly for more than an hour at one time. My son and I drink it when we train for soccer but that is because we will spend from 2 to 5 hours training in 75 to 85 degree weather. It is a myth that anyone who sweats should drink it.

I have many tips you can learn throughout the year through my newsletter. I only scratch the surface in this blog. Go to www.askcoachb.com and subscribe today.

Lose 25 lbs and 3 Inches From Your Waist!

A study from the University of North Carolina discovered the people consume 450 calories a day from beverages. This is two times as much as what was consumed 30 years ago. This will add an extra 23 pounds of weight per year that needs to be burned (most likely just carried around as extra weight)!

Beverages are the most difficult calories to gauge because there are no visual clues like other foods. However, these are the easiest to cut from your diet. Reviewing what you consume and making better choices will help you lose weight. People have lost as much as 25 pounds and 3 inches off their waist from just changing this one aspect of their daily diet.

Here are the 20 “worst” items to drink:

Worst Light Beer
Samual Adams Light (12 oz)
· 124 calories
· 10 grams carbohydrates
Worst “Healthy” Drink
Glaceau Vitamin Water (20 oz)
· 130 calories
· 33 grams sugar
Worst Soda
Sunkist (12 oz)
· 190 calories
· 52 grams sugar
Worst Beer
Sierra Nevada Stout (12 oz)
· 210 calories
· 20 grams carbohydrates
Worst Lemonade
Minute Maid Lemonade (20 oz)
· 250 calories
· 68 grams sugar
Worst Tea-Like Substance
SoBe Zen Tea (20 oz)
· 275 calories
· 70 grams sugar
Worst Energy Drink
Rockstar Original (16 oz)
· 280 calories
· 62 grams sugar
Worst Iced Tea
Lipton Iced Brisk Lemon Iced Tea (20 oz)
· 325 calories
· 81 grams sugar
Worst Juice Imposter
Arizona Kiwi Strawberry (23.5 oz)
· 360 calories
· 84 grams sugar
Worst Chocolate Milk
Nesquik (16 oz)
· 400 calories
· 10 grams fat (6 grams saturated)
· 60 grams sugar
Worst Chai Tea Drink
Caribou Coffee Large Chai Tea Latte
· 420 calories
· 47 grams sugar
Worst Kid’s Hot Beverage
Cosi Kid’s Hot Chocolate (12 oz)
· 436 calories
· 60 grams sugar
Worst Summer Cocktail
Pina Colada
· 625 calories
· 75 grams sugar
Worst Coffee Alternative
Starbuck’s Venti White Hot Chocolate
· 640 calories
· 23 grams fat (15 grams saturated)
· 76 grams sugar
Worst Hot Coffee
Starbuck’s Venti 2% Peppermint White Chocolate Mocha
· 660 calories
· 22 grams fat (14 grams saturated)
· 95 grams sugar
Worst Blended Fruit Drink
Baskin-Robbins Pomegranate Banana Fruit Blast Smoothie (32 oz)
· 1,020 calories
· 232 grams sugar
Worst Frozen Coffee Drink
Cosi Gigante Double OH! Arctic (24 oz)
· 1,033 calories
· 35 grams fat
· 177 grams carbohydrates
Worst Smoothie
Jamba Juice Peanut Butter Moo’d Power Smoothie (32 oz)
· 1,170 calories
· 169 grams sugar
Worst Milkshake
Baskin-Robbins Large York Peppermint Pattie Shake (32 oz)
· 2,210 calories
· 103 grams fat (64 grams saturated)
· 281 grams sugar
Worst Drink in America
Baskin-Robbins Large Heath Bar Shake
· 2,310 calories
· 108 grams fat (64 grams saturated)
· 266 grams sugar

The Worst Drink in America by the Numbers:
73: the number of ingredients in this milkshake
66: teaspoons of sugar in this drink
11: the amount of Heath Bars you have to consume to equal the calories
12: average number of minutes to consume the drink
240: minutes on the treadmill, running at a moderate pace, to burn off these calories

My advice is to stick to water: no calories, no fat, and no carbohydrates. If you need to have a little more flavor, make sure you check out these 3 items on the nutrition label. You need to get these as low as possible. When you cut out these calories, you will lose weight.

This is a sample of the coaching tips I will be giving in my newsletter. Stay tuned for the first issue to come out soon. Until then, follow this simple tip and see the results

Calories in Water?

Since when does water have calories? I have been seeing all of these commercials on water that has less calories than another water. Why? Because every business is looking for an edge. Beverage companies are now adding flavors, vitamins, minerals and other things in water in order to increase their market share.

Water should have zero calories, zero fat, zero protien, zero carbohydrates, zero everything! Just plain old water is what your body needs. There are some waters that have flavorings. As long as they have zeroes on the nutrition label you are fine.

Now I am going to take this a little further. Sports drinks. The adds say "if you sweat you lose electrolites and they need to be replaced". That is not entirely accurate. If you work out for 20 to 30 minutes you should be sweating. but you do not sweat enough that you need to drink a sugary sports drink. Sports drinks are good if you work out for more than an hour. Even then I would recommend you drink the less sugary stuff like Gatorade's G2. The regular sports drinks are really made for athletes that work long and hard almost every day. Water is plenty good for the rest of us.

My recommendation for anyone trying to lose weight is to look at what you are drinking every day. Even drinking diet colas should be replaced with water. I like to use the guideline of one ounce of water for every pound of weight. For instance, if you weigh 180 pounds then you should drink 180 ounces of water every day. that equates to 11.25 16 ounce bottles of water. That is a lot of water but it is effective in keeping you hydrated when working out and will aid in losing weight. You could also be more conservative and figure out how many cans of soda you drink in a day and aim to drink that much in water instead.

The bottom line is plain water is the best thing for you. Never mind the hype.