Refreshing Summer Low Calorie Drinks

Low Calorie Drinks

Everybody knows that losing weight — or maintaining a healthy weight over time, for that matter — requires careful manipulation of calories. To drop excess pounds and torch that extra body fat, you need to burn more calories than you consume. That, my friend, inevitably means monitoring how many calories you’re eating (and drinking!). People are generally pretty good at modifying their diets when they first decide to get healthy or lose weight. It’s fairly simple really – all you need to do is reduce your portion sizes, choose lower calorie snacks, eat high protein foods to fill yourself up faster and stay satisfied for longer, and get in plenty of vegetables and fruits. However, one thing you may not think of when dieting is what you drink.

 

What are the best drinks for weight loss, besides water, you may ask? Well, here are some guidelines. These drinks all share common characteristics, which means that smoothies are the ideal choice.

The best diet drinks that are actually healthy and nutritious all contain a little extra protein. Protein is vital in a weight loss diet. While usually thought of more as a nutrient associated with bodybuilders or athletes, protein plays an important role in fat loss. consuming sufficient amounts of protein boosts your metabolism, improves recovery rates, regulates hormone production, and aids satiety. Like fiber, it also takes longer to digest, helping you feel full, and stopping you from snacking on junk a few hours later — you just won't want it, because you'll still be full.

They all contain some fat too. There’s no need to be afraid of fat – it’s a vital component of any diet. You need a reasonable amount of fat for optimal health, and it aids weight loss too. It’s an energy source, maintains homeostasis, is needed for cell reproduction, and like protein keeps you feeling full.

By using real fruit, the sugar content is reduced, which means they provide less of an insulin spike. Insulin is a hormone released by the pancreas when you eat high sugar foods. Its main job is to shuttle nutrients and sugars to your muscle cells, but too much of it can lead to fat gain. Readymade Summer drinks cause a large insulin spike, but you needn’t worry about insulin with these homemade ones.

For all of the following awesome, tasty, and healthy diet drinks, put the ingredients in your blender and blitz on high for 30 to 60 seconds. You may want to add more ice or water to tailor them to your liking.

Berry Blast

Crushed Ice
1 cup zero sugar cranberry juice
½ cup blueberries
½ cup raspberries
½ cup strawberries
1 scoop strawberry flavored whey protein
1 tablespoon flax seeds

Pina Colada Cooler

Crushed ice
1 ring of tinned pineapple
2 tablespoons of desiccated coconut
½ cup reduced fat coconut milk
Lime zest
1 scoop unflavored whey protein

Ultimate Orange

Crushed ice
Juice and zest of two oranges
1 scoop of orange casein protein
1 cup grapefruit juice
Sweetener to taste

Bananarama

Crushed ice
1 large banana
1 cup skimmed milk
1 tablespoon peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Totally Nuts

Crushed ice
1 cup almond milk
1 cup hazelnut milk
1 handful flaked almonds
1 scoop vanilla protein powder
1 tablespoon cashew nut butter

Protein Power

Crushed ice
1 scoop unflavored protein powder
1 cup whole milk
1 tablespoon nut butter

Mocha Madness

Crushed ice
1 cup strong black coffee – brought to boil, then left to cool
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
1/8 cup grated dark chocolate (70% + cocoa)
1 scoop chocolate whey protein powder
½ cup milk

Oatilicious

Crushed ice
½ cup rolled porridge oats
1 cup whole milk
1 banana
1 tablespoon of hazelnut/ macademia nut oil

 

Honey Heaven

Crushed ice
2 tablespoons good quality honey (preferably Manuka)
Squeeze of lemon juice
1 cup fresh mixed berries
1 scoop unflavored whey isolate protein powder

Kool Kiwi

Crushed Ice
2 large kiwi fruit
1 apple
1 mango
1 scoop vanilla flavored whey protein powder
½ cup coconut milk

Once you give these drinks a try, you'll get a great feel for the kinds of ingredients that work well in smoothies — and with a little extra guidance from your friendly neighborhood search engine, you'll then be able to experiment and create great new smoothie recipes of your own!