How To Be A Smart Drinker

By Dr. W. Gifford Jones

November 9, 2002

"Aren't you being a bit inconsistent? You're always advising others to cut down on sugar. Then before dinner you have a rum and coke? Don't you realize that rum is made from sugar?" I feel like I've been caught with my hand in the cookie jar when my wife scolds me for bring so righteous. And since she's also my editor I try to tread lightly when it comes to offering advice. I wouldn't dare question where she places a comma. But how illogical am I?

Today we're often told what to eat, but what to drink doesn't get top billing. Dr. Barry M. Popkin, a nutritional epidemiologist at the University of North Carolina, reports in Nutrition Action that in the U.S. the average person obtains 21 percent of his/her calories from beverages. Moreover, he or she is consuming from 150 to 300 more calories each day than 30 years ago and about half of this caloric increase comes from soft drinks and fruit drinks.

Drinking habits have also changed drastically. Over the last 30 years North Americans drink more of everything except milk. And soft drinks loaded with sugar (the same that's in rum!) have more than doubled. In fact, Nutrition Action reports that some adults have tripled their daily intake of alcohol. (My editor will be certain to make a remark about that!)

The bad news is that sweetened drinks don't stop you from eating less food. Liquid calories are silent calories that have no effect on numbing the hunger reflex.

Luckily you could live on food and water alone. But I agree with W.C. Fields, the comedian, who joked, "No use for water, water is for flowing under bridges". And with his large, red, bulbous nose he always added, "A woman drove me to drink and I never wrote to thank her for it".

Some authorities say we need eight glasses of water a day. I'm happy others disagree as I've never enjoyed water. We already get 20 percent of our water intake from food. And unless we're in the Sahara Desert we're not going to die from dehydration. Nature has also endowed us with an excellent thermostat that tells us when we need to drink.

So how can you drink smart? First of all, realize that a large McDonald's Chocolate triple thick milkshake contains 1,160 calories, Starbuck's Caffe Latte, venti 340 calories, Tim Horton's small iced cappuccino, 250 calories, a 10 ounce soft drink, 160 calories and Snapple Lemon Iced Tea, 190 calories. Whole milk has 160 calories and 2 percent milk 130. Dr. Popkin stated that no one school-age or older should drink either kind of milk due to their large content of saturated fat.

Non diet soft drinks and fruit drinks confer no benefit. In fact, they're one of the major causes of weight gain and partly responsible for the epidemic of obesity and diabetes.

At this point you may wonder what's left to drink. Unsweetened tea and coffee is a good replacement for water. I've found it easy to enjoy tea without sugar. Each teaspoon of sugar adds 16 calories. Skim milk only has 110 calories while also providing calcium, magnesium, potassium and vitamin D. We should all drink more of it. Apple and orange juice adds vitamin C to the diet and each contains 110 calories.

Feeling depressed by this point. Need an alcoholic drink? A cold light calorie beer has from 90 to 100 calories. In addition, beer is low in sodium and has no cholesterol. An average serving of wine contains 110 calories.

But how can I convince my wife that rum is beneficial for me? It's not easy. But I remind her that one ounce of rum has only 100 calories. And I always use diet cola as the mix that has zero calories. And whether its beer, wine or rum multiple studies show that a little alcohol content decreases the risk of heart attack. She just smiles. Then she likes to add, "But sometimes you have two drinks. That's twice the sugar." So I'm not so righteous at cocktail time!

W. Gifford-Jones M.D is the pen name of Dr. Ken Walker graduate of Harvard. Dr. Walker's website is: Docgiff.com

My book, �90 + How I Got There� can be obtained by sending $19.95 to:

Giff Holdings, 525 Balliol St, Unit # 6,Toronto, Ontario, M4S 1E1

Pre-2008 articles by Gifford Jones

Canada Free Press, CFP Editor Judi McLeod