6 Simple and Healthy Drinks for Weight Loss
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Today I’m going to cover some simple and healthy drinks for weight loss!
When you think about the best drinks for weight loss, smoothies may come to mind. However, smoothies can be complicated to make.
They can be great for your health, but they might not be the most convenient option when you’re looking for something simple. Plus, pulverizing fruits or veggies into a beverage can get expensive.
We’re not bashing the good old green smoothie, but we’d like to share some other options with you if you’re looking for healthy weight loss drinks.
The beverages below can easily be added to your diet to enhance your weight loss attempts. They’re low in calories, and many of them can curb cravings and help your body shed extra pounds.
Whether you’re just getting started trying to lose weight or are attempting to bust through a plateau, you might get better results if you start drinking some of the beverages below.
Just be aware that none of these drinks is a magic formula for losing weight. Your diet and a healthy lifestyle are still the best ways to lose extra pounds and keep them off!
P.S. I drink almost all of these drinks every single day to maintain my weight and get in extra vitamins and nutrients!
1. Black Coffee
Have you noticed that many weight loss supplements contain caffeine?
That’s because caffeine can improve your metabolism, and it also helps to improve the body’s ability to burn fat (1, 2).
It’s not just the caffeine that is good for you, however. The chlorogenic acid in coffee can help reduce the amount of sugar that your body absorbs from food (3).
According to the Specialty Coffee Chronicle, chlorogenic acid works as an antioxidant. That’s one of the added benefits you get from drinking coffee.
Coffee also contains riboflavin, pantothenic acid, manganese, potassium, magnesium, and niacin.
If you drink several cups a day, you could consume at least 10% of the recommended daily value of these nutrients.
If you begin adding flavoring, sugar, and creamer to your coffee, however, you may negate its benefits by adding carbs, fat, and processed chemicals. Stick with black coffee to boost your weight loss routine.
2. Apple Cider Vinegar:
Apple cider vinegar is made by fermenting apples into a compound that is low in calories and carbohydrate-free. Apple cider vinegar is comprised of about 5% acetic acid.
According to researchers, acetic acid can make it easier for the body to use glucose in the blood for energy and decrease insulin levels. Another study showed that acetic acid activates an enzyme that helps the body burn more fat. (1, 2)
Scientists have found that people who consume apple cider vinegar with meals may feel fuller, making them less likely to overeat (3).
Apple cider vinegar is a great tool for promoting fat loss, helping the body use carbs for energy and curbing cravings, but how should you take it? Drinking a tablespoon or two mixed with 8 ounces of water about 15 to 30 minutes before meals can help you optimize the benefits.
Raw, organic apple cider vinegar that has never been heated is typically milder and more palatable than other types of processed apple cider vinegar. Bragg’s is by far the best brand on the market right now.
See our article here for more health benefits.
3. Matcha Green Tea
You may be familiar with green tea’s health benefits. Matcha is a type of green tea that’s grown in a way that increases the levels of chlorophyll and amino acids in the final product.
It also has 10x the amount of antioxidants as a cup of regular green tea!
Matcha contains more caffeine, catechins, and antioxidants than regular green tea.
Dr. Axe explains that matcha green tea can help encourage weight loss. Research has found that people who drink tea with high levels of catechins have lower body fat, belly fat, and body weight than people who don’t.
Because matcha green tea can also improve recovery after high-intensity training, it can help you maintain optimal health if you have made intense workouts part of your weight loss program.
Make sure you buy 100% organic matcha and that it comes from Japan (not China). This brand is the one that I use and is great and affordable.
See our article here for more health benefits.
4. Lemon Water
While some celebrities and fitness gurus tout lemon water as the cure-all for weight problems, it’s not a miracle solution. According to Women’s Health Mag, there is no direct evidence that drinking lemon water can help you lose weight.
However, drinking lemon water can help your weight loss efforts by encouraging you to establish healthy rituals. If you make it a point to drink lemon water first thing in the morning, you’re helping to start your day on the right foot.
I have a cup of warm lemon water every single morning when I wake up before I eat anything or drink my matcha or coffee. Simply heat up the water until it is warm (not hot or it kills the natural enzymes), and squeeze 1/2 lemon into the water.
It’s also a good idea to drink it with a straw when possible to keep the acidity away from your tooth enamel.
Many people find that if they reinforce healthy habits at the beginning of the day, they are more likely to follow through with other advantageous behaviors as they go about their daily routine.
Drinking lemon water can also help you stay hydrated if you prefer the taste to that of regular water. If you’re swapping fattening or calorie-laden beverages for lemon water, you’ll double the benefit by ditching the extra calories.
5. Iced Water
According to Prevention, drinking ice water increases your metabolism.
Your body uses up energy (and burns calories) to maintain your 98.6-degree body temperature. If you chug a large serving of ice water, your body has to try harder to warm you up.
Drinking just three 24-ounce glasses of frosty water a day could cause you to burn 100 extra calories.
My thoughts on this are to drink water at whichever temperature you are more likely to drink more of it. So if you are like my best friend (Hey Shannon!) and love water really cold, that’s great!
I find that I can drink a lot more water when it’s room temperature, so I rarely have it cold. Test it out, and see what works for you. Try to get in 100 oz a day!
Need to freshen up the flavor? Add lemon, lime, or both!
For further reading, see our article on drinking water to lose weight.
6. Cinnamon Tea
This is a great one to have in the evenings because it can help curb those after dinner sweet cravings. Just make sure to mix it with some caffeine-free, herbal tea.
Research shows that cinnamon can help your body use sugar more efficiently (1).
It improves insulin sensitivity and can help improve weight loss, especially in people who have developed insulin resistance.
The Diabetes Self-Management website references studies that have found that as fat cells get larger, they produce chemicals that make you more insulin resistant. This means that your body doesn’t react as well to insulin, the compound that helps your body use sugar for energy.
More sugar stays in your bloodstream, hindering your weight loss efforts and potentially contributing to a whole host of health problems.
If you have a lot of weight to lose, you might be insulin resistant too. Drinking cinnamon tea can help mobilize your body’s response to insulin and help you lose stubborn pounds.
If you think you are having trouble losing weight and think you might be insulin resistant, our 21-Day Fat Loss Challenge would be a great fit for you. It also incorporates all of these healthy drinks above!
The program starts out with a week-long carbohydrate detox to help reset your system and make your body more insulin resistant so that you can properly process carbs again.
This detox will not only help you lose an average of 7-10 lbs in the first week, but it is designed to help you break through any weight loss plateau that you are currently suffering from.
Carbs are NOT the devil, but our bodies become VERY insulin resistant when they are overloaded with processed carbs for an extended period. Our program teaches you when to eat carbs, when not to eat them, what kinds to eat, and it will help you determine how YOUR body really responds to them.
We have over 1,000 people in our private support group going through the Challenge together, and every day they are sharing experiences, results, motivation, and lots of recipes!
If you are ready to make some changes in your life, this is the ONLY place you should start. We will teach you exactly how to make the necessary changes in your diet and your lifestyle and how to keep them “beyond the diet.”
Click here to get started with YOUR 21-Day Fat Loss Challenge today!
If you have any questions about our program or these healthy drinks for weight loss, please leave me a comment below, and we’d be happy to answer them!