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8 Tips to Lose Weight Easily
Just Cut out Soda and Sugary Drinks
By Connie Bennett
If you're a soda drinker, I urge you to tackle your habit right now, whether it's to lose weight or improve your health. Here are 8 tips to curtail your soda guzzling when you hanker for this empty-calorie beverage:
1. Have a glass of sparkling water, with lemon, lime or even a piece of orange tossed in for flavor.
2. Drink a glass of good old water instead. It'll quench your thirst like a soft drink never can.
3. Steep a couple of bags of tasty herbal tea (from Yogi Tea, Celestial Seasonings or Good Earth) in hot water for a couple of minutes. Then add a bunch of ice cubes. This is much more flavorful and satisfying than a soda.
4. Make your own lemonade or orangeade. Just squeeze a lemon or two into a glass of water. You don't even need to add a sweetener. Or take an orange and hand squeeze half of it into water. (Eat the other half.)
5. If you're really adventurous and really want to get out from under your soda habit, drink a glass of green vegetable juice instead. (As you'll notice, I'm not recommending fruit juice because that can be quite high in sugar, too.)
6. Be daring and concoct your own blended goat's milk yogurt beverage with cinnamon or nutmeg. Then, if you like, add a few strawberries, raspberries or blueberries. (Don't add too many berries, because even though you're getting natural sugar from fruit, you don't want to get too much.)
7. When you're absolutely desperate and insist on having a soda, then share it with a friend so you get half the calories, half the sugar and half the caffeine that you'd otherwise get.
8. If you'r just not ready to say no to soda just yet, then make yourself "earn" that empty-calorie, nutrient-lacking beverage. First take a walk for a half hour. Then jump rope for five minutes. Then play with a hoola hoop for another five minutes. Then drink a glass of water. Next, before downing that soda, chew on an apple, pear or some strawberries with a handful of almonds. Hey, by the time you've done all of this, you may find that you're not in the mood anymore for that soft drink.
