Question for a nutritionist: is it possible to drink sparkling water when losing weight and how much?

The benefits and harms of soda

When choosing soda, you should give preference to naturally carbonated water.

It has a lot of useful properties:

• quenches thirst well;
• indicated for low levels of hydrochloric acid in the stomach;
• maintains acid-base balance;
• normalizes lymph flow, blood circulation, and functioning of the cardiovascular system;
• nourishes the body at the cellular level;
• alkalizes plasma.

Naturally carbonated mineral water is not suitable for continuous use.
It is drunk according to a plan drawn up by a nutritionist. Nutritionists warn about the negative consequences of drinking carbonated water:

1. Stretching of the stomach walls. Increased gas formation contributes to an increase in stomach volume and a constant feeling of hunger.
2. Carbon dioxide can cause fermentation in the stomach, cause belching, and acid reflux into the esophagus.
3. When drinking soda before meals, liquid enters the lower intestine, carbon dioxide expands the stomach, causing it to secrete more hydrochloric acid. A person experiences an irresistible feeling of hunger, but is limited in nutrition.

Excess hydrochloric acid in the stomach in the absence of food can cause gastritis and ulcers.

Carbonated water for weight loss

How much water should you drink per day to start losing weight? Every day a person needs to drink 30 ml of water per 1 kg of his weight. To find this number for a specific person, multiply 0.3 by their body weight. Thus, a woman or man weighing 85 kg should drink 2.5 liters of water per day.

However, sparkling water is not included in this figure. It can be consumed under certain circumstances so that its effects are beneficial and not harmful to health.

Increased appetite

It would seem how increasing appetite can help with weight loss. However, to lose weight, you need to eat more often. In other words, you need to speed up your metabolism. People with low stomach acid often forget to eat because their body has very few hunger signals. As a result, it turns out that they eat 1-2 times a day, and the body begins to save, fearing to die of hunger.

To regain a healthy feeling of hunger, you need to drink 150 g of sparkling water half an hour before meals. It acts as an aperitif, stimulating the pancreas to produce gastric juice. This will help your food digest better. But mineral water during weight loss will not solve the problem of low acidity, and you still need to eat by the clock or set an alarm so you don’t forget to eat.

Decreased appetite

For those people who are used to eating a lot and often, a mineral water diet can be a solution. If hunger persists throughout the day or the stomach is so tight that it is difficult to satisfy, you can use one meal. 20 minutes before meals you should drink a glass of warm mineral water.

This method will help trick the stomach by filling it with water, then there will be less room for food. Water will also flush away excess stomach acid, making you feel less hungry. The same method can be used before bed or at night when your appetite increases. When losing weight, in principle, you should not allow yourself to feel hungry, so that the body does not begin to accumulate and gastric juice begins to digest the stomach itself.

Mineral water for weight loss should be table water, i.e. containing no more than 2 g of salt per liter of water. You can also cook food on it. Increasing the amount of salt in the diet (and in water) does not contribute to weight loss; on the contrary, it delays the removal of fluid from the body, which is deposited mainly in the stomach.

Quenching your thirst

Mineral water for weight loss copes better with thirst than still water. But for this it is better to choose a natural, naturally carbonated or slightly carbonated product. However, it should not be very cold, then it will be difficult to drink and it will be difficult to breathe during training.

Restoring digestion

When you switch from a regular diet to a diet, you often change your food choices. Sometimes the body, not accustomed to proper nutrition, begins to react inappropriately. A feeling of heaviness and fermentation can appear even in fresh vegetables. Then mineral water comes to the rescue.

It is enough to drink half a glass of medicinal table water to get your stomach working normally again. This method replaces traditional cooking water with baking soda, which, on the contrary, extinguishes gastric juice, and food stops being digested, moves further through the intestines and begins to rot.

Contraindications

Experts do not allow people with the following diseases to drink soda:

• gastritis;
• high stomach acidity;
• peptic ulcer of the stomach and duodenum;
• pancreatitis, colitis;
• pathologies of the cardiovascular system;
• diseases of the urinary system;
• diabetes.

Making soda the main source of fluid when losing weight is strictly prohibited.

Mineral water diet rules

According to experts, mineral water promotes weight loss. But for this you should choose only proven brands, such as “Borjomi”, “Essentuki No. 2”, “Arkhyz-Iod”, etc. It is good if the mineral water is enriched with iodine, potassium and magnesium, and it contains only carbon dioxide. in minimal quantities. As a last resort, you should release it, that is, let the water “flow out.” The beneficial properties will not be lost from this.

Also follow a set of simple rules that will help you achieve first results within a month.

1. In the morning on an empty stomach, half an hour before meals, drink 1 glass of mineral water before releasing gas. You need to leave the water in the glass for 20 minutes.
2. You need to drink 200 mg of water every hour, cutting off 3 hours before bedtime. Drink as much water as you need throughout the day, at the rate of 30 ml per 1 kg of weight.
3. If after 2-3 days drinking water does not reduce the feeling of hunger, its amount should be increased to 250 mg every hour.
4. It should not be drunk during meals. If you are very thirsty, you can rinse your esophagus with 2-3 sips of water.
5. You can drink no earlier than half an hour after eating.
6. Coffee and black tea should be reduced to 1 cup per day. Both products dehydrate the body.
7. Do not mix a water diet with alcohol consumption. In this case, an additional burden is created on the kidneys, not to mention the fact that alcohol itself is very high in calories.
8. You need to consume from 1200 to 1500 kcal per day; if a person is engaged in heavy physical labor, you can increase this figure to 2000 kcal.
9. It is advisable to combine a mineral water diet with fitness, sauna and massage. A sauna or hammam can help remove excess fluid from your body.
10. Avoid eating foods with artificial flavor enhancers (monosodium glutamate, fructose, spices, lactose, sucrose), which increase appetite.

Warning! If in the first days you experience belching, gastric fermentation or flatulence, you should stop the mineral water diet. It's not suitable for your body. There is no need to force yourself to feel discomfort and harm your health.

How to use?

Losing weight with the help of soda will be slow, but you can speed it up by following a diet and physical activity. The volume of sparkling water per day should not exceed 0.5-0.6 liters. The optimal level of mineralization is 4 mg.

Experts advise drinking soda:

1. In the morning before meals. This helps dilute gastric hydrochloric acid.
2. Half an hour before meals, a glass twice a day. One glass of soda helps you eat a third less.

Nutritionists allow the use of naturally carbonated mineral water. The mineral composition depends on the individual characteristics of the patient. Before buying mineral water, it is better to consult a gastroenterologist.

All the most important information about drinking water during weight loss is here. A lot of useful and important information about water consumption is presented in this section.

Is it possible to mix kefir with sparkling water?

Carbonated water is not only dangerous in itself, but also does not go well with many foods. Among them are dairy products, in particular kefir. At first glance, the two drinks are quite beneficial for the body. Kefir and carbonated water should help you lose weight.

But in fact, their combination produces an interesting reaction. Combining in the stomach, they provoke a small explosion, like in a chemical plant. The important thing is that the consequences take a long time and are unpleasant for a person. He begins to belch, colic and heaviness.

Therefore, it is better not to combine kefir with carbonated water for weight loss, drink them at different times. For example, kefir in the morning for breakfast or in the evening before bed, and naturally carbonated mineral water for lunch before meals to reduce appetite.

Diet soda causes weight gain, not weight loss

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A new study published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society found that people who drink the diet version of soda gain about three times the belly fat over nine years compared to those who don't drink it. The work analyzed data from 749 people over the age of 65, who were asked every two years about the amount of soda they drank daily and how many cans were regular and how many were diet soda.

These answers turned out to be excellent predictors of weight gain: People who didn't drink diet soda gained about 2 cm in their waist circumference, while those who drank it daily gained 8 cm. Participants in the middle group (those who drank it occasionally) also consumed diet drinks), became 4.5 cm larger in girth. Keep in mind that fat deposits in the abdominal area - visceral fat - are considered a particularly unhealthy type of weight gain, associated with the development of cardiovascular disease, inflammation and type 2 diabetes.

Read more:

What Diet Soda Does to Belly Fat

The results, which the authors call “striking,” add to the belief that low- and no-calorie sweeteners lead to harmful health effects. There is no clear understanding of the mechanism of weight gain from diet soda yet, but scientists have theories. Sugar-free sodas contain sweeteners that taste 200-600 times sweeter. Professor Helen Hazuda of the University of Texas Health Science Center, who led the study, believes that the sweet taste gives a feeling of fullness, signaling the arrival of energy in the form of calories. Artificial sweeteners weaken this connection, leading to increased cravings for sweet foods. Another hypothesis is that sweeteners may change the composition of gut flora, increasing insulin resistance and decreasing glucose tolerance, both of which can lead to weight gain (the gut bacteria study was done in mice). Another version concerns the effect of sweeteners on the hormone leptin, which regulates appetite: its level drops and the feeling of satiety becomes more difficult.

The Calorie Control Council, an association of the reduced-calorie food and beverage industry, including diet soda, disagrees with the study's findings. “The use of low-calorie sweeteners in weight management has demonstrated positive results,” the board members said.