Dr. Sarah Stombaugh:
This is Dr. Sarah Stombaugh and you are listening to the Conquer Your Weight Podcast.

Announcer:
Welcome to the Conquer Your Weight Podcast, where you will learn to understand your mind and body so you can achieve long-term weight loss. Here’s your host, obesity medicine physician and life coach, Dr. Sarah Stombaugh.

Dr. Sarah Stombaugh:
Last week we talked about calories in versus calories out and how it is so much more complex than just simply a math equation in your body. There’s a lot of other factors going on, but what I want to focus on today is those hidden calories, because what we do know is that you have to be in a calorie deficit in order to lose weight. And there’s a lot of sneaky calories that get in our food, whether it’s sugar, whether it’s fat, and add up in ways that we are not always completely aware of. And those hidden calories can really make weight loss challenging. So today we’re going to talk about where some of those common places are that hidden calories are lying and they give you the tools so that you can look at your current diet, look at what you’re doing and make some changes to better support your health goals.

Because you do have to be in this deficit and that weight gain is going to add up over time because it’s little decisions that add up. It’s rarely just a single slice of cake, a single special meal that’s making a difference. But if every single day or many days per week you are having these sneaky and hidden calories, those are going to feel like they sabotage your weight loss journey. So let’s dive into the top four places that calories are hiding. Now number one is the beverages that you are consuming. And this is honestly one of the biggest things that comes up for most patients in my practice. This can be everything from alcohol to coffee beverages to sports drinks to juice to smoothies. There are so many different places that can be calorically dense and honestly may not be doing a whole lot for you.

Now in this era where protein shakes have gotten really popular, protein shakes are a great source of nutrition and many of them are low sugar. So those can absolutely be part of your diet, but there’s a lot of things that might be sticking in that are adding up. So let’s talk about some of those different things. So for one, coffee drinks. I think this is something that a lot of people are not always thinking about how much added sugar might be in their coffee. If you are having black coffee or black espresso, for example, totally fine. Maybe you’re having a plain latte and you’re mixing in some milk or you’re adding a little bit of plain cream or half and half. That is likely going to be in line with your goals. But as soon as we start having some of the different flavored coffee options, it is amazing how quickly those add up, especially if you’re going through the drive-through to grab a Dunkin Donuts or to grab Starbucks or something like that.

So one of the things I will encourage you to do if you have a Starbucks order or Dunkin Donuts or whatever the place is, if you have an order that you’re consistently doing, go to their app, go to their website and look up, okay, what is the nutrition breakdown for this beverage? And you might be really shocked at what you see. I don’t care as much actually about the specific calories, but one of the things I want you to look at is what is the amount of added sugar? So I went and pulled up just for a Starbucks grande vanilla latte. There is 35 grams of added sugar in that. So when they are doing those pumps of vanilla, that is 35 grams of sugar. Now, I am an incredibly visual person and I promise I will make y’all a video where we do this visually, but a teaspoon is four grams of sugar.

So I want you to imagine going into your kitchen, grabbing the sugar jar, grabbing a teaspoon. And I want you to imagine measuring out how much would it take to get 35 grams of sugar. Y’all, that is almost nine teaspoons worth of sugar. That is a lot, a lot of sugar in a beverage that is this big. And so even just from a, you picture it and you think about if I were to scoop nine times nine teaspoons worth of sugar into that beverage, that is a lot of sugar. And so this is not just calories here, but this is sugar calories. And so last week when we talked about the role of insulin resistance, we talked about how different calories signal in our body. Those sugar calories don’t feel great in our body. They don’t give us any sort of lasting fullness or satiety and they can really drive insulin resistance.

So not only are these calories that can add up, but this is sugar that is adding up in a really significant way. So you might consider switching it for a sugar-free option or honestly, my preference over time is to decrease that number of pumps and ultimately switch to having a plain latte. So that can be a place where it really adds up. Alternatively, a lot of people, they’re in a weight loss journey. You’re hearing about electrolytes, electrolytes. There’s a lot of great sugar-free options that are out there, but some of the sports drinks, the non-sugar-free ones have a meaningful amount of sugar. And this is because they are designed for athletes. If you think about Gatorade, it was designed for the University of Florida for their football team. And you can imagine that in August when their football team is doing those summer practices in the Florida area, it is incredibly hot.

They’re getting very sweaty. They’re losing a lot of electrolytes. They’re losing a lot of sugar and they need that to be repleted. In a typical 16-ounce bottle of Gatorade, there’s 28 grams of sugar, so that is seven teaspoons worth of sugar. So sport beverages can really add up. I think another really tricky one is fruit juice. A lot of times people are thinking, “Oh, it’s juice so therefore it’s healthy.” I’m here to tell you that soda and juice are processed nearly identically in the body. There is no benefit besides maybe a little bit of vitamin C that you are getting from having a glass of fruit juice. Having a orange is very different than having a glass of orange juice. When you have a whole piece of fruit, you get that wrapped up with all the fiber. Your body absorbs it over a much slower period of time and has a very different impact compared to having a juice version of that fruit.

Furthermore, it typically takes a few oranges to make a glass of orange juice. I don’t know if you’ve ever made orange juice, but if you juice just one orange, you’re going to have a really sad amount of orange juice that comes out of that. Typically, you’re going to need to juice at least two large or even three oranges to get a glass of orange juice. And if you would never sit down and eat three oranges, then you should not be having a glass of orange juice. So eight ounces of orange juice, for example, even if it is 100% pure fruit juice, there’s no added sugar or anything like that, it’s going to be about 24 grams of fruit sugar and your body is processing this sugar in the same way that it would process table sugar or high fructose corn syrup or anything like that.

So it’s not providing really any health benefit for you. And that 24 grams of sugar is the equivalent of six teaspoons worth of sugar. So this is a really meaningful amount of sugar and you’re not getting it packaged up with that fiber. So I think fruit juice may be reserved for children on special occasions, but having the whole piece of fruit every single time is going to win out in terms of what is a healthier option. Now, you’ve probably heard me say it before and I will say it again, but alcohol is a major source of hidden calories. A lot of times people are thinking about, “Oh, the mixers that go into drinks and all of that. ” But the reality is even liquor, even wine, even beer, these have calories in the form of alcohol and alcohol is fairly calorically dense. It is processed in its own macronutrient category and our body sees and recognizes this almost as a poison.

And so your body’s going to prioritize processing the alcohol, which can slow down the way the rest of our meal, if we’re consuming it alongside another meal, can slow down the way the rest of that meal is prioritized. Now it doesn’t mean that you have to cut out alcohol completely from your diet, but one thing you might want to take a very serious look at is, is this something I’m really enjoying? Is this a special thing for me versus has it just become routine having a drink or two drinks every single night where it’s not even special, it’s just sort of what you do. Is that something that you want to adjust because that is a meaningful amount of calories and it’s those alcohol calories. So it can really wreak havoc on our metabolic health. Is that something that you want to be doing as part of your every single day routine?

So that’s something that I will often talk to my patients about because alcohol can be a very significant source of hidden calories. So next we want to take a look at calorically dense foods, but foods that look healthy but are actually ones we have to be really careful with. So when we think about healthy fats, predominantly unsaturated fats, but some saturated fats as well, we look at fats that are found in nuts and in nut butters. We look at fats done in avocados and oils and that type of thing or even healthy foods or healthy foods like trail mix or granola or dried fruit. These are places where the food is masking as something healthy. A lot of times there’s even quite a few marketing terms talking about this as a healthy food choice, but it may actually be a very dense source of energy.

We know that fats, which nuts are predominantly fat, but of course they’re fiber and so fiber, which is carbohydrate and protein as well. They’re pretty balanced food, but they do have a meaningful amount of fat in them. And what that means is that they’re very calorically dense. If you read the serving size of any nuts, it’s often a pretty small amount, usually about the amount that fills the palm of your hand. And so that can be fine, but one thing that we often do is we have a jar, we have a large bag and we’re just sort of mindlessly eating and it is very easy to consume 200, 500, 1000 calories worth of nuts in one setting. So what I like to encourage people to do is have it as part of their meal and also be very intentional with setting it aside in a bowl, buying small single serve packages of it rather than mindlessly eating out of container.

Similarly, a lot of things like dried fruit, for example, like apricots. If you have seen a dried apricot, so that teeny dried apricot, that is an entire apricot. So if you went to the grocery store and bought a fresh apricot, it’d be much bigger and you would eat one of those or maybe two or three of them. Sometimes they’re not huge, but you’d eat a couple of those. When you’re eating dried apricots, it is easy to eat 10 of those or 20 of those. That is literally an entire apricot that is dried out and it would be absurd to eat that many in the fresh version because it’s dehydrated. So it doesn’t have that same volume as if you were eating the fresh version. So dried fruit can be something that you do consume, but just be mindful because you can add up a lot of, and again, this is fruit sugar, so you can add up a really significant amount.

It would not be appropriate. I think anyone listening would say, “Okay, eating 20 apricots would feel crazy, but it’d be very easy for us to eat that many dried apricots.” So just being mindful of what is it that I’m consuming. Even a raisin, for example, like a teeny tiny raisin, that is a whole grape that is dehydrated. So if you ate a bunch of grapes, if you were to think about the number of grapes versus the number of reasons, you’re much more likely to eat a higher number of raisins compared to the number of grapes that you would eat. So just be mindful that these very calorie dense foods, even if they’re traditionally things that we think of of healthy, can make a big difference. Similarly, things like olive oil or olives, avocados, healthy fats absolutely can and should be incorporated into your diet, but being mindful of how these are consumed and making sure that you’re not consuming large quantities of them just because you feel like they’re a healthy option.

Now thinking of some of these oils, sometimes it’s these extras that really add up in a meaningful way. The oils that we cook with, for example, so whether it’s butter, whether it’s other cooking oils, those can add calories to our food in a way that we’re not always thinking about. Things like dressing, things like the sauces or the dips that we use, things like sprinkling on cheese, having little samples or leftovers. These are sometimes just the little extras that add up in really meaningful ways. So being mindful of what am I cooking my food in? How much oil am I using if I’m cooking? If I’m putting dressing on a salad, am I measuring it or being mindful of that amount? If I’m choosing a sauce, is there a way that I can make this slightly healthier? If I’m looking at ketchup, a lot of ketchups have huge amounts of added sugar in them, for example.Can I find a healthier version? There’s definitely some healthier versions that are out there that have less added sugar. Are some of these extras adding up in meaningful ways? I also talked about samples and leftovers. We think about if you’re walking like I love Costco and you’re walking through Costco on a Saturday, there are all sorts of samples and that is totally fine and dandy, but those are calories that do add up in our day as well. I have young children that many of you know, my kids are three, five, and seven. So a very common scenario in our house is that at the end of the meal, there’s food left over on the plate and I have found myself eating a half-eating quesadilla at the end of a meal and it’s like, what am I doing here? So just be mindful because those are calories that we’re not always thinking about, but they add up over time.

I also want to address what is happening on weekends and what is happening on our social occasions. Sometimes Monday through Friday go really well. We feel like we’re eating on a plan, life’s really good and the weekend rolls around and it just all goes off the rails and feels like, oh my gosh, I’m totally out of control. My best advice here, whether it’s the weekend, it’s a party, it’s a vacation, some sort of gathering, is to have a plan in advance of what that will look like. How are you going to make sure to prioritize fiber, to prioritize protein? Because it can be so discouraging to be like, oh man, Monday through Friday, I was really in line with things and then I just totally undid it on Saturday or Sunday. And for one, you didn’t totally undo it. The dedication that you had Monday through Friday is absolutely still making a difference in our health goals, but it does feel really disempowering to feel like we’re leading two different lives that Monday through Friday look very different from our weekend.

So bring some intentionality, bring some planning. Are there times where you need to review a restaurant menu in advance to look at how much alcohol or if you’re going to have dessert and how much of it? Making some of those decisions in advance feels really empowering and allows you to stick to your goals. Even if those goals are to eat a dessert, it allows you to feel more empowered and more positive about the decisions that you’ve already made. Now, I do want to acknowledge as part of this episode as well that it’s not just all about calories in versus calories out. There can be a lot of other things going on like insulin resistance, like menopause, like health conditions, or maybe the medications to treat those health conditions. Maybe you’re stressed or not sleeping. Lots of different things contribute to the way that our body processes and uses energy.

So sometimes we’re trying to find hidden calories and it’s not necessarily obvious that they are there and this is where working with a board certified obesity medicine physician can be incredibly helpful to do that dietary review, but the rest of your medical review as well to understand what is going on. If you are looking for someone to support you in your weight wash journey, I would love to be the person that helps you. I see patients in person in Charlottesville, Virginia and by telemedicine throughout the states of Illinois, Tennessee, and Virginia. I also have an online course called The GLP Guide where you will get information, you’ll get access to videos that address all of the questions that you will have on your GLP journey. If you’re interested in learning more about working with me or purchasing The GLP guide, you can learn more at www.sarahstombaughmd.com. Thank you so much for joining me for today’s episode. See you all next time.