Struggling with your diet? Here's an easy way to cut calories: just watch what you drink...

Anyone who has ever been on a diet has a fair idea of how much damage a fry-up or slice of cake can do. But many of us don’t factor in the calories we drink when we are trying to lose weight.

However, believe it or not, some of the most popular drinks out there are also packed with hidden calories, fat and sugar that can make people pack on the pounds. For instance, when you're drinking that Venti Starbucks Frappuccino, you're drinking a cheeseburger worth of calories. As you can see calories from drinks can really add up. But there is good news: you have plenty of options for reducing the number of calories in what you drink.

The numbers behind the beverages

Occasion	Instead of…	Calories	Try…	Calories
Morning coffee shop run	Medium café latte (16 ounces) made with whole milk	265	Small café latte (12 ounces) made with fat-free milk	125
Lunchtime combo meal	20-oz. bottle of nondiet cola with your lunch	227	Bottle of water or diet soda	0
Afternoon break	Sweetened lemon iced tea from the vending machine (16 ounces)	180	Sparkling water with natural lemon flavor (not sweetened)	0
Dinnertime	A glass of nondiet ginger ale with your meal (12 ounces)	124	Water with a slice of lemon or lime, or seltzer water with a splash of 100% fruit juice	0 calories for the water with fruit slice, or about 30 calories for seltzer water with 2 ounces of 100% orange juice.
Total beverage calories:		796		125-155

(USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference)

Substituting no- or low-calorie drinks for sugar-sweetened beverages cuts about 650 calories in the example above.

Portion size matters
You've got to do portion control and use common sense... For example, you do not need a 12 ounce glass of juice in the morning, cut back to 6 ounces of fruit juice or better yet replace the juice with a piece of fruit. A 12 ounce glass of juice contains 192 calories.

Select low-fat options
Opt for low fat beverages. If you order a coffee, request fat free or 1% milk be added instead of whole milk. (FYI - 2% milk is not considered a low fat choice.) Stock your refrigerator with reduced fat milk instead of whole milk or 2% milk. Whole milk contains 150 calories per 8 ounce serving, 2% milk 120 calories, 1% milk 105 calories, and fat free milk 90 calories per 8 ounce serving. 

Read nutrition facts labels carefully
If you look at the label on a 20 ounce bottle of regular Coca-Cola you'll likely see 100 calories. However, you need to look closer and determine how many servings are in that bottle. There are 2 ½ servings per 20 ounce bottle of Coca-Cola. That means you must multiply 100 x 2.5 to see that you actually consume 250 calories when you drink an entire bottle.

Sugar by any other name: how to tell whether your drink is sweetened
Sweeteners that add calories to a beverage go by many different names and are not always obvious to anyone looking at the ingredients list.

Some common caloric sweeteners are listed below. If these appear in the ingredients list of your favorite beverage, you are drinking a sugar-sweetened beverage.

• High-fructose corn syrup
• Fructose
• Fruit juice concentrates
• Honey
• Sugar
• Syrup
• Corn syrup
• Sucrose
• Dextrose

Better beverage choices made easy
Now that you know how much difference a drink can make, here are some ways to make smart beverage choices:

• Choose water, diet, or low-calorie beverages instead of sugar-sweetened beverages.
• For a quick, easy, and inexpensive thirst-quencher, carry a water bottle and refill it throughout the day.
• Don't "stock the fridge" with sugar-sweetened beverages. Instead, keep a jug or bottles of cold water in the fridge.
• Serve water with meals.
• Make water more exciting by adding slices of lemon, lime, cucumber, or watermelon, or drink sparkling water.
• Add a splash of 100% juice to plain sparkling water for a refreshing, low-calorie drink.
• When you do opt for a sugar-sweetened beverage, go for the small size. Some companies are now selling 8-oz. cans and bottles of soda, which contain about 100 calories.

And when a smoothie or coffee craving kicks in, here are some tips to help minimize the caloric damage

At the coffee shop

• Request that your drink be made with fat-free or low-fat milk instead of whole milk
• Order the smallest size available.
• Forgo the extra flavoring – the flavor syrups used in coffee shops, like vanilla or hazelnut, are sugar-sweetened and will add calories to your drink.
• Skip the Whip. The whipped cream on top of coffee drinks adds calories and fat.
• Get back to basics. Order a plain cup of coffee with fat-free milk and artificial sweetener, or drink it black.

At the smoothie stand

• Order a child's size if available.
• Ask to see the nutrition information for each type of smoothie and pick the smoothie with the fewest calories.
• Hold the sugar. Many smoothies contain added sugar in addition to the sugar naturally in fruit, juice, or yogurt. Ask that your smoothie be prepared without added sugar: the fruit is naturally sweet.

Weird findings of a very recent study: could iced drinks, including water, play a role in the rise of obesity and diabetes? 

New research shows that a cold drink dulls the sense for sweetness, leading to an increased preference for sweet foods. Volunteers were given water at various temperatures, which they swilled around in the mouth before trying either sweet chocolate or cheddar cheese.
People found the taste of the chocolate less intense – and enjoyed the chocolate less – when the water they had rinsed with was close to freezing. The water temperature had no effect on the how intense the cheese tasted.
The University of Arkansas researchers believe cold drinks affect taste by reducing the sensitivity of tastebuds. They said: ‘The frequent consumption of iced water or soda may reduce their sensitivity to sweet-tasting stimuli, thereby leading to the preference for more highly sweetened foods.’

Sources: http://www.healthcentral.com/, http://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health