Episode #40 - Seltzers & Roofies

Is your seltzer water causing you to gain weight?  

Over the last few years seltzers have become all the rage.  It’s been the ultimate go to for a refreshing beverage.  Most of them have either little to no calories and come in a variety of flavors so what’s not to like?  I was consuming 3-4 seltzers a day..A DAY!! I tried them all as well and recently fell in love with some new ones until I found out that it was causing some health issues.  I was noticing that I was retaining water and I had gained some weight that really didn’t make sense.  My diet hadn’t gone off the rails and I’ve been working out consistently so I started to do a little investigating and I came across an alarming study that raised some red flags for me.

A study conducted by researchers at Birzeit University discovered that rats who were fed seltzer waters to drink rather than regular still water gained more weight as a result of an increase in their Ghrelin levels.  Grehlin is a hormone naturally released when our stomach is on empty but this hormone increased significantly in the rats after consuming the seltzer. The rats that consumed the seltzers ate 20% more than the other rats! 

We had an experience that honestly no one should have to experience but it’s a cautionary tale that we’ve been waiting to share.  So a few years ago, we traveled to Las Vegas for a conference and we were so excited because the company was putting us up at the Four Seasons.  

What could we have done differently to prevent this from happening?