Celebrity Diet Secrets: Kelly Clarkson

It was only a matter of time before celebrities merged with nutrition to create a web of confusion, misleading information, and downright lies.

This new section will take a look at what some celebrities have credited their weight loss to and help you decide whether they are in-the-know or clueless.

Let’s take the American Idol hopeful turned global superstar Kelly Clarkson.

Last summer, Kelly was showing a slimmer body and credited part of her weight loss to substituting soda with Vitamin Water.

She was quoted on Entertainment Tonight as saying: “Why I love the Vitamin Water campaign is… a lot of kids just down soda and it's not good."

(insert sound of record coming to a screeching halt here).

Mind you, at the time she said this, Ms. Clarkson had just inked a sweet (no pun intended) deal with Glaceau, the makers of Vitamin Water.

For whatever reason, many of us tend to take celebrities at their word and think, “hey, they look good! If I do that, I’ll probably look better too.”

Let’s say you indeed followed the singer’s advice and replaced your daily 20 ounce bottle of regular soda with one of Vitamin Water.

A 20 ounce bottle of Coca Cola provides 243 calories and 67 grams (16 ¾ teaspoons) of sugar.

The same amount of Vitamin Water contains 125 calories and 32 grams (8 teaspoons) of sugar.

Sure enough, it’s not as bad as the 20 ounce soda, but it is an identical match to the nutritional profile of a can of regular Coke.

If Kelly thinks kids “downing a lot of soda isn’t good”, why is she advertising a product that is essentially a can of Coke with a few vitamins thrown in?

Anytime you see an artificial drink with such a high amount of sugar, ask yourself: “would I ever add 8 teaspoons of sugar to an 8 ounce glass of water?” The answer is probably no.

I am not advocating the complete shunning of sugar. However, downing the equivalent of 8 teaspoons in one beverage is excessive.

And, if you are truly looking to replace a soda habit with something lower in calories and sugar, my recommendation is flavored seltzer water, which is 0 calories and has 0 grams of sugar.

So while Kelly Clarkson might be part of pop music’s royalty, I wouldn’t look to her for nutrition advice.