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Trying to lose weight? Consider avoiding this combination: high-calorie sodas or fruit drinks and dietetic desserts.

The research is preliminary, but a study suggests that this combination may leave your body's appetite control center dazed and confused. Your body naturally thinks that watery drinks (skim milk, coffee, tea) are low-cal, and that sweet, creamy, dense foods are crammed with calories. Switching it up with high-calorie drinks and artificially sweetened desserts may corrupt your body's natural calorie calculator and lead to overeating.

Will consuming sugar substitutes definitely push you toward the cookie jar? Not necessarily. The research in humans is limited, but it does seem to be the case in animals. For example, when obesity researchers at Purdue University fed lab animals saccharin-sweetened liquids, the animals quickly learned that "sweet" equals "no calories" and started to overeat. Whether these findings will apply to humans as well remains to be seen; more research is needed to know for sure. Nevertheless, the research is a good reminder of the importance of counting calories, regardless of which kind of sweetener you choose or how your body feels.

Source: RealAge.com