Who doesn’t want to stay hydrated and satisfy our thirst? There are so many healthy ways to do so. There are also many not-so-healthy drink
choices. Eat This, Not That! Has a great
article
on the “50 Unhealthiest Drinks on the Planet”.
Catchy title. We won’t review all
50 of those unhealthy drinks, but we will review a few and tell you why they
are so bad for your health. But first,
let’s review what are healthy drink choices.
What are some drinks one should choose to satisfy thirst
and to stay hydrated?
As noted in a previous
blog, Is
water the best for hydration? , some of the best choices for hydration are plain
water, cow’s milk and 100% orange juice. After exercising, one can skip the
sports drink and have a glass of water and eat a banana.
What should you try to avoid when choosing a healthy drink?
Basically, avoid drinks with a lot of added sugar. The 2015-2020 Dietary
Guidelines provide guidance on healthy eating patterns. They recommend we shoulld “Consume less than
10 percent of calories per day from added sugars”. For a 2000 calorie diet that would be
limiting “added sugars” to 200 calories a day.
Not easy to do if you are drinking sugar-sweetened beverages during the
day.
What are some of those unhealthy drinks?
1.
Orange Drinks = fake juice, not
real juice
The next time you are in a grocery store or Walmart, look at the carts
full of food and I am sure you will see carts with gallon jugs of Sunny D. Eat This, Not That states: “Sunny D
isn’t actual juice; it’s just a mix of water, high fructose corn syrup and a
few token dribbles of juice concentrates, canola oi, and chemicals”. Lot’s of chemicals. Compare the ingredients in Sunny D to the
ingredients in Tropicana
Orange Juice. The only ingredient is “100%
Orange Juice”. No chemicals, no high
fructose corn syrup, just real, 100% juice.
What about frozen orange juice or orange juice made from
concentrate? All good choices. Read the ingredients and see if it is 100%
juice. Read the label and avoid any
label that reads “juice drink” as these products are not real juice. Hi-C contains only
10% juice, high fructose corn syrup and added chemicals. Many Capri Sun drinks are “juice drinks” and
not real 100% juice. For kids, a good
choice is Juicy
Juice . All are 100% juice and their
product label clearly says, 100% Juice.
 |
| 100% juice |
2.
Chocolate Drinks – not real milk
Real chocolate milk can be a
treat for kids and provides a good quality protein, calcium and vitamin D. A not so healthy choice are chocolate drinks,
like Yoohoo Chocolate Drink
that really isn’t chocolate milk. A look at the ingredients in chocolate drinks
shows water as the first ingredient, then high fructose corn syrup and finally
some whey protein. Basically, the drink
is mostly sugar water. In fact, these
drinks can provide 65% of the calories as added sugar calories. Before you buy a “chocolate drink”, read the
ingredients. Is it chocolate milk or mostly
flavored sugar water? When you get
chocolate milk at McDonalds,
it is actually real milk and not a chocolate drink and McDonald’s Chocolate
Milk is fat free. Nesquik Chocolate
Lowfat Milk is made from 100% real milk.
Not true of the Nesquik Chocolate Non-dairy Oatmilk which would not provide
the nutrients real milk provides.
3.
Sweet Tea
Tea is actually a very healthy
drink, full of good antioxidants. Add
all that sugar to Sweet Tea and it is no longer such a healthy choice. Some of the bottled sweetened teas are full
of added sugar, up to 48 grams of added sugar (192 sugar calories). Order a Large Sweet Ice Tea
from fast food like Sonic and you can add 78 grams of added sugar or 312
calories of added sugar to your day. Instead
of sweet tea, go for the unsweet tea. If
you find it hard to give up your sweet tea, then wean yourself from it. My daughter loved sweet tea. She would go to a fast food drive through and
just order sweet tea. I finally convinced
her it was loaded with added sugar so she started to mix the sweet tea with a little
unsweet tea, then up to half sweet tea and half unsweet tea and now she drinks
just unsweet tea.
4.
Smoothies in a bottle
A student in my class recently
asked me if smoothies were healthy. It
depends. Make your own smoothie with
real fruit, real veggies, real milk or real yogurt and it is very healthy. Buy a bottled smoothie from the store and
maybe not so much. Before you indulge in
that store-bought smoothie, check the ingredients. How much added sugar are you adding to your
day? With a homemade smoothie, you can
be sure there is no added sugar because you didn’t add any. The sweetness comes
from the fresh fruit you put in.
5.
Vitamin
Water
Students often ask me if vitamin
water is healthy. Most of the “vitamins”
these drinks have are common vitamins one gets in their diet. Even white bread provides some “B” vitamins. Some vitamin waters not only have added vitamins
but added sugar. If you are buying Vitamin Water, look at the Nutrition Facts
label to see how many calories it has. Vitaminwater fire – spicy watermelon
has only 20 calories so not a bad option if you are into vitaminwater. On
the other hand, if you choose a 20 ounce bottle of vitaminwater
revive fruit punch, this packs in at 120 calories and 32 grams of sugar.
 |
| Read the nutrition facts label for added sugar. |
Lots
of choices when you are trying to satisfy that thirst. Stick with the healthiest choices, water,
100% juice or real milk. The next time
you reach for refreshment in a bottle, read the Nutrition Facts label to see
how many calories you are getting and look at the ingredients to see if what you
are drinking has added sugar.
 |
| Not real juice. Lots of added sugar. |
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