You don’t just have to worry about what you eat if you want to live a healthy lifestyle, you also need to worry about what you drink. A lot of people take steps to eat organic and healthy diets, then let themselves down by drinking literal junk. Sugary drinks, some alcoholic beverages, and energy drinks need to be removed from your diet once and for all if you want a healthy life.
This post will explore this issue in a little more detail, explaining how you can choose healthy drinks more effectively.
Caffeine
Caffeine can be very bad for your health. It is present in a lot of drinks, including coffee. Many of the world’s leading coffee chains are now reducing the amount of caffeine found in their drinks or are offering caffeine-free ones. You can find out which Starbucks drinks have no caffeine in them by speaking to the barista at your local store or reading an online guide. Truth be told, it’s easier to read a guide since the baristas might not actually know which drinks are caffeine-free. Reducing caffeine from your diet can help you to improve your heart health and also reduce your reliance on it. Caffeine can actually be very addictive. A lot of people’s ‘coffee addiction’ is actually a caffeine addiction. You should also be aware of the fact that caffeine is present in fizzy and sugary drinks, too.
Sugar
You don’t just need to cut sugary drinks out of your life because they have caffeine in them, you also need to cut them out because of their sugar content. While diabetes isn’t directly caused by a high-sugar diet, a person’s risk of developing it can be increased by one. Diabetes can make living one’s life normally very difficult, not to mention it can cause things like heart disease. If you want to live a long and healthy life, then begin removing sugar from your diet today. You can start by removing sugary drinks. Some sugary drinks contain more than three times the recommended sugar intake for an adult.
Alcohol
Alcohol can be beneficial for your health in moderation. Unfortunately, when it comes to drinking, a lot of people are far from being moderate drinkers. In addition to making sure that you are more careful about how often you drink, you also need to be more careful about what you drink. Some alcohols are worse than others. Cheap ciders that contain lots of sugar and that are fruit-flavored are perhaps the worst. Various studies show that red wine can be very good for you, so if you are going to drink anything, then make it that. Wine has a lot of antioxidants.
Fat
Consider fat intake, too. Many drinks contain large amounts of fat. More often than not, it is milkshakes and other dairy drinks that contain the most fat. When you buy a drink, on the side of the can or bottle it should tell you about its nutritional value. In this section, you will find information about how much fat the drink contains. Be sure to carefully study the fat content of each drink that you buy. Knowing how much fat is in the drinks that you are consuming will make it easier for you to regulate and monitor your daily fat intake. Try to cut down on fat in the food that you eat, too.
Organic
Moving away from what to watch out for and on to what you should be drinking, organic juices are a good idea. However, if you are going to be drinking juice of any kind make sure that no sugar is added to it. It is very common for “health drinks” to contain excessive amounts of sugar or artificial sweeteners. Only ever drink juices that are organic and that contain no added sugar. If a drink does not contain sugar, it will say on the package. If no information is available about this then assume that it is high in sugar.
Blending
One very effective way of ensuring that the juices and smoothies that you drink are organic and aren’t high in sugar is to make them yourself. All you need for this is a blender. You can buy organic produce from your local farmer’s market and use honey as a natural sweetener. Make sure that you don’t put too much honey in, however, as too much can be bad for you. Try to select organic honey if you can.
The drinks that you consume on a daily basis will impact your health, positively and negatively. You need to reconsider what you drink so that you only experience positive effects, not negative ones.