Even if you are eating right, your choice of beverage can sabotage all of your healthy eating efforts if it is full of sugar. Fortunately, there are plenty of sugar-free and low-sugar options available that contribute to the healthfulness of your meal instead of detracting from it. There are even things you can do to make your low-sugar beverages more exciting, so you won't miss sugary sodas at all.
Importance of Avoiding Sugar
Drinks sweetened with a lot of sugar offer excess calories that your body might have difficulty regulating. The Harvard School of Public Health explains that a can of soda or fruit punch contains about 150 calories and the equivalent of about 10 teaspoons of sugar. Consuming so much sugar at once can wreak havoc on blood glucose levels and could be linked to an increase risk of diabetes and weight gain, according to study findings published in the August 2004 issue of the "Journal of the American Medical Association."
Healthy Water
Water is the ultimate beverage, quenching thirst without contributing calories to your daily diet. It is healthy to consume no other beverage than water with all of your meals, but sometimes drinking only water can get boring. You can liven up water by adding a spritz of lemon or lime to the glass. Adding a small amount of crushed watermelon or cucumber to unsweetened carbonated water is another way to get better flavor and mouth-feel without adding excess sugar and calories.
Brewed and Steeped Beverages
Tea and coffee are two of the most popular beverages in the world and for good reason. Both tea and coffee can be drunk hot or cold and they contain few calories when prepared plain. In addition, both tea and coffee contain high levels of phytochemicals, plant compounds that could help prevent cancer, heart disease and diabetes. Another option is a tisane, a steeped preparation of plant components that aren't tea leaves or coffee beans. Tisanes can be made from flowers, such as chamomile, or herbs, such as ginger. It's important not to add sugar to your tea, coffee or tisane, however, or you risk raising their caloric content and thus potentially counteract their health benefits.
Milk and Soy
Milk contains about 300mg of calcium per cup, providing about a fourth to a third of your daily requirement. It is also high in vitamin D, an essential nutrient that works with calcium to boost bone health. A cup of milk has 11g of sugar, about half the amount found in orange juice and less than a third of the amount in a sweetened juice drink with 10 percent fruit juice. Unsweetened fortified soy milk is another great option that also supplies lots of calcium and vitamin D. Both milk and soy milk are healthy sources of protein as well.
References
- Harvard School of Public Health: Healthy Beverage Guidelines
- Harvard School of Public Health: Sugary Drinks or Diet Drinks
- "Journal of the American Medical Association"; Sugar-Sweetened Beverages, Weight Gain, and Incidence of Type 2 Diabetes in Young and Middle-Aged Women; M.B. Schulze, et al.; August 2004
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Rethink Your Drink; June 2011
- KidsHealth from Nemours; Healthy Drinks for Kids; June 2011
- Office of Dietary Supplements: Calcium
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