Healthy Food Choices: Sugar-Free Beverages

Video Transcript

MARY HONDROS: Sugar free beverages can refer to a whole different group of things. Number--your most sugar free beverages of course are things like water and tea. They usually do not have any added sugar whatsoever. The other group of sugar free beverages refers to things like diet sodas and fruit juices that are considered diet or sugar free. Although those types of drinks generally do not contain any calories because the sugars has been replaced with a sugar sweetener, they might not necessarily be good for you because you are consuming a good amount of sugar sweetener if you do drink some sodas or fruit juices that are considered diet. The FDA generally deemed sugar additives as safe but again we do not have any studies on the long term effects of consuming added sugars. Sugar free drinks are actually, you know, can be beneficial if you are trying to decrease your calorie intake from liquids. That can help control your calorie intake during the day and help you consume fewer calories. Four tips if you are trying to limit your sugar intake from drinks is to consider switching to diet if you drink regular soda. You won't get all the sugar. You will still get the sugar sweeteners but if you do switch to diet you will get a lot fewer calories. And then consider limiting it to about one diet soda drink per day. Also, flavored hot teas are a great choice if you are looking for a sugar free beverage. They can taste really great and there is no added sugar in that. Also, my number one tip would be give water a shot. It is the best thing you can drink. It is the best thing for your body. If you cannot stand to drink it plain, you can add a little bit of sliced orange or sliced lemon into your water, gives it a little bit of a taste without any sugar. And lastly, if you absolutely are craving a sugary drink, you can try mixing seltzer water with a couple of splashes of a hundred percent fruit juice and you almost create your own soda that way so it is a tasty alternative. It is not completely sugar free but it is a low sugar beverage to drink. So those are four tips on consuming sugar free beverages.