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It never hurts to check in on your eating and drinking habits. Have unhealthy options snuck into your regular diet? Keep reading for some of the most common culprits that can damage your health- many of these beverages are marketed as healthy!
Red Flag #1: Sugar
If you haven’t done this recently, take the time to record everything you eat and drink for a week. You might be surprised, like many Americans, that you’re drinking most of your calories. Sugar-sweetened beverages including “soft drinks, carbonated soft drinks, fruitades, fruit drinks, sports drinks, energy and vitamin water drinks, sweetened iced tea, cordial, squashes, and lemonade, collectively are the largest contributor to added sugar intake in the US.” (1, 2) No matter what kind of sugar it is, consuming too much can negatively affect your health. That’s right: Whether it’s naturally occurring sugar (for example, from fruit, honey, or maple syrup), it’s still sugar. Your body responds to and processes it the same way. Consuming too much sugar can lead to long-term weight gain, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer.
Red Flag #2: Caffeine
A cup of coffee or green tea can be part of a healthy lifestyle, but if you’re not careful to watch your total caffeine intake, you could experience some negative effects. “I try to avoid excessive caffeine,” says Dr. Mamta M. Mamik, Assistant Professor at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. “An adult can safely consume up to 400 milligrams of caffeine a day (which is equivalent to four 8-ounce cups of coffee), but drinking any more than that can cause calcium excretion, which, over time, may lead to osteoporosis. Avoiding excess caffeine also helps to ward off uncomfortable withdrawal symptoms like lethargy, insomnia, headaches, and irritability.” (3)
Swap These 15 Popular Unhealthy Drinks
Just because it’s popular doesn’t mean it’s good for you. Also, just because the front of the label says that it is healthy doesn’t mean it actually is. Don’t be tricked by clever marketing: Read the back of the label before buying. Check out the nutrition panel, where you will find the sugar content, and read over the ingredient list. If it is too long and contains suspicious-sounding ingredients, leave that drink on the shelf. Here are 15 unhealthy drinks that you are better off leaving out of your regular diet.
- Soda
- Energy drinks
- Fruit juices
- Milkshakes and Shakes
- Sweetened iced tea
- Sports drinks
- Flavored coffee drinks
- Alcoholic beverages
- Frozen coffee drinks
- Margaritas and other mixed cocktails
- Milk-based sugary drinks
- Fruit smoothies
- Flavored water
- Sweetened plant-based milk
- Lemonade
7 Healthy Alternatives
It can be disheartening to read a long list of, frankly, tasty drinks that we really shouldn’t be consuming regularly. That being said, there are healthier alternatives that you can enjoy instead. Here are some options:
- Water with a squeeze of lemon or lime
- Green tea
- Homemade fruit-infused water
- Herbal teas
- Homemade smoothies with no added sugars
- Unsweetened plant-based milk
- Iced herbal teas
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