From soda and iced tea to lemonade and wholesome looking juices, these are the sips that should never pass your lips.
Many of us grew up in homes where soda was the go-to beverage of choice for family dinners and school celebrations. Nowadays, parents across the nation are shamed if they're seen sipping the stuff—or worse—serving it to their little ones.
And it's not your imagination, sugary and diet drinks have indeed become tabu which has resulted in fewer people drinking soda. Sales of carbonated soft drinks in America have dropped for 11 consecutive years, with consumption of the bubbly stuff hitting a 30-year low earlier this year, according to a report from Beverage Digest.
So why aren't we all losing weight and shedding belly fat? Soda has been named public enemy number one, so it's only logical to assume if we all stay away from Coca-Cola, Sprite, and Dr. Pepper, the pounds will melt away—and in theory, that's 100 percent true. However, there's one big problem: Very few of us are swapping soda for plain ol' H20. Instead, we're looking to other beverages like juices and flavored waters to fill the void. While many of these soda alternatives market themselves as the "healthier choice" that's not always the case.
1. Beverage Concentrates
Considering
most of these beverage flavoring agents are made with sketchy artificial
sweeteners like acesulfame and sucralose, we advise you to stay away. While
acesulfame is believed to have carcinogenic properties, sucralose is a
sweetener that's been found to mess with your body's satiety signals. What's
more, they're filled with potentially harmful dyes like red 40 and yellow 6
which are contaminated with known carcinogens
2. Super-seized Coffees
While a cup of two of coffee can do your body good, you may
want to think twice before sizing up to a large or indulging in a fourth cup of
Joe. The reason: Doing so may make your bone brittle. "I try to avoid
excessive caffeine," says Dr. Mamta M. Mamik, Assistant Professor of
Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Science 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," she adds.
3. Vitamin Enhanced Waters
While they may have "water" in their name, these bottled beverages are 120 calories each, and every single one of those calories comes from sugar. And it's not just a little bit of sugar, either. There are 31 grams of in a 20-ounce bottle of Vitamin water, which is 7 and ¾ teaspoons of the sweet stuff.
4. Iced Tea
Spiked with propylene glycol alginate (which is just a fancy name for automotive antifreeze) fast food iced tea is a definite no-go in our book! Propylene glycol alginate is a food thickener, stabilizer, and emulsifier that can cause cardiovascular or neurotoxic issues. But that doesn't stop Dunkin Donuts and other fast food joints from adding it into their iced tea.
5. Diet Soda
What do cancer-causing artificial colors, flame retardants, and fat-causing fake sugars all have in common? They're all in your favorite diet fizzy drinks. Shove all that into a bottle laced with BPA, a chemical that's been linked to obesity, and you've pretty much got one of the worst drinks ever. Nearly all popular diet sodas contain aspartame, an artificial sweetener that was initially developed to aid weight loss but has recently been found to have the opposite effect.
"Sugar substitutes like aspartame are designed to promote weight loss and decrease the incidence of metabolic syndrome, but a number of clinical and epidemiologic studies have suggested that these products don't work very well and may actually make things worse," says Richard Hodin, MD, lead author of a recent study on the matter.
6. Liquid Coffee Creamer
Coffee creamer and sunblock have more in common that you might think. They both contain titanium dioxide, an ultraviolet radiation blocker that doubles as a whitening agent. The additive has been proven to cause liver and tissue damage in mice, and may also have health implications in humans, according to a recent review of the chemical. Coffee creamer is also typically sprinkled with trans fats, often hiding under its lesser-known name: hydrogenated oil. Aside from its connection to compromised heart health, the ingredient that has been shown to diminish memory in adults under 45 years old. Many brands also use TBHQ in their recipes, which is a form of butane. Yuck! So what should you put into your morning cup instead? Plain ol' cow's milk or if you're looking for a hint of flavor, stick with a tablespoon of one of Coffee Mate's Natural Bliss creamers. Unlike conventional brands, they're all made from nonfat milk, heavy cream, sugar and natural flavors
7. Frozen Cocktails
While whipping up a frozen marg at home isn't quite as bad as getting it from a bar (400 calories vs. 700), it's still the worst cocktail for your waistline. Made with a sugar-spiked neon mix and tequila, the summer staple will overload your system with more sugar than you'd find in nine Dunkin' Donuts Apple n' Spice Donuts! Other frozen beverages aren't much better, either. The average strawberry daiquiri, for example, has about 280 calories and 44 grams of sugar per serving. Not to mention, it's also 99 percent high fructose corn syrup. Switch to a glass of bubbly with muddled strawberries and lemon slices to get your fruity fix for a fraction of the waist-widening calories.
8. Fruit Juices
Sure, it's natural and overflowing with vitamin C, but it's loaded with sugar—and totally void of any nutrients like fiber or protein to help slow the sugar spike. An average glass packs 36 grams of sugar —or about what you'd get from popping 4 Krispy Kreme glazed donuts into a blender and hitting frappe. What's more, most of the sweetness in juice comes from fructose, a type of sugar associated with the development of belly fat. A better drink for citrus lovers? Water flavored with fresh slices of oranges, lemon, and grapefruit. For added benefits, keep the peels on. Citrus peels contain the antioxidant d-limonene, a powerful compound that helps flush out stored visceral fat.
9. Conventional Skim Milk
While skim milk may be lowest in calories, many of its vitamins are fat-soluble, which means you won't get all the benefits of the alphabetical nutrients listed on your cereal box unless you opt for at least 1%. Why's it important to opt for grass-fed, organic cartons over the conventional stuff? Not only does it taste better and stay fresh longer, when the herds graze on grass instead of feed, their milk has higher levels of omega-3s and CLA (conjugated linoleic acid), a nutrient that boosts immunity, improves bone mass, and even reduce body fat—gotta love that!
10.Canned Energy Drinks
These overpriced chemical cocktails may give you a surge of energy, but they're riddled with harmful sweeteners (many of which made our list of these Best and Worst Popular Sweeteners) and are even more corrosive to your teeth than regular soda. Just say no to these icky drinks!
and also following 20 more drinks which are un healthy:
·
Energy Shots
·
Fancy Coffee Drinks
·
Slushies
·
Bottled Smoothies
·
Sports Drinks
·
Milkshakes
·
Conventional Bottled Nutrition Shakes
·
Bottled Water
·
Cola
·
Fruity Sodas
·
Sweetened Milk Alternatives
·
Bottled Alcoholic Mixers
·
Eggnog
·
Commercial Hot Cocoa
·
Mudslides
·
Ginger
Beer
·
Orange Drinks
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Lemonade
·
Certain Bottled Teas
· Powdered Fruit Drinks
International Tea Day is observed on December 15, and celebrated in tea producing countries like India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Vietnam, Indonesia, Kenya and Malaysia. It aims to draw global attention of governments and citizens to the impact of the global tea trade on workers and growers, and has been linked to requests for price supports and fair trade.
