Healthy Drink #6 Fruit Juices

100 % fruit juices will add nutrition to your day.  However, if the juice is sweetened with sugar, you are adding calories from the sugar (or artificial sweeteners if it’s low cal, no sugared drink)  “The Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends no more than one serving (4 oz) of 100% fruit juice daily.”  This information from the Harvard School of Public Health at http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/healthy-drinks/healthy-dr

Healthy Drink #5 Wine

Wine, especially red wine, is believed to be heart healthy.  The experts believe that antioxidants (flavonoids or a polyphenol called resveratrol) in red wine protect the inner layer of our heart blood vessels, preventing blood clots and reducing LDL (bad) cholesterol.  As heart disease occurs, arteriosclerosis affects these blood vessels, a layer of plaque builds up inside and clogs the blood vessels, causing a heart attack (myocardial infarction).  Sometimes a blood clot forms inside the heart blood vessels and clogs it with a resulting heart attack. 

The experts recommend “drink in moderation or not at all.”  http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/red-wine/HB00089 They recommend a maximum of one drink per day for women and two drinks per day for men.  Too much alcohol causes many health problems including high blood pressure, liver damage, high triglycerides, cancer, etc.  The experts have defined a drink as 12 oz beer, 5 oz of wine or 1.5 oz of 80-proof distilled spirits. 

For people who don’t drink wine, the experts at Mayo Clinic suggest getting resveratrol from these sources:  eating red grapes, cranberries, blueberries, peanuts, and drinking red and purple grape juice.  More research is needed to show whether these food items will benefit a person’s heart or not, but I can easily add some blueberries and grapes to my diet.  More information from Mayo Clinic on red wine can be read at http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/red-wine/HB00089

Healthy Drink #4 Coffee

Coffee has long been a beverage people enjoy.  If you take your coffee black and unsweetened, you’ve got a no-calorie drink.  When you drive through and order a whipped topping, sweetened coffee beverage, consider that a treat because you’ve added calories to your coffee drink. 

Caffeinated or decaffeinated?  Over the years the advice has changed several times.  One time it’s ok to drink caffeinated coffee.  Then the news says no, caffeinated coffee is bad for us. 

A large study (The Nurses’ Health Study which included over 11,000 nurses for a 24 year period) gives us a valuable answer:  “consumption of filtered caffeinated coffee was not associated with CVD (cardiovascular disease) or all-cause mortality in women with CVD.  This study can be found at

http://www.ajcn.org/content/early/2011/05/11/ajcn.110.010249.abstract

Now, I’ve got one comment about this study finding.  It involved women so researchers are recommending comparable research on men.  Also, remember that caffeine is a central nervous system stimulant.  Some people may find caffeinated drinks cause problems such as high blood pressure, insomnia, and feeling jittery and stressed.  Talk to your doctor before changing lifestyle habits which involve caffeine. However, it is reassuring that coffee does not cause heart disease or increase the chance of dying from heart disease. 

More information about coffee can be found at the Harvard School of Public Health website: 

http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/questions/coffee/

Healthy Drink #3 Tea

A recent FoxNews report discussed green tea as having the following benefits:  “enhances cardiovascular function, demonstrates anti-cancer activity, supports the immune system, detoxifies the body, aides weight control, and also protects skin cells from exposure at UVA and UVB ray.”  This article can be found at http://www.foxnews.com/health/2011/07/13/sun-protective-foods/ 

The WebMD staff agree that green teas has “potential benefits for everything from fighting cancer to helping your heart.”  Find their article at http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/features/health-benefits-of-green-tea

Actually any kind of tea (herbal, black, green and white are considered to be healthy drinks.   Ok,  so tea may be my new favorite drink. 

Healthy Drink #2 Milk

When I was a kid, I would not drink milk.  Remember we lived on a farm and Dad milked his Jersey milk cow.  When I would see that glass gallon jar (full of milk with thick cream on top) in the refrigerator, I was grossed out.  Eek.  I wouldn’t drink it.   I now recognize that was probably the healthiest milk they could have provided for us, but I’ll pass.  Give me pasteurized, homogenized (maybe full of antibiotics—who knows?) milk straight from the supermarket and I will drink it.  (That’s an emotional, irrational approach to a food item. I guess you now know what I think about milk.) 

Milk and dairy is one of the food groups recognized by the U.S.D.A. as important for health.  Milk and dairy products provide calcium, an important nutrient in our fight against osteoporosis.  How much should we have daily?  It varies by age.  Find your recommended servings at http://www.choosemyplate.gov/foodgroups/dairy_amount.aspx  However, note that they recommend we drink low-fat (1%) or fat-free dairy products (less calories). 

What are healthy drinks?

My toes are getting tired of the research stepping all over them.  Ok, so if I’m not supposed to drink soda or diet soda, what am I supposed to drink?  Good question.   Let’s look at some ‘healthy’ drinks. 

Water is the original healthy drink.  Our bodies contain 60% water (a higher percentage for children, a lower percentage for women, the elderly and obese persons).  That means a person who weighs 150 pounds has 90 pounds of water in his body.  (That fact comes from my nutrition book.  I did not make that fact up.)

Water is essential and it’s found in our body fluids and inside and around cells.  We must have water for our bodies to function in ways we don’t think about, such as carrying nutrients (vitamins, minerals and glucose from our foods) to body cells and waste products away from cells to be flushed out.  Water aids in regulating our body temperature.  Water acts as a lubricant and shock absorber for joints, our spine and other structures.  Without water, many of the body’s chemical reactions cannot happen efficiently as the body needs them to occur.   

Do you drink water?  Provided it’s clean water (from a clean water source, relatively easy to find in America), water is a great hydrator and healthy drink.