3 – Drinks part 1

Trying to get healthy and stay healthy is very difficult in a world where we are surrounded by things that are unhealthy. In this Blog I am going to look at many ways to make a healthier you (and me), including what we eat, drink, exercise, sleep, and plastic surgery.

Today I want to talk about drinks – water, soft, caffeine, juice and alcohol. There is a huge amount to write about, so in this blog I am just going to make a start but we will come back to all of these topics in future blogs.

I think a good starting point would be – what drink would we give our babies and toddlers? Would you give them coffee, coke, or a protein shake? Hopefully your answer is no but I have seen babies drinking coke and tea!! Why don’t we give these drinks to our babies – because we know they are unhealthy.

So what is the healthiest drink? Obviously water. In the USA, water is only the SECOND most popular drink – guess what is – yes ‘soft’ drinks!!

How much water should we drink – the guide is 8 glasses a day. Our bodies are 60% water and all the cells in our body need water to function properly. Water can help you control the calories as we often think we are hungry when we are actually thirsty. Water makes us feel fuller. I used to filter my water but for various reasons I do not do this anymore. I also do not drink bottled water as it has been manufactured to get it in the bottle and it always concerns me what happens during this process. I feel that UK water is fine from the tap – but of course it is still treated!!

I have always been puzzled by our huge consumption of soft drinks – they are a chemical cocktail. If we are putting anything processed in our body – it is not healthy. I wish we could go and visit the factories where these drinks are made and see how they do it – I am sure it would put us off. So many mothers give their children squash instead of water which then leads to a bad habit as children associate drinks with a sweet taste. Kids do not need squash or fizzy drinks. I have tried to keep my kids off fizzy drinks and I have succeeded to some degree. I will not buy them fizzy drinks and we have a battle every time we are in a restaurant. It seems to be a ‘treat’. The two issues with fizzy drinks is that they are full of chemicals and they have a high sugar content. So is drinking a zero sugar fizzy drink better? Instead of sugar they have added artificial sweeteners such as aspartame, saccharin, and sucralose. They can still trigger insulin and make us feel more hungry. I was amazed that my very healthy aerobic teacher drank a can of Pepsi Max during our Body Pump class yesterday!!

So what about fruit drinks? Fruit juices contain no fibre and a lot of sugar as when the fruit is juiced, it releases the sugar. But I know people find it hard to eat a lot of fruit and the smoothie fad is at least giving some people the health benefits of fruit without the need to eat it. But the best way to get the health benefits of fruit is to eat it.

It is easy for me to talk about tea and coffee consumption as I am one of the very rare breed who do not drink either. You must consider that there are so many times when we are told we should cut down tea and coffee consumption for health reasons. Why is that? Because they are not healthy and certainly coffee is highly addictive. Try giving it up for a few days and see how it affects you. Having a hot drink has become a habit. When I say I do not want tea or coffee people try to offer me herbal teas, lemon tea, other hot drinks. Why? Life is much easier if you do not drink hot drinks. I was amazed to read on the UK NHS web site – Plain tea, fruit tea and coffee (without added sugar) can also be healthy. Seriously?

I will also write a blog about meal replacement drinks and protein shakes. More chemical cocktails!!

I am amazed that the UK guidelines are that women should not drink more than 2-3 units of alcohol A DAY. I would say that if you want to be healthy, you should limit your alcohol consumption to once or twice a week – have some days off. It just becomes another unhealthy habit. Last night I had friends for dinner and had some wine. Wine has two problems for me. The first is the calories – one glass of wine has about 160 calories. And when I drink I lose control of my eating habits and I crave salt and sweet. Last night I ate too much cheese and had some chocolate. When this happens we must not beat ourselves up about it and must start the next day with a clean slate. As I have said before – imagine we are making a film and that was the failure of one take – so we just have to do another take. I have got up this morning, gone for a 2k run and had my porridge. Today is a new start.

You may think that what I am suggesting is too much. I am certainly not saying that you give up your skinny latte or your glass of wine. Life is short and we should enjoy it but think about what are habits and what makes you feel great. If you eat or drink something that makes you feel bad afterwards, try to break that habit. Everything in moderation and drink more water!!

Tell me what you think about drinks.