3 "Healthy" Drinks That Aren’t Healthy At All

Hi! I'm

ELIZABETH

I'm a Certified Health Coach, longtime blogger, and host of Elizabeth Eats on YouTube. In addition to writing recipes (I love to eat!), I'm a strong believer that life is too short to settle for anything less than living your best life.

TOP LINKS

Breakfast IDEAS

Dinner IDEAS

ALL RECIPES

Newsletter

Sport Drinks

There’s so much misinformation out there about what’s good for you and what’s not – most of which is just clever marketing. A while back I wrote 5 “Healthy” Foods You Should Never Buy Again and bottled fruit juice was on the list. I got to thinking about how many unhealthy beverages there are out there and wanted to make sure you know about them, too.

Here are three more drinks that large marketing companies fool you into thinking are healthy. It’s not even that they’re not healthy; they’re actually hurting your health.

1. Diet Soda

Diet soda might be even worse for you than regular soda. It’s made with artificial sweeteners, artificial flavors, and other chemicals that cause fatigue and memory issues. Also, sodium is used in the carbonation process to give it the bubbles, which dehydrates your body. Just because it doesn’t have calories doesn’t mean it’s good for you – it’s really just slowly poisoning your body. Removing diet soda from your life is one small change that will add up to HUGE results in your physical and mental health.

What to drink instead: Purified water. I know it sounds boring, but drinking more water really is the easiest thing you can do to improve your health. Additionally, dehydration is the #1 cause of both hunger and mental fatigue. Add a squeeze of fresh citrus or fresh herb leaves for flavor.

2. Gatorade & Other Sports Drinks

Have you ever read the ingredients in these things?! It’s just sugar water and artificial food coloring, which by the way, is banned in most countries besides the US. Marketers get you with the electrolytes but that’s just a gimmick – you can get all the electrolytes you need from so many healthy sources. Eat a banana, drink pure coconut water, or make your own healthy energy gel instead for an electrolyte boost.

Watch this short video to learn what happens in your digestive system when you drink Gatorade (and eat processed foods) – it’s fascinating on many levels:

YouTube video

 

What to drink instead: Pure coconut water – it’s Mother Nature’s energy drink.

3. Bottled Iced Tea

Just like sports drinks, bottled iced tea is usually super high in added sugar and artificial flavors (that “Lemon Iced Tea” probably doesn’t have any real lemon in it). It’s also made in mass quantities at really high temperatures, which often kills all of the good-for-you benefits of the tea. And even worse, the tea used is most likely sprayed with pesticides, which just seep right into the beverage and ultimately into your body. There are a few exceptions out there, just read the label and make sure the only thing in the bottle is tea and water – that’s it.

What to drink instead: Tea (hot or iced) that you make at home. Use hot water – not boiling – so you don’t kill the good stuff. Buy organic when you can, skip the sugar and use real lemon for added flavor.

What do you think? Do you or your friends drink these beverages often?

Share this post with the buttons below and let’s make the world a little healthier – one drink at a time.

Leave A Review + Read The Comments →

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Hi, I'm Elizabeth

I teach you how to be healthier without extremes, so you can live more and obsess less.

Subscribe now for delicious recipes, inspiration, and ideas to make life better each week:

as seen in:

READ          LATEST

the

join over 67,000+ readers Getting New Healthy Recipes Every Week

For a limited time, new subscribers get 9 Healthy Recipe eBooks—For FREE!

Claim Your Subscriber Perks!