Water

More than anything, your body NEEDS water.  And most of us definitely don’t get enough!  Try to drink water regularly throughout the day to keep properly hydrated.  As long as you’re drinking enough water, you can also have some of your favourite beverages that aren’t laden with sugar while also avoiding the sugary drinks altogether.

Caffeine, carbonated drinks and the tannin in black tea contain ingredients that interfere with iron absorption

Coffee

There is plenty of information available stating whether coffee is good, bad or whatever.  Depending on your health and the type of food you normally eat, your consumption of coffee can be good, bad or whatever.  If you have certain health issues, caffeine is definitely not a good thing, so you could switch to decaf and still enjoy the taste.  But like anything, too much of something is never a good thing.  Figure out if you are suffering from any condition that might be directly and negatively affected by your consumption of coffee and limit your intake accordingly.  Personally, caffeine consumption was the cause of nagging breast pain.  Eliminating caffeine from my diet resolved the issue.

There are many other alternatives to a warm morning drink like Bambu (instant) or Bamboo Filter (drip coffee), Caf Lib, Chicory, Hot Chocolate (70% cocoa content), Herb Teas (especially green tea! – see Superfoods under the “Nutrients” tab), Kola Nut, Krakus, Postum, Rhodiola, Teeccino and Yerba Mate

Juice

As healthful as the term “juice” sounds, it is saturated with sugar.  Keep your consumption to a minimum and choose organic, low sugar options.  Fruits are naturally sweet so when you consider how many of these fruits were pressed to make a large quantity of juice, the sugar content becomes magnified!  It’s better to eat fruit whole and substitute the liquids with water and herb teas.

  • Whole fruit has 60 less calories and 30% more fibre than fruit juice

Pop

Extremely high amounts of sugar and caffeine is all the reason you need to avoid pops.  And don’t be fooled by diet pops, they are just as bad and you probably end up drinking more thinking they are better for you.  A really good alternative is “Zevia”.  This is a zero calorie drink sweetened with stevia, a natural plant based sugar and caffeine-free.  You still shouldn’t consume copious amounts of any carbonated drinks but this is definitely a safer alternative.