By Loretta Humble/Living Well
Look, even Coca Cola knows sodas are bad for you. They keep changing formulas, trying to make something seem a little healthier, but every change has something else not so great in it. Sugar-sweetened drinks have been so linked with obesity and Type 2 diabetes that lots of people have switched to diet drinks. But reputable studies have suggested that diet drinks aren’t really helping us lose weight. Not only that, new research suggests that drinking diet soda may speed up brain aging and increase the risk for stroke, dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. That does not mean we need to go back to the regular drinks. Whether drinking either regular or diet sodas you could be increasing your risk of developing Type 2 diabetes. And although that is scary enough on its own, we also know that people with Type 2 diabetes are at about a 60 percent greater risk of developing dementia than those without the disease. This doesn’t take into account what fizzy drinks could do to your oral health, it may be time to for you to book a visit with someone similar to this Dentist in Turlock in your local area.
We need to quit all that stuff. We need to drink water. And let me brag: I am doing pretty good with this.
When I really understood what sugar does to our bodies, I was half way there. I never did like diet drinks because they don’t taste very good to me. Besides, I’m scared of anything that has that many strange, hard to pronounce ingredients. But I will admit, a hamburger calls for something fizzy. And for me, so does store-bought fried chicken. So I would break down and get a coke to go with those. That was until I discovered sparkling water. The fizz was what I was looking for. So how about getting yourself some ice cold sparking water? You might like it better than a coke.
Or, you could get fancy and make yourself some infused water. Try mixing in fruit, cucumber or fresh herbs to add taste without sweeteners. You’ll also get the benefits of antioxidants and, if you eat the fruit, fiber. All you need to do to make your own infused water is to place your ingredients in a jug or water bottle and top with water. You can keep it in the fridge for up to two days or carry your bottle with you and sip it throughout the day. Some suggested combinations are sliced peaches with a sliver of fresh ginger, sliced cucumbers with fresh basil and mint, or sliced strawberries and watermelon. I haven’t tried these but I might.
But even easier and maybe better is flavored sparkling water. Once I discovered these, I said goodbye to Cokes forever. Cokes don’t even taste good to me any more. My favorite is grapefruit flavor, which I buy at Aldi’s for nearly nothing. There is nothing in them except carbonated water and natural fruit flavor. If you go to buy some make really sure they have only these two ingredients. There are some others that look nearly the same that have a bunch of artificial sweeteners in them, and that would defeat the purpose.
And don’t forget about iced tea. Brew it up, put it in a big glass pitcher with some lemon and lime slices. Have some mint handy. (Mint is easy to grow. Call me and I’ll give you a start.) Try some herbal tea. I hear rooibos tea and strawberry green tea. A bonus with tea is that the flavonols and polyphenols in tea have been shown have the opposite effects of sodas, as they support help your brain instead of hurt it.
I read about something called a “fauxito.” It is the virgin version of a mojito. So I just got up and tried it while I was writing this. It called for lime and and fresh mint. I just had lemon, so I used that. I mashed up the fresh mint and squeezed some lemon juice in it. I also mashed up some fresh basil with it, because another source said these two herbs are kinfolks and will work together in this. Then I poured some sparkling water in a glass, and strained some juice off my mashed up stuff a little at a time until I liked the taste. And I do like it. It tastes “important.” It tastes like it does something for you. I’m going to keep making fauxitos.