I’m talking about the high sugar, high fructose corn syrup, caramel colored, frappa something, mocha something drinks that most people are drinking all day long. This has to be one of the top reasons most people have such a hard time reaching and maintaining their ideal weight or battling chronic fatigue and other health concerns: They are drinking tons of sugar without even knowing it!

Let’s look at some of the culprits:

Fruit Juice

This includes all of them from OJ to Hawaiian Punch to Apple Juice to Capri Suns. Anytime you drink a fruit juice type beverage, you are essentially just having water with sugar (or sometimes even worse, water with high fructose corn syrup). A typical 8 oz glass of OJ is really just water and approximately 8-9 teaspoons of sugar. Don’t be fooled by the labels which say "all natural". Unless you are freshly squeezing your juice and drinking it right away, it is not a healthy drink. What about the added calcium and vitamin C? Anything "fortified" with calcium is almost always not absorbable by your body because it is man made (something I will thoroughly discuss in next week’s email). You will get more vitamin C from the real thing. Peel an orange or grapefruit and enjoy. Yummy!

Even drinks like Gatorade and Vitamin Water (which some people actually perceive as health drinks) are really just water, sugar and coloring. (I don’t know about you, but I try and stay away from ingesting anything that’s bright blue!)

Soda

Soda is such a nasty culprit in so many ways. For starters, the sugar content is ridiculous! Imagine putting 10 teaspoons of white sugar in a glass and then adding water.

Wait!

Don’t forget to add the caramel coloring and phosphoric acid. Combine the acidity of sugar, coloring and phosphoric acid and you have a tooth rooting, calcium leaching, osteoporosis inducing fiesta.

Clearly this is not something we need to be putting into our bodies (or the bodies of our little ones).

What about Diet drinks?

They are actually the worst yet! Sweeteners like aspartame (Equal) and sucralose (Splenda) have been shown to grow tumors in lab rats (even in minimal dosages). Even worse, your body sees artificial sweeteners as a toxin and causes weight gain, sugar cravings and gas and bloating in most people.

The Healthy Alternatives

Tea Juice and Iced Teas

You can make wonderful cold drinks from any variety of herbal tea or regular black or green tea (Be careful not to go overboard on the caffeinated varieties).

My favorite morning "tea juice" is orange zinger tea with a bit of stevia to sweeten. I make a big batch of this in the beginning of the week and put it in the fridge to cool. I also make a big batch of green tea (again, I sweeten with a bit of stevia) and have that in the fridge when I just don’t feel like having water.

Spa Water

One of my favorite parts about going to the Spa is the water! (and the massage, who am I kidding?)

I recreate their version of water right at home. It is ice cold water with sliced fresh lemon, lime, and oranges. It’s so refreshing and such a good alternative to plain water (for those who have a hard time getting in enough water each day).

Iced Coffee

I don’t like to suggest this too often (as too much coffee each day can pose some health problems for some) but when sugar cravings are at their highest, this serves as a "dessert" type drink. Combine coffee, 2 tbsp of organic cream or half and half and Stevia over lots of ice. Shake well and you’ve got a much healthier alternative to any "frappa, mocha, blah, blah, blah" that they may have at Starbucks (and much cheaper too!)

When in doubt, ALWAYS read labels! Remember that every 4 grams of sugar = 1 teaspoon of sugar. So if a drink says 44grams sugar, you know you’re drinking 11 teaspoons.