Sugary Drink Alternatives

According to Jet Magazine, "Black women who drink soda pop and sugar-sweetened fruit drinks on a regular basis are more likely to develop type 2 diabetes according to a recent study." The article went on to explain that type 2 diabetes is what is considered adult onset diabetes whereas type 1 diabetes is the kind whose onset happens in childhood or young adult years. In type 1 diabetes the body does not produce insulin at all. In type 2 diabetes; "the body does not produce enough insulin or the cells ignore the insulin." Type 2 diabetes most often effects and is more common in people of color including, "Blacks, Latinos and Native Americans."

The report was published in the "Archive of Internal Medicine." This article caught my attention right off. Growing up in DC; the carry out was a favorite place to go after school. We would go get french fries for $1 with salt pepper and ketchup sometimes. I remember many of my schoolmates female and male picking out the cheapest most sugary no name sodas in the fridge or popsicles to go along with their fries. This only usually added 50 cents to your total tab for the day so it always fit perfectly into your budget as a young person. As an adult, I spent an additional 7 or 8 years in the DC area and watched kids make similar choices as I stopped at neighborhood stores to pick up dinner or shop a little next door at the drugstore or beauty supply store.

It is very common for people of the community that I grew up in to pick the most sugary alternatives. Many of the sodas available in local carry outs contain more sugar than your average name brand soda like Coke, Sprite or Pepsi. A root beer; for example available at many stores contains 210 calories/serving.

So What are Some Options and Alternatives to These Cheap and Unhealthy Drinks?

What are some alternatives that are readily available in most neighborhoods at a reasonable rate? Well obviously just purchasing a name brand soda is a little better; but not much. The most important thing is to raise your kids not to drink soda every day. 1-3 times a month is okay but more than that is unnecessary. I was never given a lot of soda as a child; so when I went out shopping on my own in my teen years; I rarely craved a sugary soda. I would mostly get a juice to go with my food and sodas sometimes while many of my counterparts chose sodas all the time.

Next if you're used to drinking sodas the best thing to do is to carry a healthier drink on hand; in your car or your handbag. Many green and white teas available on the market today have 50 calories or less in them and are available in 12 packs or more at your local grocery store or drugstore. Bottled water is another option. Sometimes just having the water there conveniently in a bottle will motivate you to drink it instead of paying extra money for the soda. But, honestly if you're used to sugary drinks; water is often not very motivating. But, try and see if you can do it. You can also buy a natural fruit juice and put a little in your water to give it just a touch of flavor to get you motivated to drink it.

Next; I don't advocate switching from sugary drinks to tons of artificially sweetened drinks either because too much of those chemicals probably aren't good either. The next option is to pick a drink that's not too sweet like regular grapefruit juice. You'd be surprised at how satisfying that can be with your meal. The least option is to pick a fruit juice drink like regular V8 or V8 Splash or something. Though V8 Splash has sugar in the drink and V8 regular is a bit high in sodium; your body will be getting a full serving of fruits and/or vegetables and will be getting use out of the product over and above the pleasure you get from the taste.