Beverage Recommendations
Consider that most beverages will increase your total daily calorie consumption. Therefore, to maintain a healthy diet it is important to choose the right beverages and avoid others…
Drink Water
- LOTS OF WATER… Consume at least half of your body weight in ounces of water per day. (I.e., 75 ounces for 150 pound person). Avoid tap water as it contains chemicals very harmful to the thyroid, including fluoride and chlorine. Fluoride and chlorine have been shown to interfere with iodine uptake by the thyroid gland. Use fluoride free toothpaste, (Tom’s from Maine sold at Whole Foods and Wild Oats) to reduce fluoride intake.
To Sweeten Beverages:
- Consider replacing your artificial sweeteners with natural sweeteners like stevia, raw sugar, honey or agava; these ingredients of nature also contain some basic nutrients.
To Help Alkalize Your Body:
- Consider adding a green drink into your daily regimen, this will help to alkalize your body and while increasing your daily vegetable consumption. Add green drink to your recovery drink or drink alone.
- Add fresh lemon to water when possible. This will help alkalize your body and lessen fatigue.
Coffee Drinkers
- If you are a coffee drinker and tolerate well always choose organic to reduce your exposure to chemicals
- Begin replacing coffee with organic green tea, drink at least 1-8 oz cup of green tea per day. This powerful filled drink is shown to increase antioxidant activity in the blood, improve fat metabolism, decrease appetite, support the cardiovascular system, reduce the risk of cancer development, reduce inflammation, and provide antibacterial and antiviral action.
- Substitute some of your coffee with Ribo-Zip.
Ribo-Zip is a fruit and vegetable based drink that contains green tea along with minerals and antioxidants. (Note: contains trace levels of artificial sweetener).
Recovery Drinks
- Recovery drinks are recommended for individuals training at a high intensity; Drink composition is calculated based on weight, body fat percentage (if known), activity, & goals.
Avoid
Drinks that contain the following:
- ASPARTAME
an artificial sweetener found in diet soft drinks and other sugar-free products)-Our body metabolizes this into the toxic substance formaldehyde. It is also toxic to the liver and other organs, and has been suggested that it may adversely affect the thyroid gland.
- HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP (HFCS)
Is a sweetener and preservative that is essentially highly refined sugar. It is made by processing cornstarch into corn syrup and then adding enzymes to convert the glucose into fructose to produce sweeter syrup. HFCS is found in many soft drinks, fruit drinks, ketchups, candies, salad dressings, and other processed foods. It is high in calories with very little nutritional value (empty calories).
There is controversy surrounding the adverse effects of HFCS and whether it can be directly linked to increased cases of diabetes, obesity and other conditions. However, it should be noted that consuming excessive amounts of sugar has been linked to adverse health affects. For this reason, the USDA recommends that people include no more than 10 teaspoons of added sugar per day, Unfortunately “A 12 ounce soda can contain as much as 13 teaspoons of sugar in the form of high fructose corn syrup” (John Mericle M.D.).
When consuming HFCS consider that people who consume high amounts of sugar also consume fewer fruits and vegetables and tend to get less calcium, fiber, vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin E, zinc, magnesium, iron, and other nutrients.
