Category: <span>Blog</span>

How much water is enough? Many doctors say to drink half your body weight in ounces daily (unless you have kidney disease or have been told otherwise by your doctor). So, a 150lb person would drink 75 ounces of water, or just over 9 cups. Any less and he will be dehydrated. Remember to add on more water for exercise, and for caffeine. The rule with caffeine is to drink one glass of water for every glass of caffeinated beverage you drink. Any less and you will be dehydrated, putting you at risk for high blood pressure, headaches, fatigue, dry skin, and wrinkles. Who wants those when there’s a free solution in every building!

Beverage Basics

Still have the craving for sweet tea? No problem. You can have your sweets and eat them, too. Here’s how. Two sweeteners that are ok are stevia and xylitol. Stevia is the Latin name of a small, leafy plant that has incredibly sweet leaves. Just a small amount of stevia can sweeten a whole batch of tea. And, it doesn’t raise blood sugar (meaning it doesn’t cause weight gain). Some people find stevia to have an aftertaste. These people usually don’t like artificially-sweetened diet beverages either, while other people tolerate diet sodas as well as stevia. Xylitol is a naturally-occurring sugar alcohol that has 1/3 of the calories of sugar. That means it causes only 1/3 of the weight gain that sugar causes, and it doesn’t cause tooth decay. In fact, xylitol is used to prevent cavities and sinus infections (when used in a nasal spray).

So what’s a person to drink? Besides water, of course, try making your own favorite teas at home and brown-bagging it to work or errands. Not only will you save money, but you’ll get to customize your beverage exactly how you like it. Use a BPA-free plastic container, Camelback glass totes, or colorful Sigg bottles.

Although you might be jumping on the bandwagon and drinking trendy teas, there’s a down side too. Most commercial teas are sweetened. Even if they are sweetened with organic cane juice, it’s loaded with sugar all the same. That’s also true of agave syrup, which raises your blood sugar as much as sugar does. And, when blood sugar is elevated, that’s when weight gain occurs. Many people drink these beverages between meals, when there’s no fat or protein from a meal to attenuate the sugar rush. Then, they wonder why they are hungry a couple hours later when the sugar crash leaves them in a lurch. So ditch the trend and go for unsweetened teas. You’ll get the subtle stimulation of the caffeine, and the anti-aging powers of the antioxidants without the weight gain associated with the sugar.

Beverage Basics 1

Many people are grabbing healthy beverages like green tea. Tea contains about 1/3 of the caffeine as coffee, so it’s great for a pick-me-up. But, it also contains other compounds that regulate the caffeine, decreasing the crash that follows a caffeine high from coffee. It also contains antioxidants. In fact, green tea was found to decrease risk of breast cancer. It’s also good for a healthy liver, and that means a healthy hormonal balance. Black tea also contains powerful antioxidants. Because of the caffeine, many doctors recommend drinking a glass of water with your tea, as caffeine is a diuretic. This means that if you don’t have a cup of water for every cup of tea or coffee, you are dehydrated.