Healthy Drinking Wednesday Challenge
Healthy Drinking Wednesday Challenge: Choose to drink healthy beverages!
During this time of increased stress, it’s important that we not only focus on eating healthy foods but also on consuming healthy beverages. Drinking enough water every day is essential for overall health. It is commonly thought that adults need 8 glasses of water per day, but recommendations for water intake vary based on age, weight and activity level. Thirst is the first sign that you need to drink water, but other signs include headaches and fatigue. Even the sensation of feeling hungry can be a sign that you need to drink water.
Plain drinking water is always the best choice of beverage since it has zero calories and is an essential nutrient for the body. Other healthy choices for beverages include unsweetened seltzer water and unsweetened iced tea. Non-fat or low-fat milk and 100% fruit juice can also be healthy parts of your diet.
Sugar-sweetened beverages such as sodas, energy drinks, coffee drinks, juice blends, fruit punch and sports drinks do contain water, but also contain unwanted calories that can derail your healthy lifestyle goals. Added sugar can go by many names on a nutrition label, so look for high-fructose corn syrup, fructose, fruit juice concentrates, honey, syrup, sucrose and dextrose, and consume beverages containing these ingredients only sparingly.
We are all experiencing increased stress in our lives due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and this can lead some of us to increase our intake of caffeine and alcohol. Both beverages are dehydrating and can add extra calories to our diets. Managing our intake of caffeine and alcohol during this time is crucial to managing our stress and our overall health.
Your challenge today is to choose healthy beverages. Remember to let us know how you’ve met today’s challenge by posting on our Facebook page!
