When Zero Calories = Disease
Most of us are looking for a way to satisfy our thirst and our taste buds without adding girth to our midsections. Enter diet beverages.
Diet sodas, diet iced tea and lemonade, flavored powders packaged in mini-sleeves, perfectly portioned to pour into our water bottles—all seem to fit the bill. They have plenty of “yum,” and no calories to concern ourselves with.
But, in fact, there is something you and I need to be VERY concerned with—the significant health risks which researchers have found to be associated with the daily consumption of diet beverages.
A study published in April 2017 in the American Heart Association’s journal, Stroke, shone a very unhealthy light on those who drank just one, daily serving of an artificially sweetened beverage. When compared with those who did not drink diet beverages, those who did were THREE TIMES MORE LIKELY TO SUFFER A STROKE and THREE TIMES MORE LIKELY TO SUFFER FROM ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE. Yikes, these statistics scare me more than sporting a couple extra pounds across my belly!
So, here’s what I’m suggesting:
Steer clear of ALL diet drinks. Instead, satisfy your need for flavor, along with your desire not to drink your calories, by quenching your thirst with zero calorie, naturally flavored water concoctions. Spice up a jug of fresh water with one of these flavorful additions and keep them on rotation in your refrigerator. This way, your taste buds can experience a pleasant variety of thirst-quenching drinks.
Cucumber water—cleaned, peeled or unpeeled, sliced.
Citrus water (lime, lemon, or orange)—cleaned, sliced in circles through the midsection.
Strawberry water—cleaned and quartered or sliced.
Mint water—crush fresh mint leaves by rolling them in your hands before adding them to the water.
Pour fresh water over one of these flavorful additives and leave it to “seep” overnight. I suggest you use a clear glass pitcher to make it even more enticing. When you’ve sampled each of the suggestions above, experiment further by mixing and matching flavors to your liking—cucumber and mint is one of my favorite combinations.
Now, zero calories can = zero side effects!
