Healthy Drinking Guide

A variety of unhealthy drinks with lumps of sugar below them.

Motivation

So of course, water is healthy and sodas aren’t. But… why? The purpose of this article is to record the answers to all these “why” questions, so you don’t need to re-research it every time. Drinks are (roughly) listed from healthiest to most harmful in each of the categories.

Remember, the key here is moderation. It’s fine to drink some not-so-healthy options every once in a while - you don’t need to limit yourself to water! Just don’t drink too much or too often.

Is It Bad For You?

You can actually search for a specific product using this really cool website: Is It Bad For You?

I’ve looked at a bunch of the entries, and some are quite controversial. So I guess I’ll leave it up to you if you want to trust their recommendations.

Things to look at

Zevia - Zero calorie soda

Coconut Milk

Healthy

Water

The classic, and probably the best drinking choice in almost all circumstances.

The reason water is healthy is simply because it’s the only thing people had in ancient days, so our bodies adapted to make full use of it. Of course, if you’re looking for something with a little more flavor, you’ll need to find another option…

Sparkling Water (Unflavored)

It’s just as healthy as water. Quartz video

Sparkling Water (Lightly Flavored)

As in they still taste like water and have basically no sugar. These seem to be healthy choices as well, and can be used to satisfy soda cravings… sort of.

Bubly Sparkling Water

Everything is 0 on the nutrition label - 0 calories, 0 sugar. The only two ingredients are carbonated water and natural flavor.

Cherry Bubly

It’s just carbonated water with a hint of cherry flavor tossed in. It smells like cherry, but tastes mostly just like water - which I guess is kinda the point. Just drink water at that point though…

La Croix Sparkling Water

Has more flavor than the other brands. Honestly right now, it’s a close call between Polar Seltzer and La Croix for the best sparkling water

Polar Seltzer

Unflavored

It’s just carbonated water.

Flavored

It tastes like… carbonated water. I’m starting to realize that all the flavored versions of sparkling water that are healthy only mess with the smell of the water, but add negligible amounts of flavoring to the water itself. Just drink water.

Coconut Water

Better than water in some ways, worse in others. The key points are that coconut water does have some sugar without fiber (~9g per 8 ounces) which is considerably less than other sugary drinks like juice or soda, which have ~26g per 8 ounces. However, coconut water also contains nutrients like Potassium, Calcium, Magnesium, and Phosphorus that are needed for good health and are somewhat difficult to obtain normally.

Sources: Healthline, Mayo Clinic

Vita Coco Coconut Water

The taste is great, most of the time - I have experienced some consistency issues though. It can get old fast though, so only drink it occasionally. There’s a bit of added sugar (1g per 8 ounces), which I’m fine with due to the better taste. The key is that this can be used to replace other sugary drinks in a healthy way, which I’ll gladly take! :)

Debatable

Milk

Opinions on whether milk is healthy are mixed. However, most agree that it’s a great source of calcium and protein. Avoid heavily flavored versions (with lots of added sugar or artificial sweeteners) if possible. A bit of added sugar is fine - it’s better to drink flavored milk to satisfy your cravings than it is to give in to soda! Also, try to go for low-fat milk though - or almond milk / soymilk substitutes - to reduce the amount of saturated fat. Note that yogurt also falls under this category, since it’s also a diary product.

Main source: Dairy: Health food or health risk? - Harvard Health

Almond Breeze Vanilla Almondmilk

Just for logging’s sake: I tried this, and the taste isn’t amazing. At least it’s not for me.

Sparkling Water, Artificially Sweetened

For most brands that contain artificial sweeteners (generally stuff that you don’t recognize on the ingredient list), it’s not as healthy as water, but much better than soda. Quartz video

Artificial Sweeteners

Many of the drinks in the Debatable category contain artificial sweeteners - These are ingredients that give you that sugary taste without adding to the amount of carbohydrates or calories. Essentially, they give you the taste of sugar without actually adding sugar.

As of April 2023, research is conflicted on whether these artificial sweeteners are healthy, but to summarize: There is a correlation between artificial sweeteners and unhealthy effects like type 2 diabetes or obesity, but there is a lack of proof for causation. Considering that people who drink sodas of any kind are generally more likely to have not-so-good eating habits, it’s pretty clear that you’d expect a correlation between these. However, that does not imply causation!

There are also a variety of arguments for and against artificial sweeteners directly causing certain things. Some say that the lack of calories makes your body confused (it gets a sweet taste without the calories that usually follow), which could make you crave sugar or mess up your metabolism (slow energy usage down). Then again, other studies have found that replacing soda with diet soda might result in weight loss, but these studies likely had conflicts of interest (run by artificial sweetener advocates).

Basically, who knows. It’s best to treat these like normal sugar - eat them in moderation, and prefer other options. One such option would be a flavored drink that uses smaller amounts (ideally <1g per fl. oz, so <12g for cans and <17g for bottles) of normal sugar (since you can measure how much sugar exactly is in these).

Sparkling Ice

This falls under the same category as artificially sweetened sparkling water.

Zero / Low Sugar Soda

At best, it’s similar to flavored sparkling water. At worst, it’s just as bad as a regular soda. There isn’t enough evidence to support either conclusion, so drink with caution… why risk it when you could go for one of the healthy options instead?

Research

Fruit Juice, With Vitamins

In short, fruit juice is like soda, but with vitamins included. There are many ways of making it - homemade, cold pressed, from concentrate, artificially sweetened, etc. - and different methods result in different amounts of vitamins being conserved. In particular, fruit juice from concentrate should be avoided! The large sugar level stays the same for all juices though. The issue is that the main vitamin in fruit juices - Vitamin C - can be easily obtained through a variety of fruits and veggies.

For comparison, 8 ounces of orange juice contains ~22g of sugar, regardless of the brand. 8 ounces of apple juice contains ~28g of sugar. 8 ounces of soda (theoretically) would contain only ~26g of sugar, which makes juice seem a bit scary when put in perspective. To be clear, the only reason juice is not in the “Unhealthy” category is because of the nutrients… it’s still much worse than the other options in this list.

So, in essence, fruit juice can be fine in lower quantities (say, 1 glass a day) to get some vitamins… maybe… but too much can be just as bad as soda for your health. But look for low sugar options, and make sure the juice actually contains vitamins!

Research

Side note: Talking Point has very high quality documentaries on this type of stuff, with evidence to back it up and entertainment value! We should watch them more often.

Unhealthy

Classic Soda

Of course, this is a very unhealthy option, so **do not drink this routinely (ideally limit to once per week or less). A 12-ounce can of standard soda contains about 39 grams of sugar and 150 calories. (Mountain Dew has 46 grams per can!) That’s equivalent to about 9 teaspoons of sugar per can just to put things into perspective.

Too Much Sugar, Not Enough Fiber

Basically all the drinks that are considered unhealthy have too much sugar, whether added or “natural”. Whether the sugars are added or natural doesn’t actually matter - the only way to make sugars have less of an impact is to also eat fiber along with sugar (to slow down the body’s rate of sugar intake). That’s why whole fruits are healthy - even though they have a good deal of sugar, they also come with a good amount of fiber. Most foods/drinks with added sugar, on the other hand, don’t have fiber - which is why most recommendations focus on avoiding only added sugar.

To learn more: [Fiber

The Nutrition Source

Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health](https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/carbohydrates/fiber/)

Fruit Juice, Without Vitamins

These are essentially sugar water. Just drink soda instead!

Not Practical

Hint Water

Ew. The idea is good - think of the “water + 1 lemon” drink you might get at a restaurant. Unfortunately, the taste doesn’t deliver - at least not for the lemon one. I’d prefer regular water to this.

Unknown

Last updated: 09 April 2023

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