In the hot summer, a cold drink can quench your thirst and refresh. But there are a variety of drinks on the market, high sugar, high sodium, and high-calorie traps are everywhere, if you choose the wrong one, you will really get fatter and fatter the more you drink, and it is not good for your health.
How to choose a truly healthy and thirst-quenching drink? Nutritionists will reveal the 3 principles of scientific drink selection for you, and recommend 8 refreshing and low-burden summer specials, even pregnant women can drink with confidence!
1. 3 golden rules for choosing drinks
1. Sodium control: Beware of the "invisible salt" trap
When we eat too salty, we tend to feel thirsty, which is due to sodium ions increasing blood osmotic pressure, causing cell dehydration, which can aggravate the feeling of thirst.
When sodium ions from high-sodium foods enter the bloodstream, they increase blood osmolarity. According to the osmotic principle, water flows from areas of low osmolality (such as cells and tissue fluids) to areas of high osmolality (blood), causing water loss within cells. When cells are dehydrated, the brain receives a thirst signal that prompts us to drink water.
Therefore, if the sodium content of the drink is high, it will not only not effectively quench thirst, but may make people more and more thirsty the more they drink.
Take a salt soda as an example, its sodium content is 118 mg/100 ml. Although it is a "low-sodium" drink by food standards [1], one bottle (600 ml) is equivalent to 1.77 grams of salt.
For people who generally exceed the daily salt intake, such drinks are not only unbeneficial, but also increase the unnecessary salt burden.
Even sports drinks designed for sports people have a sodium content range of only 5~120 mg/100 ml as stipulated by the national standard (GB 15266-2009) [2]. The sodium content of the above-mentioned salt soda is close to the upper limit of sports drinks, and it is obviously not suitable for ordinary people to drink when they sweat a little every day.
So, how much sodium is appropriate for non-heavy sweating?
You can refer to the lower limit of the sodium content of sports drinks (5 mg/100 ml) and choose a drink that is slightly lower or higher than this value.
For example, a soda with a sodium content of 13mg/100ml and only about 0.1g of salt consumed in one bottle (325ml) had little effect on salt intake throughout the day.
Pitting avoidance guide:
- Avoid drinks with a sodium content ≥ 100mg/100ml (such as salt soda).
-It is best for the general population to choose drinks with a sodium content of about 5mg/100ml.
- Pay attention to drinks containing sodium bicarbonate and sodium citrate.
2. Sugar control: stay away from the "sweet burden"
If you want to control your weight, be sure to look at calories when choosing a drink. Generally, the sugar content of sweet drinks is between 8% and 11%, and a 500 ml drink contains at least 160 kcal, which is best avoided directly.
However, it should be noted that in addition to sugar, fat and protein also provide calories, so sugar-free drinks do not have to be low-calorie. Take soy milk as an example, although it is a protein drink, it can hydrate and replenish electrolytes, and the protein, carbohydrates and fats in it can delay gastric emptying, so that water can be absorbed more fully, and the thirst quenching effect is very good.
But the calories of soy milk are not low, for example, this 315ml soy milk has 206 kcal in one bottle, which is equivalent to the calories of a small bowl of rice.
If you can't usually eat tofu or dried tofu, drinking soy milk to supplement soy nutrition is a good choice, but don't drink it as a summer drink, otherwise the extra calories intake can easily make people fat.
Tips:
- Be wary of "0 sugar but high energy" drinks.
- Give preference to drinks with a sugar content ≤ 5g/100ml.
3. Chilled sparkling water: thirst-quenching "blindfold"
An iced sparkling drink is a good option – provided your stomach can handle a cold drink. Studies have shown that cold carbonated drinks can give the brain the illusion of "drinking more water", which can lead to a stronger thirst-quenching feeling. [3]
However, it should be noted that this recommendation is only for daily light hydration needs. If it is after strenuous exercise or when the body is severely dehydrated, this "thirst-quenching illusion" may affect the actual hydration effect.
Reminder:
-Suitable for drinking when you are slightly thirsty, choose carefully after strenuous exercise.
2. Summer drink recommendations
1. 100% pure tomato juice
There is no added sugar and salt in the ingredients, and the sweet and sour taste of 100% tomatoes has an energy of only 23 kcal/100 g and a sugar content of only 2.57 g/100 g [4]. The lycopene content is about 7-8 mg/100 ml, and it also supplements potassium, vitamin B1, and vitamin B2, which are nutrients that are lost when sweating.
You can choose non-concentrated reduction (NFC), the ingredients are only tomato juice, but if you want to consider the cost performance, it is still recommended to process concentrated tomato juice, the ingredients are water + concentrated tomato juice or water + tomato pulp (sauce).
You may be confused, although the price is cheap, but compared with NFC tomato juice, the latter will be much less nutritious, right?
This really won't happen.
This is because the 100% pure tomato juice processed from concentrated tomato juice, although water needs to be added in the process, but the amount of water is not added casually, it is added according to NFC tomato juice as the standard, which makes there is no difference between the two in concentration.
In addition, there is a heating link in the process of both tomato juices, and heating will indeed lose some nutrients, which is gratifying that our rarest lycopene in tomatoes has good thermal stability, and various minerals are not afraid of heat [5]; As for vitamin C, folic acid, and β-carotene, which are heat-sensitive, their content in tomatoes is not high,[6] so it doesn't matter if they lose more or less in the processing process of the two tomato juices.
2. 100% mixed vegetable juice
Overall, vegetable juice has less energy than fruit juice, and the sugar content is significantly lower than fruit juice, you can see the table below.
The 100% mixed vegetable juice combines the nutrients of various vegetables, and is also rich in potassium and magnesium, so it is also a very suitable drink for summer.
The energy of this 100% mixed vegetable juice is only 27.7 kcal/100 ml, although the sodium content is relatively high, 56 mg/100 ml, but fortunately, there are only 200 ml in 1 box, so at most it is equivalent to 0.28 grams of salt intake, which is completely acceptable.
The other box of β-carotene is super high, β-carotene can be converted into vitamin A in the body, which is beneficial to eye health.
3. 100% coconut water
100% pure coconut water has a particularly low energy and sugar content in the juice, only 18 kcal/100 g, 3.92 g/100 g, respectively, the sodium content is not high, only 26 mg/100 g, and it can also supplement a lot of potassium.
4. Skimmed milk
The energy is only 34 kcal/100 grams, which can replenish the water, potassium, vitamin B2 lost by sweating, and also replenish the calcium that we are particularly prone to deficiency. Its rich protein can also delay gastric emptying, increase water absorption time, and have a good effect on hydrating and quenching thirst.
5. Sugar-free soy milk
It is the most ordinary soy milk we usually drink, its energy is 31 kcal/100 g, the potassium content is 117 mg/100 g, the sodium content is only 3.7 mg/100 g, and it is also very good to hydrate and replenish potassium in summer.
6. Sugar-free 0-calorie tea
Tea drinks like jasmine tea and oolong tea, with a little green tea and oolong tea, will have a faint taste of green tea and oolong tea respectively, and can also supplement a certain amount of antioxidant tea polyphenols, and the caffeine content is very low, so as not to diuresis to affect its water replenishment, in addition, there are also sugar-free 0 calories on the market, the sodium content is not high, and it is not burdensome to drink at all.
7. Sugar-free 0 cal corn silk tea
There is no tea in the ingredients, there is a little roasted corn, corn silk, there will be a faint corn aroma when you drink, there is also a sugar-free 0 calorie model on the market, even if you don't add sugar substitutes, it tastes good, in addition, although sodium bicarbonate is added to the ingredients, but the sodium content is usually not high, such as the following one, the sodium content is only 10 mg/100 ml, and it is also very suitable for quenching thirst in summer.
8. Sugar-free 0 calorie sparkling water
Sparkling water is chilled to make people feel more thirst-quenching, choose sugar-free 0 calories, and drink it without burden.
Fortunately, most of the sparkling water on the market has added sugar substitutes, which increases the sweet taste, which is much more delicious, and some sparkling water will also add some vitamins, such as vitamin C, niacin, vitamin B6, these are also water-soluble vitamins that will be lost when sweating, and drinking some drinks to replenish water and supplement these nutrients, which is really good.
3. 3 homemade summer drinks
In addition to these ready-made drinks, you can also make your own mung bean soup, lemon cucumber water, lemon passion fruit tea, sour plum soup, as long as you put less or no sugar, it is very healthy, and it is not too delicious to drink chilled.
1. Mung bean barley water
Recipe: 30g mung beans + 20g barley + 1L of cold boiled water, cook for at least 30 minutes
Mung beans contain B vitamins, minerals potassium and magnesium, as well as polyphenolic compounds; Barley is rich in protein and polysaccharides. After cooking, the soup can be filtered out and refrigerated for better taste.
2. Lemon cucumber water
Method: 3-4 slices of fresh lemon + half a cucumber cut into thin slices + 1L of cold boiled water
Lemon can supplement a small amount of vitamin C, but it can also bring a sweet and sour taste, and cucumber has a fresh taste and plenty of moisture. If you add a little mint leaves, you can add a cooling sensation.
If you like passion fruit, you can also replace it with lemon passion fruit tea, and the taste is also very good!
3. Sour plum soup
Method: 5 black plums + 10g dried hawthorn + 3g tangerine peel + a little osmanthus (sugar control can be added without rock sugar)
It is rich in flavonoids and organic acids, with a natural sweet and sour taste, which stimulates the taste buds and has the effect of "quenching thirst".
To summarize:
Whether it is bought ready-made or homemade, these drinks cannot replace water, and there is no additional addition to the water without energy, it is a highly recommended healthy drink.
