Hydration: What Are Your Yellow Drinks?

Hydration: Create Your Own Spectrum: Yellow Drinks I Want to Incorporate (January 19th, 2021)

Your guide to liquid nutrition is designed to help you make better beverage choices and develop healthy drinking habits no matter what your starting point.

No need to label any drinks “off limits,” but nutritional value does vary. You have seen how different beverages stack up, and why you may want to drink some more often than others.

Yellow drinks also known as those to “drink some” because they don’t support you as well nutritionally, don’t help you reach your goals as well, or you would like to drink them a bit less while changing your habits or use them to transition towards healthier options.

As you review the beverages in the “drink some” yellow category, choose three for your personal spectrum of yellow drinks you want to incorporate.

Here is the recap of yellow “drink some” beverages from each category.

Sweetened Beverages:

1. Vegetable juice
2. Artificially sweetened water

Vegetable juice is fine in small amounts, but eating whole vegetables is preferable because they contain more nutrients and fiber, and are more filling.

Carbonated Beverages:

1. Diet soda
2. Carbonated water, artificially sweetened
3. Energy drinks, artificially sweetened

Beverages with artificial and low-calorie sweeteners are fine to consume in moderate amounts (around 8–16 ounces per day)

Research shows that consuming 3–5 mg per kilogram of body weight of caffeine 30–60 minutes before exercise can improve athletic performance. But use wisely; This amount can also cause jitteriness.

Tea & Coffee:

1. Tea, lightly sweetened and/or creamed
2. Coffee, lightly sweetened and/or creamed

Benefits of coffee:

*Caffeine may boost alertness, physical performance, and reaction time.

*Regular drinkers may have lower risk of Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.

*Contains antioxidants and is associated with overall decreased risk of cancer.

Downsides of coffee:

*”Slow metabolizers” of caffeine may experience increased blood pressure, disrupted sleep, or worse PMS symptoms.

*Too much caffeine can stimulate anxiety and disrupt sleep.

Dairy & Plant Milks:

1. Kefir, flavored/sweetened
2. Plant milks, unsweetened
3. Dairy milk, plain

If environmental sustainability is your top priority, categorize diary milk and resource-intensive plant milks as “drink less.”

When it comes to plant milks, choose unsweetened when possible. For variety, consider trying:

Rice milk

Oat milk

Soy milk

Coconut milk

Hemp milk

Almond milk

Pea milk

Recovery & Performance Drinks:

1. Protein shakes
2. Sports drinks, lightly or artificially sweetened
3. Coconut water

Coconut water can be a fine recovery drink after lots of perspiration, but it does contain calories and sugar. Look for versions without added sugar.

With a daily drink intake of 100 ounces:

1. ⅖ red, ⅖ yellow, ⅕ green means 40 total ounces of yellow “drink some” drinks.
2. ⅕ red, ⅖ yellow, ⅖ green means 40 total ounces of yellow “drink some” drinks.
3. ⅕ red, ⅕ yellow, ⅗ green means 20 total ounces of yellow “drink some” drinks.
4. ⅕ yellow, ⅘ green means 20 total ounces of yellow “drink some” drinks.

What 3 of the above Yellow “drink some” drinks are on your personal spectrum that adjusts for your preferences and lifestyle?

If you would like guidance on your hydration journey, contact me at ProCoach.app/Joyce-Sherman

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