What can we drink that is healthy and non-fattening?

Sugar-free drinks are beginning to raise questions regarding the safety of the chemicals being used as sweeteners.

by Nina Anderson  — 

Headlines across the media warn of a growing obesity problem. Not only are snack, fried and fast foods big contributors, but our burgeoning consumption of soft drinks adds to the list of things that make us fat.

In an effort to stay healthy, many consumers are turning to sports drinks and flavored waters. Again, we find many of these laden with sugar or sugar substitutes, such as high-fructose corn syrup. These, too, can quickly pile on the pounds. School systems around the country are removing soda machines from their campuses in an effort to trim down their students. Coaches are looking for alternatives to popular sports drinks and, in the meantime, are watering down the electrolyte drinks they offer their players.

Sugar-free drinks are beginning to raise questions regarding the safety of the chemicals being used as sweeteners. So what is the solution? Plain water?

Bottled water is being described as mineral deficient, due to the purification process. Signs of mineral deficiencies are showing up in declining cognitive abilities, fatigue, heart function and immune response. Some members of the bottled water industry are responding by adding sodium, potassium, and/or calcium and magnesium to their drinks. The problem is that those are but a portion of the minerals our bodies utilize. We eat a diet of foods that are mostly grown in mineral-deficient soil due to modern farming methods; and now, instead of deep well water, we are drinking processed water. Where can we get the essential trace-minerals so needed by the body?

Supplementation may be the answer, but many folks are not focused on taking their vitamin/mineral pills every day. Liquid supplements are one solution, but folks still don’t seem to drink enough water, unless it tastes like something else. But if that supplement had flavor, it would likely have to contain high-calorie sugars or artificial sweeteners.

What is needed is an electrolyte water additive to help solve the problem of mineral deficiency and offer a viable alternative to obesity-generating soft and sports drinks. One company does produce a 12-trace mineral electrolyte-forming supplement in a liquid pouch that, when poured into water, tastes like a soft drink but without the added sugar or artificial sweeteners (www.electroblast.com). It seems this product is filling a long-needed niche in the sports drink marketplace.

Discussions about mineral deficiency are aimed at the entire population. The blood needs minerals to remain healthy, and if you aren’t getting them through your food or water, your body will leech them from the bones. One sign of this is the increase in young athletes with arthritic conditions and a rash of the elderly with osteoporosis. Could remineralization of the body stave off these illnesses? It is a good bet that it would.

Nina Anderson, S.P.N., is the author of Analyzing Sports Drinks and The Secrets of Staying Young. www.longlifecatalogs.com.

Reprinted from AzNetNews, Volume 25, Number 5, October/November 2006.