Focus On – 8 Healthy Drinking Tips | Jurassic Climbing Academy

8 Healthy Drinking Tips

Our top 8 healthy drinking tips will make an immediate difference to your health.

1) Drink 6-8 glasses of water each day to prevent dehydration and help fill you up. Water is healthy and cheap for quenching your thirst at any time. It has no calories, contains no sugars, so aids weight control. Our bodies often mistake thirst for hunger, with the result that we eat when all we really want is a drink.

2) Cut out soda and other processed drinks. Just one pouch of juice drink has 5 cubes of sugar! Just one can of cola has 9 cubes of sugar, that’s more than anyone should have in a day! Don’t get sucked into those diet soda drinks either, they are full of nasties that replace the sugar as a sweetener!

3) Cut out alcoholic drinks. Alcohol can harm your heart muscles making them unable to contract properly, and can also harm your liver, pancreas and immune system function. It can also increase your risk for certain cancers like mouth and breast cancer. Also, alcohol slows down the pace of the neurotransmitters in your brain that are critical for proper body responses and even moods, not so good for climbers! Lastly, alcoholic drinks are packed with unwanted calories!

4) Cut down on caffeine by drinking fewer cups of tea and coffee. If you drink large amounts, cutting down will make you feel less jittery and help you sleep better. Large amounts of caffeine can cause symptoms like jitters, heightened anxiety, GI discomfort, changes in heart rate, and sleep disturbance. All of which will disrupt your normal daily function. Coffee is often a connection for sugar and fat intake, some extra squirty cream, marsh mellows or a pastry. That caffeine fix could become a big source of empty calories.

5) Drink green teas. They help reduce the risk of cancer, heart disease, and cavities. Green tea contains natural antioxidants that may protect our bodies from carcinogens and help to neutralize free radicals in the body. The tea’s antioxidants may also guard against heart disease by relaxing blood vessels and reducing blood clots that trigger heart attacks and strokes. Green tea also contains fluoride reducing the risk of tooth decay.

6) Drink semi-skimmed milk every day. Curbs cravings and helps protect against osteoporosis. Milk contains carbohydrates, protein, and a little fat, so you absorb it slowly and stay full longer. Milk is the ideal source of calcium because it contains vitamin D, which is needed for maximum calcium absorption. It may also help your body stop storing fat, the calcium causes your body’s cells to burn the fat instead of holding on to it.

7) Cut down on fruit juice. Studies have warned against fruit juice, which can pack as much sugar as soda and is linked to higher blood pressure and obesity. Juicing takes out the fruit’s naturally occurring fiber, which greatly speeds up the absorption of sugar.

8) Cut down on smoothies especially factory processed smoothies. Calories from fruit can soon add up, so it’s good to add veggies. Pick fruit with a low glycemic index, like apples and pears. A good ratio to follow is 70% veggie and 30% fruit. A store-bought fruit smoothie can pack 58 grams of sugar in a single bottle which is more than a cola at 40 grams of sugar! Smoothies can also rob you of the satisfaction of eating real food. It has been found that people who drink the beverage form of a carb-rich food consume 12% more calories overall.