WSFA 12 News Montgomery, AL |Five drinks to help keep your health on track
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(WAVE)-The beverage choices at the grocery store are endless, but could you be sabotaging your health and weight by what you choose? Registered dietitians say yes.
Lisa Cole thought switching from regular to diet soda would jump start her diet.
"No matter what I ate, no matter how much I exercised, I just wasn't losing weight," Cole said.
Registered dietitian Patti Milligan said you should scratch diet soda off your grocery list.
"The amount of chemicals in diet soda really play havoc with the metabolic furnace - which is your liver. It does not crank up metabolism," Milligan explained.
Instead, she said to focus on five other drinks: water, unsweetened cranberry juice, green tea, beetroot juice and red wine.
Water is crucial for hydration and flushing out your system. Unsweetened cranberry juice will help the body fight off bacteria, especially in the urinary tract. Red wine, in moderation, is good for heart health and lowering inflammation. Beetroot juice gives athletes more stamina.
"The compounds in beetroot juice are related to nitrates and they seem to help convert in the body a better utilization of our oxygen," Milligan said.
She said green tea is high in antioxidants and that is good not only for anti-aging, but there's good immune system benefits as well.
If you have to pick one drink of the five, Milligan said she'd choose green tea because of the multiple benefits.
If beet root juice isn't your thing, Milligan suggested eating beets; you'll get the same benefit.
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