Be careful of what you drink, it is easy to consume lots of calories.  Lots of us enjoy a good beverage, of course, but please pay attention and make good choices.

Many households have juice ready at hand.  Not a bad idea, unless it’s not really juice but a “juice beverage.”  Read the label.  Some “drinks” are not really juice at all, or contain very little real fruit although they may look like they do.  Many have added sugars.  Check the ingredients -it should read 100% juice with nothing else.  Then go easy on it.  Real juice is far preferable than “juice drinks” or “juice beverages.”

Lots of households have sodas ready for drinking, too.  That’s not a good idea.  Sodas contain lots and lots of sugar, and have no nutritional value.  For example, a 12-ounce lemon-lime soda has 9 teaspoons of sugar in it, with 148 calories.  No vitamins or minerals, or fiber.  Compare that to one cup of orange juice – only 105 calories, lots of fiber and vitamin C.  Tip: mix the orange juice with some sparkling water or no-salt seltzer.

I should mention that it’s not a great idea to drink much carbonated beverages (including seltzer, sparkling waters, club soda, et al) as they are thought to leach calcium from our bones.  I have a little, though, perhaps one serving per week.

Best to have water.  Plain, pure, wonderful water.  If you’re going to have juice, have only one serving, which usually amounts to ½ or 1 cup.  Tip: mix the juice with some water, or add it to iced or hot tea.