Diabetes mellitus is a medical condition in which blood sugar levels are high for most of the day.
These patients have to keep away from or lessen their consumption of sugary foods and refined carbohydrates.
Most stress is placed on sweet solid foods elimination, but often the role of drinks in raising the blood sugars of diabetics is overlooked. This could be hazardous.
Diabetics can drink certain liquids freely, have to lessen their intake of some liquids, but have to avoid certain drinks. Which are the worst drinks for diabetics?
Diabetes and sweet foods and liquids
The medical condition of diabetes mellitus is characterized by high blood sugar levels. Sugars and simple carbohydrates eating cause blood sugar to rise.
Hence, stress is placed on avoiding sweet foods. Carbs in daily diet are controlled and doctors advise increasing the consumption of vegetables and certain fruits.
This, along with medicines and exercise, can achieve tight blood sugar control. This is of paramount importance to avoid complications of diabetes in later life.
Various kinds and flavors of soda (Source: The New York Times)But often, diabetics modify their diet but do not pay much attention to drinks, beverages, and liquids. Certain drinks could upset blood sugar control and make it go haywire.
Which are these drinks? Which are the worst drinks for diabetics?
The worst drinks for diabetics
To have smooth control of blood sugar levels, diabetics need to exercise caution in their choice of beverages as well. Texan dietitian, Priscilla Benavides states:
“Ideally, people with diabetes shouldn’t get sugars from beverages,”
She adds:
“This is because you can easily get more than a meal’s worth of sugar from one drink and not even know it.”
The drinks that are bad for diabetics include:
1. Soda
This drink has 51 to 77 grams of regular sugar in 20 ounces. This is way above the recommended sugar intake in a day for a diabetic or even a healthy adult. Instead of sweet soda, go for diet soda. But drink enough water and do not replace water with diet soda.
2. Sweet tea or tea with sugar
In 20 ounces of sweet tea, there are around 26 to 50 grams of sugar. This is detrimental for a diabetic and can easily upset blood sugar control. Therefore, instead of sweet tea, diabetics should opt for unsweetened tea.
Or go for tea with sugar-free sweet alternatives. But the caffeine content of tea is also harmful to diabetes. Because it can increase blood pressure, blood sugar, and blood cholesterol.
Slush drinks (Source: Pinterest)3. Slush drinks
There are 83 calories in 20 ounces of slush drinks. All commercial slush drinks are loaded with added sugars. One can make slush drinks at home easily and the recipes for it are online.
When homemade, one can control the amount of sugar or use artificial sweeteners in their place.
4. Iced coffee
In coffee, the amount of sugar used is more than that in tea. This is bad for diabetics. Every 20 ounces of iced coffee has 75 to 84 grams of sugar. Therefore, diabetics should lessen their intake of coffee.
They should consume light or skinny coffee. There should be no or less sugar. Use non-fat milk instead of full-fat milk as a whitener. Replace regular sugar with substitutes.
Read more: Graham crackers: origin, history, ingredients, uses, and safety for heart patients and diabetics!
5. Sports drinks
Sports drinks have added sugars and sodium (Source: Pinterest)The sugar content in 20 ounces of sports drinks is around 34 grams. This is high and it is best to avoid these drinks. The diabetic patient can go for sugar-free or zero-sports drinks.
But despite low or no sugars, sports drinks might have high sodium content. This could be bad for the heart and blood pressure.
Therefore, it is best to consume water liberally and use less of any commercial drinks. Priscilla advises:
“Water is the gold standard of beverages,”
“It has no calories, no carbs and goes with just about any meal.”
If one cannot drink too much of water, infuse it with fruit or fresh mint for flavor. Fruits are better than such drinks. And Priscilla adds:
“In a perfect world, people wouldn’t consume any added sugar,”
“But for most people, a more realistic approach to cutting back on sugar is moderation. Have that occasional indulgence, but don’t let it interfere with your overall plan to be healthier.”