posted
I'm a college student with a lot of debt. I have crazy class schedules that change every month (last month was 9 AM to 12 Noon, and then 5 PM to 1 AM. This month is 5 AM to 9 AM, then 1 PM to 5 PM).
I'm struggling to eat healthy without spending too much money, and to keep my energy up. And for reasons that I don't fully understand, I really do not like tea.
I am frustrated by the fact that sodas (and other bottled high fructose corn syrup drinks) are far cheaper than any other alternative out there. Lately I've been drinking Sunny Delite, which sort of tastes healthier but from what I understand is pretty much as bad for you. For efficiency reasons I've been buying it by the two liter bottle, going through about a bottle every 1-2 days. (Some days I manage to get through on just water, which I know is healthiest/cheapest but gets really boring)
Anyone have any fairly inexpensive, tasty, healthy drinks that keep them up and running? (I'm not looking for "energy drinks" or caffein per se... those don't seem to affect me anyways, just something that gives me a psychological sugar-rush-esque sensation, if that makes any sense)
Posts: 4136 | Registered: Aug 2008
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He's got 207 posts, but wow does this look like a set-up post for an ad scheme. Someone should be coming along any minute now saying "I have just the thing! Have you tried that new drink called Phlogiston?"
Dude, is one of your strategies to get out of debt stealth marketing stuff to forums you post on?
Am I just cynical, or did anyone else think this? or both? Posts: 6246 | Registered: Aug 2004
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Theoretically, the kind that's attempting to prepare you for a career when you'll need to be up at random times. Mostly though, the kind that's run by a profit-driven school that's trying to maximize the number of students they can teach at any given time. (The "ending at 1 AM" part isn't actually a problem, since most of my classmates and I would typically be up that late anyway. It's the having to get up again at 9 AM that makes it rough).
> Make some iced tea, add lemons and limes and some sugar.
Periodically I've tried to get into tea and it never cuts it for me. It always tastes too... insubstantial or something. Like it's water that's trying to be something other than water but is mostly failing, ending up being more disappointing than plain ol' water.
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quote:Originally posted by Tatiana: He's got 207 posts, but wow does this look like a set-up post for an ad scheme. Someone should be coming along any minute now saying "I have just the thing! Have you tried that new drink called Phlogiston?"
Dude, is one of your strategies to get out of debt stealth marketing stuff to forums you post on?
Am I just cynical, or did anyone else think this? or both?
Interesting theory (definitely possible in today's world I admit) but no, I seriously am looking for something to help.
Posts: 4136 | Registered: Aug 2008
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The dry powder for Powerade or Gatorade is very cheap, not too bad for you, and enjoyable if you want your drinks to have some taste. My now-husband used to use it all the time when he was a poor college student, as he doesn't like plain water most of the time.
Posts: 2409 | Registered: Sep 2003
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quote:Anyone have any fairly inexpensive, tasty, healthy drinks that keep them up and running?
Water!
Beat me to it. Seriously though, when you're well hydrated you are by default more alert.
Try snacking on veggies and tuna and hummus and such as well, I find a good mix between protein and carbs keeps my energy up as well.
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Everything else gives you needless calories and sometimes chemicals like caffiene, which can cause you to crash later (and it's a diuretic, too.)
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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I cut out diet sodas a few months ago (because they can get expensive and they cause calories -- also because there's some evidence the fake sugar in them is metabolized just like real sugar and thus isn't any healthier). Been drinking nothing but water ever since.
When I want a treat I mix Crystal light powder in a bottle of water, or Hawaiian Punch light.
It looks like this in the store. Give it a shot.
Posts: 5462 | Registered: Apr 2005
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I buy the Target brand (Archer Farms) instant diet lemonade mix. I find it tastes better, and it's cheaper too.
Or I buy Country Time diet lemonade mix.
I don't drink a lot of it but it's nice when you want a change from water once in a while, and it's not carbonated like diet soda (diet soda gives me tummyaches a lot of the time from the super-fizziness. Although for some reason club soda or regular or flavored carbonated water-- not the kind with artificial sweetners, just a hint of lime or lemon-- doesn't. My favorite carbonated water is San Pelligrino. Pelligrino also gives you 4% of your daily calcium needs per serving!)
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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For the record, I do try to drink water as much as possible. But as mentioned, it's nice to switch it up from time to time.
My drink of choice used to be Tang (was/is that healthy?) but they changed the recipe and now it tastes lousy. I don't know if I've tried crystal light.
I also try to eat veggies as often as possible. The only problem there is they tend to come either in small, overpriced packages... or in bulky "normal" form which gives me more at a time than I can eat before they go rotten, and I have a had time getting my roommates to eat them.
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How do you store them? I've never had a problem with a 1 lb. package of baby carrots, or one bulb of jicama cut into sticks, or one celery heart cut into sticks going bad before I can eat them. (Often in one or two sittings, but for a normal person, probably that would be a week's worth of snacks.) Do you put them in the crisper, in ziploc bags? That will keep most things for a week, and if you choose carefully it's not hard to not buy more than a week's worth...
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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JT, why do you think those diet drinks are any better for you than diet soda? Artificial sweeteners are artificial sweeteners, neh?
Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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For a while, I was coasting on a mixture of (iced) white tea and cranberry juice. White tea is very mild, it adds a little caffeine to the brew, decreases the amount of sugar you're getting per serving, and it's cheaper than going through cranberry juice alone. My favorite cranberry juice is Trader Joe's "Cranberry Harvest", but Ocean Spray has recently added a 100% juice, no-added-sugar cranberry cocktail to their line-up, and it's pretty decent.
That's my suggestion, assuming your dislike of tea isn't so strong you can't drink a mild type diluted with juice. It's also a pretty good way to ween off the sugar-and-caffeine cravings that can come from a soda habit.
Celestial Seasonings also started offering cheap packets of powdered fruit-flavored tea sweetened with stevia, but frankly, they taste a bit weird to me.
Posts: 3826 | Registered: May 2005
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quote:Originally posted by rivka: JT, why do you think those diet drinks are any better for you than diet soda? Artificial sweeteners are artificial sweeteners, neh?
I don't. And I never said otherwise.
Posts: 5462 | Registered: Apr 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Sterling: Celestial Seasonings also started offering cheap packets of powdered fruit-flavored tea sweetened with stevia, but frankly, they taste a bit weird to me.
I love them. When I drink them, I feel like Wonder Woman.
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Good for you. I've liked stevia in other things... I really don't know quite why CS's offerings taste "off" to me.
Posts: 3826 | Registered: May 2005
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quote:Originally posted by rivka: JT, why do you think those diet drinks are any better for you than diet soda? Artificial sweeteners are artificial sweeteners, neh?
I don't. And I never said otherwise.
I guess I misunderstood your point then.
Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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There are several herbal teas I like without any sweetner at all. I didn't think of that but it's true. Never tried the ones with stevia, but mint tea, ginger tea, and chamomile tea are all pretty good without sweetners.
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If you can get cheap lemons (or limes) where you live, make lemonade. It's pretty much guaranteed to taste better than any of the reconstituted powders, and while it may not be healthy at least it's not unhealthy.
Then again, I've pretty much sworn off sodas and the like, and perhaps as a result my sweet tooth has scaled back a bit. I mostly drink water these days, with the occasional tea or fresh-squeezed OJ and the rare Vitamin Water (yep, unhealthy, but at least not HFCS). Oh, and beer and wine and cocktails, but I'm pretty sure that's not what you're looking for.
Posts: 1810 | Registered: Jan 1999
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I buy seltzer water, and mix it about 5 parts to 1 with a strong-flavored juice like cranberry or pomegranate. Ta da: soda. And seltzer is cheap, if you buy it in sufficient bulk.
Posts: 650 | Registered: Mar 2005
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quote:Originally posted by ketchupqueen: I buy the Target brand (Archer Farms) instant diet lemonade mix. I find it tastes better, and it's cheaper too.
Or I buy Country Time diet lemonade mix.
Going to second all the suggestions of water for being the best hydration method, etc. Don't know about anyone else, though, but the natural acidity of lemonade likes to taunt me in more ways that you all would really care to know. It tastes good, but isn't worth the effects. Sort of like soda, which does a similar thing (besides make me get the hiccups).
There are a lot of good suggestions, here, though, in addition to the lemonade mix. You've got Gatorade and Crystal Light and the ol' seltzer water with fruit juice (I used to do that a lot). You could also just find some store brand fizzy, flavored water as well. Those can be pretty yummy as well as relatively cheap.
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A tiny splash of apple juice in plain water makes it taste much better. Or put a pitcher of water in the refrigerator overnight with a slice of melon or a few berries in it.
quote: Periodically I've tried to get into tea and it never cuts it for me. It always tastes too... insubstantial or something. Like it's water that's trying to be something other than water but is mostly failing, ending up being more disappointing than plain ol' water.
That is a perfect description for how I feel about tea. And coffee.
Posts: 9866 | Registered: Apr 2002
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quote:Originally posted by Sterling: My favorite cranberry juice is Trader Joe's "Cranberry Harvest", but Ocean Spray has recently added a 100% juice, no-added-sugar cranberry cocktail to their line-up, and it's pretty decent. ... It's also a pretty good way to ween off the sugar-and-caffeine cravings that can come from a soda habit.
Just a side note, though it may already be on your radar: Ocean Spray 100% cranberry juice, no sugar added is still sweetened, but with other concentrated fruit juices. (I know -- it's misleading.)
It has 140 calories per 8 fluid ounces. For comparison, the same amount of regular Coca Cola has somewhere around 100.
Posts: 14017 | Registered: May 2000
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Mixed-fruit smoothie drinks. When I was a student who didn't have breakfast I would drink a small amount of that high in vitamin C smoothie stuff. Tasty. It's expensive, but I drank it slowly.
I also suggest real fruit juices, or as someone mentioned, sugared lemon iced tea.
If you like milk, drinks based in malt do exist and you can always make instant decaf coffee with the-milk-of-your-choice. It's less coffee-like than coffee and gives you energy. I have definitely written late night essays on hot-milk-and-coffee power.
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I'm wary of relying too heavily on fruit juices, as the calories are so high (I'm not counting artificially sweetened juice drinks in the same category, but the "no-sugar-added" labeled Ocean Spray isn't artificially sweetened). Fruit juice glasses used to be so tiny for good reason. Most juices are basically sugar water with some vitamins.
However, by my take, that's still better than the empty calories of regular soda. Like ambyr, I've enjoyed mixing a small amount of fruit juice with carbonated water, or (like dkw) keeping some cut fruit in water in the refrigerator.
Of course, this is all individual preference and context. If I used up more calories every day -- which some of us surely do at a high level -- I wouldn't be as worried about fruit juice. It's just that I see a ton of little kids who put on weight and become anemic from drinking "healthy" fruit juice all day long (the anemia is from getting calories through juice and not being hungry for other foods). It's a real problem, and it's worth thinking about juice in terms of moderation, too, whatever the right level of moderation may be for any given person.
It has taken me ages to get past a reliance on sweet things. I did not like drinking water or unsweetened herbal teas because they seemed insubstantial, as the OP noted. It was definitely a process of change. One thing that helped was drinking something with a little salt and umami, like diluted beef broth. sometimes as well. Then again, salt is not a problem for me, but it is for some.
YMMV, etc. And best of luck. Posts: 14017 | Registered: May 2000
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I was a hard-core Dr Pepper addict for many years. I drank bottles and bottles of the stuff. When Hawaii started their HI-5 recycling campaign (basically a bottle deposit) and I started saving bottles, I was mortified to see how much I went through, and that didn't include the 32 ounce fountain drinks I bought almost daily with my lunch.
I stopped drinking DrP several months ago. I switched to diet colas, knowing that they really weren't much healthier, but at least they didn't have all that sugar. Within a month I'd lost 10 pounds. But I still crave the taste and the feel of DrP in my mouth. I love the carbonation. It is soothing to me, especially when I have a cold or scratchy throat.
My Japanese co-worker introduced me to barley tea, which I can make here in the office every day. I drink about a quart and a half nearly every day. I sweeten it with splenda and drink it cold over ice. It's too hot here to drink anything hot, even in the winter time.
I'm still working on getting past a reliance on sweet things (thanks CT). Stopping the Dr Pepper was a good first step for me, because I don't enjoy many other sodas. It was easier for me to switch to one that wasn't my favorite than to drop sodas cold turkey.
Posts: 2069 | Registered: May 2001
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quote:Originally posted by rivka: JT, why do you think those diet drinks are any better for you than diet soda? Artificial sweeteners are artificial sweeteners, neh?
I don't. And I never said otherwise.
I guess I misunderstood your point then.
The point was that instead of drinking diet drinks with artificial sweeteners regularly, I now drink them only rarely, as a treat. And I do the drink mix instead of diet soda because I can keep it in my house in powdered form and I'm not tempted to drink it all the time. I couldn't keep diet drinks around the house without drinking them.
Although, now that I think about it, I suspect the drink mixes are slightly better for you than diet sodas because they don't contain the syrups and carbonation. Of course, they do still have artificial sweeteners.
Posts: 5462 | Registered: Apr 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Minerva: Tomato juice might be another option. It's less sugary than most other fruit juices.
Or plain milk.
Milk is less calorie-laden than soda, but not by much. A 12-oz can of coke has about 150 calories, and the same amount of skim milk has about 130. For higher fat milk than skim, the calorie count is of course still higher.
Tomato juice is a better option from that perspective -- the same amount is about 60 calories. However, plain tomato juice is too bland for many people's tastes, so the popular commercial versions (like V8) tend to come with a lot of salt. 12 oz of regular V8 has about 1/2 the total recommended daily allowance of sodium. There is a low salt version that comes in at about 1/8 the RDA of sodium, but a lot of people don't like the taste.
You can also try any of these in smaller amounts than coke can size, but if you are trying to increase your fluids, that is less of a help. That's why unsweetened mint and other tisanes (herbal teas) are most helpful, if you can find one you like. I think ketchupqueen mentioned some above.
[Also, diluting out with plain or carbonated water can stretch out calories and salt while increasing hydration potential. Often, though, it's a matter of adjusting one's tastes over a period of time, especially if you are used to most fruit juices or sodas, even the diet ones, as the flavor of sweet or salt is much more pronounced.]
Milk and most fruit juices aren't necessarily bad for you, just may be higher in calories than you'd expect.
Posts: 14017 | Registered: May 2000
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quote:Originally posted by ClaudiaTherese: [Also, diluting out with plain or carbonated water can stretch out calories and salt while increasing hydration potential. Often, though, it's a matter of adjusting one's tastes over a period of time, especially if you are used to most fruit juices or sodas, even the diet ones, as the flavor of sweet or salt is much more pronounced.]
Yep. When I was a kid, I wanted my seltzer:juice ratio to be about 1:2. I decided to adjust that in part because I wanted to cut calories, but bringing it down to the 5:1 ratio I mentioned earlier has been a slow process. As a side effect, I now find drinking straight juice almost unbearably sweet.
Posts: 650 | Registered: Mar 2005
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quote:Originally posted by ClaudiaTherese: Just a side note, though it may already be on your radar: Ocean Spray 100% cranberry juice, no sugar added is still sweetened, but with other concentrated fruit juices. (I know -- it's misleading.)
I know, but I like to imagine that natural fruit sugars are better for me than refined sugars like HFCS. (Permit me my delusions. )
And if you're drinking it about half-and-half with unsweetened white tea, the sugar load is much more modest.
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I have my own possibly unfounded suspicions about HFCS as well as trans fats. I'd much rather go with real sugar, real butter, et.c, just in more minute quantities and with greater attention to savouring them.
Posts: 14017 | Registered: May 2000
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quote:Originally posted by El JT de Spang: The point was that instead of drinking diet drinks with artificial sweeteners regularly, I now drink them only rarely, as a treat. And I do the drink mix instead of diet soda because I can keep it in my house in powdered form and I'm not tempted to drink it all the time. I couldn't keep diet drinks around the house without drinking them.
Ah, then I definitely did misunderstand. Thanks for clarifying.
quote:Originally posted by El JT de Spang: Although, now that I think about it, I suspect the drink mixes are slightly better for you than diet sodas because they don't contain the syrups and carbonation. Of course, they do still have artificial sweeteners.
The syrups are artificial sweetener-based, so I'm not convinced there's a significant difference. As for carbonation, what's wrong with that? I have yet to see any convincing claims that seltzer, club soda, or other unsweetened carbonated waters are in any way unhealthy. (Which is good, because my kids drink them like, well, water. )
Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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posted
I prefer all the drink mixes diluted at least 5:1 over how much they say to use. So one of those tubes of Hawaiian Punch that's meant for a 20 oz drink I would put 1/3 of the tube of powder in a 1 liter bottle of water and it's pink and cold and very wet and delicious. Saves money and better for you. I got the idea because I loved how my drinks tasted when the ice was about half melted and all that melted ice diluted the flavor.
Now, though, I'm pretty much on 100% Purified water from Publix. 4 cases of 24 half liter bottles lasts me about 2 weeks. I drink 6 - 8 a day. They only cost around 15 - 20 cents apiece, and they're so delicious!
Posts: 6246 | Registered: Aug 2004
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quote:Originally posted by ketchupqueen: No, but it's the healthiest way to do it.
Everything else gives you needless calories and sometimes chemicals like caffiene, which can cause you to crash later (and it's a diuretic, too.)
Actually, the discussion and research surrounding caffiene being a diuretic is fairly open ended. Recent research seems to indicate it has little effect on the body's water retention at all as indicated in this New York Times article. It's for this reason that diet programs such as Weight Watchers, have changed their rules on liquid intake. Weight Watchers used to require that only 1/2 of the daily water intake be substituted with something else, and then only with a diet (or sugar-free) caffeine free drink. With the introduction of their latest plan, I was surprised to see that the restriction on caffeine had been removed, thanks to the latest research.
However, if you have classes requiring you to be up until 1 a.m. and then in class again at 9 a.m. I would recommend leaving caffeine alone, because even if it isn't a diuretic (something that is still up in the air), it can still have other effects, like causing you to stay awake longer than you wanted to.
Posts: 1214 | Registered: Aug 2005
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quote:Originally posted by rivka: JT, why do you think those diet drinks are any better for you than diet soda? Artificial sweeteners are artificial sweeteners, neh?
I don't. And I never said otherwise.
I guess I misunderstood your point then.
The point was that instead of drinking diet drinks with artificial sweeteners regularly, I now drink them only rarely, as a treat. And I do the drink mix instead of diet soda because I can keep it in my house in powdered form and I'm not tempted to drink it all the time. I couldn't keep diet drinks around the house without drinking them.
Although, now that I think about it, I suspect the drink mixes are slightly better for you than diet sodas because they don't contain the syrups and carbonation. Of course, they do still have artificial sweeteners.
Exactly how I feel.
Of note, I don't consume Splenda. It tastes nasty to me, like burnt rubber. That substantially limits my "diet food" options. I have mostly decided that that's a good thing...
I view milk and fruit juice both as foods, and treat them as such in my (and my kids') diets, viewing them with an eye to the balance of calories to nutrients they provide and choosing the amount of them we consume in proportion to other foods accordingly.
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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quote:Originally posted by maui babe: I was a hard-core Dr Pepper addict for many years. I drank bottles and bottles of the stuff. When Hawaii started their HI-5 recycling campaign (basically a bottle deposit) and I started saving bottles, I was mortified to see how much I went through, and that didn't include the 32 ounce fountain drinks I bought almost daily with my lunch.
I stopped drinking DrP several months ago. I switched to diet colas, knowing that they really weren't much healthier, but at least they didn't have all that sugar. Within a month I'd lost 10 pounds. But I still crave the taste and the feel of DrP in my mouth. I love the carbonation. It is soothing to me, especially when I have a cold or scratchy throat.
My Japanese co-worker introduced me to barley tea, which I can make here in the office every day. I drink about a quart and a half nearly every day. I sweeten it with splenda and drink it cold over ice. It's too hot here to drink anything hot, even in the winter time.
I'm still working on getting past a reliance on sweet things (thanks CT). Stopping the Dr Pepper was a good first step for me, because I don't enjoy many other sodas. It was easier for me to switch to one that wasn't my favorite than to drop sodas cold turkey.
I'm still addicted to Dr. Pepper, but I can certainly second the barley tea suggestion. It tastes like bark by itself, but with something like splenda or just alittle sugar it's tasty.
Posts: 14316 | Registered: Jul 2005
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Back when I drank tea, a friend found that a big jug of tea with only a hint of sweetening from artificial sweeteners tastes WONDERFUL. She would take her plastic 2 quart pitcher, put in 4 or 5 tea bags, fill it all the way up to the top, then heat it in the microwave for about 5 minutes until it was good and hot. Then she would put in maybe 5 packets of sweet-n-low or any other artificial sugar that comes in packets, and stir. There's just a hint of sweetness there so it makes you want to drink a whole lot. Everyone including me, thought it tasted great.
I never once missed coffee from the day I stopped, but I do miss tea sometimes. It feels really good to be off caffeine completely, though. Something relaxed inside my brain in the 2 - 4 week period after I stopped. I feel so relaxed and hydrated now and so much better. Man the headaches were horrible, though. I had them for about 10 days this time. I'm never ever touching that evil stuff again. Trace amounts in chocolate don't count, of course.
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