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Avoid these late at night and you'll sleep like a baby
Thankfully, many drink myths have been put to rest, and consumers are getting better at knowing which beverages are healthy. Whether it be your favorite store-bought fruit juice or a tasty can of cola, research has shown that many drinks are best avoided.
It's been concluded that if you're not drinking water or another completely natural liquid, you're not doing your body any favors. Believe it or not, even though it's never good to drink something unhealthy, there's one time of the day that's the absolute worst time to do so: after dinner.
Sometimes, putting your feet up and sipping on a nice, cold beverage after an evening meal sounds utterly appetizing. But have you ever thought of how drinking a sugary drink will affect you before bed? Unfortunately, there are a lot of liquids that will damage your body and widen your waistline literally overnight.
Take a look at our roundup of drinks that we believe you should never drink after dinner.
Bottled or Canned Tea
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Canned Arizona tea.
There's plenty of hype over the health benefits of tea, and drinking "sleepy tea" before you go to bed has been said to help you unwind. So you would assume you're getting the same benefits from bottled tea, right? Not so much -- those Arizona Teas are doing the exact opposite. A presentation at the 2010 American Chemical Society meeting showed that even though bottled teas have fewer chemicals than home-brewed tea, because of mass production, they're stripped of all of that natural goodness that makes tea healthy in the first place.
Plus, eight ounces of AriZona Iced Tea has a whopping 24 grams of sugar. Your body will have a hard time burning all of that off while you're sleeping.
Coffee with Creamer
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Coffee with creamer.
Coffee can be relaxing on a cold day, and it goes perfectly with dessert. If your body can handle the amount of caffeine in your cup without experiencing sleeplessness, then sip away. The main thing to avoid when having a late-night cup of coffee is the creamer.
For example, Coffee-Mate powdered creamer, or "whitener," contains partially hydrogenated vegetable oils and corn syrup. These ingredients recreate the texture of cream, but they're harmful to your health. Corn syrup is a source of sugar that's hard for your body to metabolize, and partially hydrogenated vegetable oil contains trans fats. If you're not careful, your body may latch onto these unhealthy ingredients during the night.
Diet Soda
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Anything with "diet" in the name may be interpreted as healthy, but don't let the labels fool you. If you're trying to lose weight, would you ever down an entire bag of candy before you go to bed? Dr. Chris Tolcher, pediatrician and spokesperson for the American Academy of Pediatrics, refers to soft drinks and diet soda as "liquid candy." If a doctor won't touch it, you may want to reconsider. The artificial sugar in Diet Coke can do a lot of damage to your waistline -- especially if you're drinking it right before you take a snooze.
Energy Drinks
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If you are looking to stay awake after dinner, stay away from energy drinks. An eight-ounce Rockstar Energy Drink will set you back 140 calories and contains a hefty 31 grams of sugar. You'll need all the energy you get from the caffeine just to work off that sugar. Need to stay awake for a long night of cramming? Stick to a more natural beverage, like tea.
Flavored Water
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Drinking water any time of the day has been proven to help your health in many ways. However, flavored water is a different story. Take vitamin water, for example. The average 20-ounce bottle of Vitamin Water contains about 30 grams of sugar and 120 calories. If you're drinking water before you go to bed, stick to the original.
Lindsey Gaterman,The Daily Meal