Drink to Your Health (& Giveaway!)
November 3, 2009 by Jenn
They always say that you are what you eat, but you’re also what you drink. In fact, beverage manufacturers are banking on this and creating new (usually fortified) drinks that claim to improve your health or even improve your skin tone. Read on for three different beverages that claim to do much, much more than quench your thirst!
SnapDragon Beauty Beverage
![1005_SnapDragon[2]](http://fitbottomedgirls.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/1005_SnapDragon2-281x300.jpg "1005_SnapDragon[2]")
If you believe that beauty comes from the inside out, this one may be for you. The high-end (and expensive) beauty company Votre Vu makes this drink that blends “super fruits and botanicals,” including mango, pomegranate and acai berry juices as well as green, white and red teas, and vitamins, Collagen, aloe vera, foti, ginkgo biloba and baobab fiber. I’ll be honest. I have no idea what a few of those are (or what they do for that matter).
I had one bottle to try, and I can vouch that it has a delicious fruity taste. A two-pack of 30-ounce bottles goes for about $23 and a four-pack will run you $39, so it’s not cheap. Per 30-ounce bottle, you get four 8-ounce servings. Each serving has 70 calories and less than 1 gram of fiber. Again, tasty, but you’re mostly paying for the fancy juices and the supplementation. Who really knows if drinking it daily makes your skin beautiful (I credit my good skin days to a diet of whole foods, lots of water and sunscreen), but it certainly can’t hurt.
POMx Tea
According to the POM makers, POMx Tea isn’t just your average tea, it’s Antioxidant Super Tea! I just imagine the bottle with a little red cape flying about. It comes in both regular and light varieties (I prefer the light because it has 70 cals per bottle, half of the 140 cals in the regular) and is made from whole-leaf, handpicked tea that’s gently brewed. Then the tea is combined with pomegranate juice and either berry, hibiscus, lychee or peach.
I liked the unusual hibiscus flavor (almost flowery in its taste) and the blackberry best. The peach was pretty good, and the lychee…was well lychee, a distinctly flavored berry. You either like it or you don’t, and apparently I don’t. On the whole though, these were a nice freshing treat after a long run when water just didn’t sound good, but I wanted a little more than just iced tea or juice.
Silk Heart Health
I’ll be up front here. I’m normally an 8th Continent Light Vanilla Soy Milk drinker, but when Silk asked us if we wanted to try its new Silk Heart Health, I though to myself: “Oooh, fun! A taste-test!” And so I recruited my husband for a blind taste test that paired the 8th Continent Light Vanilla vs. Silk Vanilla Heart Health. The verdict? The 8th Continent was definitely sweeter, but the Silk was, well, like silk, and much, much richer (which would make sense because the Silk has 30 more calories per 1-cup serving).
Plus, the Silk Heart Health peeps boasts that their soy milk combines the heart-health benefits of soy protein and plant sterols, both of which can help reduce the risk of cholesterol and heart disease. In fact, a recent study found that people who enjoyed three servings of Silk Heart Health per day for four weeks, as part of a sensible diet, lowered their cholesterol by 7 percent. High cholesterol runs in my family, so my ears perked up at that. Even though Silk has more cals than a light soy milk, I liked that it was only mildly sweet, and I liked the creaminess. So if you like your soy milk to have some legs, this might be your ticket.
Do you drink anything specifically for its health benefits? Leave us a comment with whether you do or don’t and be entered to win some free Silk Heart Health so that you can taste-test it for yourself! —Jenn
i use the juicer to juice veggies every morning. it has done wonders to my skin! i’m glowing!!
I soooo want a juicer…As far as for my skin. I drink a ton of water and I really think that it helps my skin. I rarely get any pimples which is a huge leap from my acne ridden face just 10 years ago. Plus I go to http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com before I buy any products to find the one with the least amount of harmful chemicals.
But I really love coconut water after a pretty strenuous workout. It has a nice light taste but I really feel more refreshed than drinking a sports drink.
kombucha tea
I’ve been drinking soy milk (Silk actually) since my daughter was born 10 years ago. I used to get an upset stomach every time I would drink coffe with milk or a latte and I just thought it was the coffee. A nutritionist suggested to me that perhaps it was the milk….it’s soy all the way for me now.
I do drink a ton of water (75-100 oz) day and seem to feel dehydrated if it’s less than that. I’m sure the amount of working out I”m doing is one of the reasons that my body craves that much hydration. Would love a juicer someday.
I drink cranberry juice for it’s nutritional benefits.
I started drinking green tea a long time ago because I heard about the benefits, but have now gotten used to it and it’s just “what I drink” in the mornings.
I’m getting into the Green Monster kick and drinking smoothies with spinach, greens powder, soy milk and now Chia seeds (!!!) for the extra nutrition and energy I get from them.
I’m boring, I like green tea. I love it for it’s antioxidants, but I also love the taste -hot OR cold!
My mom got me into drinking water with lemon juice added years ago. As a child she told me it was cancer fighting and I worked my way up to a little bit of water with my lemon juice. I’m not sure if it actually does fight cancer, but I do know that it is a healthy version of an appetite suppressant… so on those days that I find myself stress eating I whip out this drink to keep me from going too crazy.
I like the new look, FBG! I don’t drink a lot of soda or “fruit drinks” and get a minimum of 6 C of water daily. The Silk HH and the coconut water are good ideas for something new.
Come to think of it, most of my liquid intake–with the exception of an occasional cocktail–is reasonable healthy.
I’m a long time green tea and soy milk drinker. These two are like staples in my family.
water!
I drink green tea for all of it’s numerous healthy benefits. Plus I love the taste.
I drink Almond Milk (unsweeted). It’s great with a banana blended in and some Greek Yogurt and ice.
I like more savory than sweet flavors so I add apple cider vinegar to everything. Not because I need to lose weight but because I like the flavor. When I make yogurt, I like it sort of sour too. I do like soy milk, so would like to try Silk.
i don’t eat or drink a lot of things that “boast” a specific health benefit. i just try to eat healthy in general. this silk heart health sounds like a good thing though! high cholesterol runs in my family too, and although i’m still young it’s never a bad idea to think about things like that!!
I drink tons of water, which definitely makes me feel better. I also drink a lot of tea…green, white, black, rooibos, herbal…I love it all! I occasionally get on a juice kick and drink grape juice or cranberry juice for the health benefits, but not often. I would love to try the Silk Heart Health!
I wanna win
I drink lots of water, green tea and some smoothies. I guess on the whole, if I’m going to drink it, I like to prepare it myself. But I do use some Almond Breeze (unsweetened variety) occasionally and I wouldn’t mind trying the Silk Heart Health. Presuming it can be found in my small town!
My smoothies usually contain some greens, some carrots, some berries or other fruit. And a little fish oil or nuts. So they are pretty healthy. There was a full two servings of veggies and half servings of two different fruit in this mornings drink! Plus some protein.
I drink green juice for the vitamins, and soy milk for the extra protein and deliciousness!