I know that this is going to sound crazy to a lot of people who are brainwashed to think of nutrition in a certain specific way, but I have to say it anyways:
Beer is better than soda or juice (for adults, I’m NOT suggesting that we serve beer to children btw.)
From a health standpoint, from a caloric standpoint, and from a carb standpoint.
I, personally, have not had a soda in nearly 3 years, unless you count the sip of Sprite that I had when some friends were visiting about 6 months ago and they brought along a couple of bottles of soda. It had been a long while since I had had any soda, and Sprite was my favorite as a teen, and it was just plain NASTY! Way TOO SWEET tasting with metallic undertones of some sort of ammonia-esque type flavor…I couldn’t even finish the glass! BLECH!
Soda is not natural. For the most part, it’s carbonated, flouridated water mixed with generous amounts of high fructose corn syrup made from genetically modified corn and containing mercury which is used in the process of making the syrup. Bottom line? It’s just plain NASTY stuff! (here’s a good article if you’re interested: http://www.mnn.com/health/fitness-well-being/questions/whats-wrong-with-high-fructose-corn-syrup ) And the zero calorie sodas just have lots of nasties from the man-made chemical based sweeteners, like aspartame and sucralose, that they use…nom nom nom, me love chemicals 🙄
Store-bought juice is not much better, it’s been pasteurized and is basically just sugar water with a bit of vitamin C added for good measure. You’re better off just eating the fruit, or if you must juice then juice it fresh at home using a juicer, at least you’ll be getting all the good enzymes and heat sensitive vitamins that would otherwise be killed or rendered unusable by pasteurization. The only juice I ever give my kids is 100% purple grape juice as it is naturally high in minerals and antioxidants but I dilute it with water by a 1:1 ratio, otherwise it would just be way too much sugar as a single serving is just as bad as soda with nearly 40 grams!
Beer on the other hand is a natural fermentation of grains (usually wheat, barley or rice) water and hops (which is a plant) and that’s it! 😀
So, let’s compare a 12 oz. can of Mountain Dew to a 12 oz. can of cheap ol’ american beer, Budweiser:
1 12 oz can of Budweiser Beer has 145 calories and 10.6 grams of carbohydrates and 1.3 grams of protein (my fav cheapo beer is Pabst with 153 calories, 12 carbs and 1 gram of protein..)
1 12 oz can of Mountain Dew has 170 calories (MORE than the beer) and 46 grams! of carbohydrates (MORE than the beer) and ZERO protein (a 12 oz can of Coke has about the same calories as a Budweiser but with 39 grams of carbohydrates and ZERO protein…)
And just for fun let’s compare these to a 12 oz. glass of goat’s milk and a 12 oz. glass of apple juice
1 12 oz glass of goat’s milk has 253 calories, 15 grams of fat, 16 grams of carbohydrates, and 13 grams of protein (far and away the BEST drink for children!)
1 12 oz glass of apple juice has 160 calories and 39 grams of carbohydrate, NO fat and NO protein….and yet almost everyone gives their kids sippy cup after sippy cup of this crap!
As for me and my house? Well, we drink lots of homegrown RAW goat’s milk and fresh high mineral water from our deep mountain well (no flouride, no chlorine, it’s wonderful!) and iced green tea sweetened with stevia, and 3-4 days a week some 100% purple grape juice diluted with water for the kiddos. And mom and dad like to enjoy their beer knowing that it’s better for them than the soda that the majority of the population drinks! 😛
((I won’t always be doing daily food diaries on my blog, but if you wanna know what I ate I am keeping track at Fitday.com…here’s the link to my Fitness Journal: http://www.fitday.com/fitness/PublicJournals.html?Owner=evenavapor))
Musings Of A Mountain Mama 