The sugar stacked in soda raises your risk of type 2 diabetes. Specifically, replacing your soda – or any other sugar-sweetened beverage – with coffee or just water can shrink your proneness to type 2 diabetes by up to 25%.
Now that we’ve fairly established the unsuitability of diet soda, what healthy alternatives can you take?
1. You can go for unsweetened iced tea
While a 12-ounce glass of soda contains about 140 calories and 37grams of sugar, 12 ounces of unsweetened iced tea has zero calories and zero sugar.
Granted, you would struggle with the transition from diet soda to iced tea if you have a sweet tooth. Nonetheless, the bevy of health benefits that come with iced tea should suffice as compensation.
Upon being refreshing, iced tea contains a significant dose of antioxidants. For context, lack tea, for example, can contain as much as 18 times the amount of polyphenol antioxidants contained in vegetables.
What more, iced tea is rich in manganese – a vital mineral that supports your metabolism and enhances bone density. Painting the picture clearer, an 8-ounce glass of iced tea contains 520 micrograms of manganese. This is 23% of the recommended daily manganese intake for men and 29% for women.
2. Coffee is a healthier alternative as well
America’s love for coffee is historic. 400 million cups of coffee are drunk every day in the United States. Well, such love is not misplaced, considering that coffee ramps up your energy levels as a stimulant, helps burn fat with a stock of essential nutrients riboflavin (vitamin B2), pantothenic acid (vitamin B5), and niacin (vitamin B3).
Nonetheless, it is crucial to state that coffee is only healthy when taking in modest quantities. Coffee, when taken excessively, is no less dangerous than soda itself.
There is the risk of death if one consumes anything more than 80 cups of coffee in a short interval. Indeed, this is at least 10 grams of caffeine.
The recommended amount of caffeine you can safely consume in a day is 400 milligrams. 4 cups of coffee alone gives you this.