Worst Drinks for Your Health

We all know water is the healthiest drink for our bodies. We also know it's the least tasty and just like all other things in life, people want, crave, and demand tasty. Queue the beverage cart. With such a wide variety of beverages from sodas, juices, smoothies, and frappes there is literally no craving the beverage industry can't satisfy.

Now here comes the scary part, the information no one ever wants to hear. What are we actually consuming? We are not just talking about calories, carbs, and weight gain here, we are talking about cancer-causing additives, tooth decay, and potential heart problems. It is so easy to think, it's just a liquid, how bad can it be? The answer, much worse than you think. Here are the ten worst drinks for your health.

Fruit Juice

When you hear the words fruit juice you think, oh fruit, that must be healthy well you couldn't be more wrong. Once the juice is pasteurized (which is almost always if sold in stores) all important nutrients get destroyed in the process, leaving you with a whole lot of sugar and no fiber to help your body absorb it. Within a matter of seconds, you are 25 grams of sugar heavier. So not only is this tasty liquid putting bad things into your body, it is also eliminating any good stuff. Now that is a two-for-one deal that should not be taken lightly.

Energy Drinks

Everyone knows that energy drinks are pretty much the worst when it comes to being healthy. I mean think about it, you're consuming a liquid that promises to wake your butt up and keep you moving around like an energizer bunny. They actually use a flying cartoon character to illustrate its power, hello! All these claims and promises sound more like an illegal substance rather than a thirst quencher if you ask me. Between its boatload of sugar which gives you a quick energy high and wicked crash and their organic acids which is every tooth enamel's worst nightmare, anything promising that much energy in a few gulps should without a doubt be avoided.

Margaritas and other Frozen Drinks

I wanted to avoid alcohol because as an avid wine drinker, I am selfish and I don't want to hear it. Sorry, not sorry. However, wine is no margarita or mudslide and their similarities are far and few between. With over 700 calories it is the worst cocktail for your waistline. Between the sugar-packed neon mix and tequila, the delicious frozen summer treat has more sugar than nine, yes nine, Dunkin' Donuts apple donuts. Other frozen adult beverages aren't much better. Most of them all over 300 calories and offering nothing beneficial aside from a quick buzz and nasty hangover.

Premade Smoothies

Smoothies, full of fruit and healthy nutrients, right? No, not right. Unless you are physically making it yourself and overseeing every ingredient and portion added than you are better off skipping this frozen fruity drink completely. Fruit has sugar so when extreme portions are added plus syrups and more sugar, you are left with over 600 calories and some other unknown yet most likely unhealthy additives. You can eat a cheeseburger and be better off. Yikes! Definitely one of the worst healthy drinks for your health.

Sweetened Ice Tea

While plain tea is a great beverage choice full of disease-busting antioxidants, sweetened ice tea is not. Aside from enough sugar to beat a restaurant style dessert it also contains propylene glycol alginate, a food thickener that can cause cardiovascular/neurotoxic issues. Scared? You should be. If you are in the mood for some sweet tea, always avoid ordering it instead wait until you get home and make a pitcher with real tea and reasonable sweetener.

Hot Cocoa

I really didn't want to reveal this one because hot cocoa is so much more than a warm chocolate drink. It is childhood memories, cold winter days, and snowy Christmas mornings. However, in reality it is full of corn syrup, 25 grams of sugar, and 200 empty calories which is equivalent to most 12oz sodas. Talk about a total childhood dream crusher.

Diet Soda

It doesn't take a genius to know that soda, diet or not, is the most unhealthy drink consumed by Americans. How can it not be with its bubbly flavor drank out of a cold can. As a lover of Diet Coke, after reading this I think I might finally give it up for good, because diet soda is much worst than regular soda. We all know that regular sodas are full of sugar and play a major role in our country's obesity crisis, but diet contains artificial sweeteners like Aspartame, which experiments have shown to cause cancerous cells throughout the body. So if you just can't resist a soda now and again, choose regular because you would rather get fat than get cancer.

Sports Drinks

Unless you are playing an actual sport or running a marathon, sports drinks should for the most part be avoided. In addition to other additives there is over 50 grams of sugar in one bottle. Good for the athlete in search of energy, not so good for the man sitting at his desk.

Fancy Coffee Drinks

Oh how pretty they look and delightful they taste. That's where anything good to say ends. Between the chocolate, whole milk, caramel, caffeine, chocolate, whip cream, and God only knows what else, fancy coffee drinks can be considered the worst drink for your health. With a whopping 800 calories and loads of saturated fat, it is basically a clogged artery in an over-priced cup. So next time you go to order your caramel macchiato or mochaccino with an extra shot, you might want to think again. No caffeine buzz or taste craving is worth all that.

Frappuccino, mochaccino, caramel macchiato—whatever you call your favorite, icy, coffee-flavored beverage, chances are it contains a whopping 800 artery-clogging calories and a ton of saturated fat—particularly if it’s made with 2-percent milk, cream, chocolate or caramel drizzle, and whipped cream. Why did you think your caffeine buzz was immediately followed by a sugar crash?

Flavored Waters

I don't know about you but when I see the word water I pretty much assume it's a wise choice, but apparently it's not. Anything flavored is in fact flavored with chemicals. It's not like they are soaking real cherries and oranges in each bottle. If it promises vitamins too, those vitamins are usually masked by the 30 grams of sugar and 120 calories. You can drink half a can of regular coke and receive the same nutrients.