Best Beverages For Diabetics - Top 5 Beverages for Diabetics

Liquid calories and nutrition can be good or bad for blood sugar and diabetes. Here's how you can get the best beverages for diabetics.

1. Water

Water should always be your first beverage choice when you have type 2 diabetes. Drinking about 16 ounces of water before your meals is one of the best ways to cut down on calories. You should be drinking at least 8 ounces, eight times a day. And don't forget to replace water lost during exercise. If you want to make water more flavorful, try squeezing in a little lemon or lime juice.

2. Milk

You'll need to count the calories and carbohydrates in milk, but this beverage really delivers on nutrients. Though not free of calories, milk is considered important for a diabetic diet because it provides calcium and vitamin D. After a type 2 diabetes diagnosis, it's wise to gradually switch from whole milk to low-fat milk to skim. Don't be afraid of milk, but limit your serving size. An 8-ounce cup of skim milk adds up to 80 calories and 12 grams of carbohydrates.

3. Tea

Unsweetened tea is another free food. And like coffee, tea is loaded with antioxidants, substances that eat up the free-radical molecules that can contribute to heart disease. Both coffee and green tea may offer some protection against type 2 diabetes, too. A study done in Japan involving more than 17,000 men and women 40 to 65 years old found that people who drank six cups or more of green tea or three cups of coffee every day were about one-third less likely to get type 2 diabetes.

4. Juice

You’ll need to carefully consider your choices, but you can enjoy it in moderation. A limited amount of juice is acceptable, but remember that you get more nutrition and fiber from eating whole vegetables and fruits. Make sure any fruit juice is 100 percent juice with no added sugar. The tally for 4 to 6 ounces of most fruit juices is about 15 grams of carbs and 50 calories. However, most vegetable juices pack more punch, clocking in at about 10 grams of carbs and 50 calories for a full cup - about twice the volume compared with fruit juice, and fewer carbs.

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Source: Diabetes zone

5. Soda

Whether you know it as pop, tonic, or soda, this sugary beverage is among the worst drinks for folks with type 2 diabetes. One regular-size soft drink contains 150 calories and is the equivalent of downing 10 teaspoons of sugar. You would need to walk for a mile and a half to work off the calories. If you're craving the fizzy stuff, a diet soda that contains zero grams of carbohydrate can be a better choice.