Suitable drinks for people with diabetes

Struggling to drink eight glasses of water a day? Not sure what's good for you when it comes to alternatives? Looking for a non-alcoholic option? Whatever your motivation, read on for no-nonsense, good drinking advice.

Your aim: Start the habit today. Drink at least 6-8 cups of liquid each day.

Water

Water is the best choice of drink for your body. Add lemon, mint, or a few berries for extra flavour.

Use straws, umbrellas, ice cubes containing items such as herbs, special fruits and attractive glasses to make drinks more interesting.

Milk

Choose a low fat milk. A calcium fortified milk such as Calci Trim is recommended for women, as it contains more calcium.

Flavoured milk does contain some sugar but is also a good source of other nutrients such as protein and calcium. Just watch how much you drink.

Avoid drinks high in sugar

These include sports drinks, energy drinks, sweet cordials, sweet fizzy drinks, ordinary cordials and powdered drinks.

In special circumstances, such as endurance exercise, your dietitian can provide extra guidance on the use of these products.

No added sugar?

Be cautious with fruit juices labelled 'no added sugar'. These drinks still contain natural sugars and some brands may have sugar levels similar to fizzy drinks. If you drink juice, dilute it at least 50/50 with water and limit the number of glasses you drink at one time.

It's easy to drink large amounts of fruit juice and consequently large amounts of sugar without thinking about it. A drink may contain 10g sugar per 100mls, but not many of us are satisfied with only 100mls.

It's important to take note of the volume in each bottle. The nutritional information panel may give a serving size as 200mls, but a bottle may contain a lot more than one serving.

Sugars are a form of carbohydrate and are included in the value for carbohydrates and are also listed separately on drink labels. The amount of sugar in the nutrition information panel will include naturally occurring sugar such as that found in fruit, as well as added sugar. Therefore, read labels with care.

Diet drinks

Not all diet drinks contain negligible amounts of sugar. Always check the ingredient list and nutrition information panel carefully.

For example, one bottle of diet ginger beer contains 5.8g of carbohydrate. If you drink four bottles at a time, you have consumed over 23g of carbohydrate from your diet drink alone. One bottle, however, would be fine.