HEALTHY DRINKS
Plants need water to survive and so do we. A person can live for weeks without food, but will die in three or four days without any water.

As much as 70 per cent of our body weight is made up of water.

We lose water all the time through urine and sweat and levels must be kept up by what we eat and drink. If you don’t drink enough, you get dehydrated and may feel tired and have symptoms such as headaches and constipation.

On average, you need between 2.5 and 3.5 litres of fluids a day simply to replace the amount you lose. Half of the water we need comes from food (carrots are 88 per cent water and even bread is one-third water), but the other half should come from drinking liquid. Most experts recommend drinking six or seven glasses of fluid a day, more in hot weather or if you’ve been very active.

Any liquid will do. You may read that you must drink water. Not true - that isn't how the body works. The body doesn't know the difference between water, orange juice and tea. So just drink, it doesn't matter what. That said, water is an ideal drink – sugar and calorie free. You don’t have to buy expensive bottled water. Tap water is fine. Filter it if you like – you may find you prefer the taste.

Avoid cans of fizzy drinks and colas. They’re laden with sugar and won’t do you or your teeth any good at all. Banish them from your fridge.

Drink fluid regularly throughout the day. Remember that feeling thirsty is a sign that your body is already dehydrated.

Keep well watered!
You can easily check whether you’re drinking enough by having a look at your urine. It should be a pale straw colour. If it’s a darker yellow you should probably be drinking more. Here are some ideas for keeping up your daily water intake Have a glass of water when you first wake up, before your breakfast. Many experts say that warm water, with a squeeze of lemon juice, is best in the morning and aids a healthy digestive system. Carry a small bottle of water with you when you go out so you never need go thirsty or succumb to unhealthy fizzy drinks. Have a bottle or jug of water on your desk at work so it’s easy to keep your glass topped up.

TEA
Amazingly, two cups of tea – black or green – contain the same amount of flavonoids as two pieces of fruit. (Flavonoids are powerful antioxidants present in many plants that seem to boost the immune system and protect our health.) After drinking tea the levels of antioxidants in your blood rise as much as 50 per cent in less than an hour. Tea works by revving up the liver’s detoxification system that rids the body of free radicals and other cell-damaging chemicals. Tea does contain caffeine, but there’s less than in coffee.

Here are just some of the benefits of drinking tea

Tea is a good source of vitamins E and K as well as small amounts of B vitamins. Tea also contributes to your intake of manganese, a mineral that’s essential for bone growth and hormone production Drinking tea can help protect your heart. Just two cups of tea gives you a cardio-protective dose of flavonoids Tea reduces cholesterol. Some research carried out in the States showed that people who drink tea every day suffer fewer clogged arteries and blood clots. If you want healthy teeth and gums, drink tea. It combats the bacterial activity that causes gum disease. Tea also seems to prevent cavities by attacking the main bacterium that causes tooth decay.

PROBIOTIC DRINKS
We tend to think of all bacteria as bad, but in fact there are bacteria that are good for us and that the body needs. Lots of bacteria live in our digestive system and having the right balance of good or friendly bacteria is important for our health. This balance can be upset by things like food poisoning and taking antibiotics, which can destroy good as well as bad bacteria.

Some experts think that probiotic drinks containing live, friendly bacteria like lactobacillus can restore levels of good bacteria in the gut and help keep a good balance and so helping your immune system.

Eating a healthy diet containing lots of fresh fruit and vegetables and drinking plenty of fluid is the best way to keep your digestive system healthy, but a regular morning drink of lactobacillus may help maintain the balance and is also useful for reducing wind and bloating.

Look for drinks containing lactobacilli or bifidus bacteria and take one every day if you’ve got digestive problems, have been taking antibiotics or you’re suffering from bloating.

Is coffee bad for me?
Coffee is neither good nor bad for you. Some people say they need the caffeine in coffee to jump start the day. Others can’t stand coffee and say it makes them jittery. It’s true that some people seem especially susceptible to the stimulatory effect of caffeine and there’s much more in coffee than in tea. Although it doesn’t too do much harm, caffeine can increase problems such as pre-menstrual symptoms, cause bloating and interfere with sleep patterns so it’s best to keep your coffee intake down.
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Treat yourself to a hot chocolate
Recent research confirms what chocoholics have known all along – chocolate, in small amounts, is good for you. As well as containing ingredients that make you feel good by stimulating the brain’s pleasure centres, chocolate contains cocoa flavonoids, which are powerful antioxidants. These flavonoids may help boost the immune system and protect against cardiovascular disease, eczema, cancer and arthritis. They may also increase levels of nitric oxide in the bloodstream, which is good because nitric oxide opens up the arteries to increase blood flow and helps keep your blood pressure healthy.

But you still mustn’t binge. Chocolate’s high-fat content means eating too much of it leads to obesity and increased risk of heart disease. Moderation, as always, is the key. If you do want a delicious cup of hot chocolate once in a while, use good chocolate that’s high in cocoa solids and mix it with skimmed milk.

WINE
A glass of red wine can protect your heart. And it’s possible that the redder the wine, the greater the benefits for your heart. Red wine contains antioxidants and alcohol stimulates insulin activity so you need less insulin to keep your blood sugar stable. Moderate drinkers have a lower blood sugar, half as much insulin, and high healthy HDL cholesterol than non-drinkers.

BUT
This is not a reason to overdo things. It’s only moderate drinking that helps your heart. Too much alcohol is bad for your heart, raises blood pressure, increases the risk of some cancers and can cause depression and sleep problems. A glass of red wine with your meal is sensible and moderate. A bottle every night is definitely not.

The beneficial effects of wine for the heart may explain what people call the “French paradox”. The French diet contains plenty of meat, cheese and other high-fat foods but the rate of coronary heart disease in France is low compared to the UK and US. The theory is that this is partly due to the French custom of drinking wine with meals.

The British Heart Foundation advice is that moderate drinking, or between 1 and 2 units a day – but not every day – may help protect men over 40 and postmenopausal women from coronary heart disease. Moderate amounts of alcohol may also help to reduce the risk of a stroke. They do not, however, advise taking up drinking simply to protect the heart, as there are safer options.

MORE IDEAS FOR HEALTHY DRINKS

Fruit juice
Many commercial fruit juices are very good, but watch out for labels saying ‘juice drinks’ – the juice content is low and sugar high.

Better still, though, are fresh fruit juices made at home. You can make fresh orange or grapefruit juice with a simple inexpensive citrus squeezer. But if you have an electric juicer you have many more options and you can juice vegetables as well. There are loads of delicious combinations and juicing can be a great way to cope with a glut of a particular fruit or veg or for using up fruit that is a bit overripe.

Try apple and carrot, apple, pear and ginger, mango and strawberry, carrot and celery, kiwi and passion fruit – the possibilities are endless. A glass of fresh juice is also a good way of increasing your daily fruit and veg tally, although it only counts for one portion however many fruits you use.

You can make scrumptious smoothies, too, by blending fruit such as strawberries, mango and bananas with some low-fat yogurt or milk. A smoothie makes a sustaining snack or a quick, tasty breakfast.

Herb teas
There’s a huge range of herbal and fruit teas such as chamomile, lemon verbena, blackcurrant, nettle, peppermint, verbena and so on, and these can make a welcome treat when you want something hot, but low calorie.

You can also experiment with your own hot drinks using herbs and spices. Ginger tea is particularly delicious. Pour some boiling water over a teaspoon of grated ginger root and leave to steep for a few moments. Strain into a cup and add some lemon juice and teaspoon of honey if you like. This drink is great cold as well as hot.