Quick! What are you drinking at this moment? A double big gulp from seven eleven that has 800 calories? Or a Venti Starbucks Mocha Frappuccino with 380 calories? If the answer is one of these, or anything other than water, you health could be in worse condition than you thought. Sure, I understand that when the morning starts off slow you like to down a Monster energy drink or stop by Starbucks, but you’ve got to realize that your 43rd straight trip to Starbucks isn’t doing you any good.

The Nearby Future Staff has compiled a small list of drinks that could very possibly lead to your demise, that is, if you keep up your religious drinking habits. Alright, maybe that was a little melodramatic.

• Coke, Pepsi, and other sodas: Too much phosphorus (large amounts found in soda) and your bones could start to dissolve, leading to osteoporosis. Sugar and acid in soda can destroy teeth enamel. Consumption of high fructose corn syrup causes obesity. These facts among others are all reasons to give up soda!
• Vitamin Water- On Yahoo, we found a couple articles about this drink, and after some further research, we’re certain that Vitamin Water is not something that you should drink if you’re aiming for a healthy lifestyle. Aside from the added calories, you actually won’t benefit from the vitamins in this water if you have a balanced diet or are eating multivitamins. If you have heart or kidney disease, you certainly want to avoid this because the amount of potassium in certain flavors might interrupt the functions of those organs.
• Zevia, or any other drink with the sweetener Stevia- Usually, when one country bans something, it’s for a good reason. So when Europe banned Stevia, an all natural diet sweetener, we started investigating and decided that if Europe thought it was unsafe for humans to be eating, than we shouldn’t take risks. Artificial sweeteners in general should be avoided at all costs.

With that said, I’d just like to point out that anyone who protests against these points is just trying to justify drinking these unhealthy drinks. It’s common knowledge that sodas are unhealthy. We just don’t usually see how unhealthy they are.

Now that I’ve convinced you to stop drinking sodas and sports/energy drinks, here’s two great substitutes!

• Izze: My most favorite drink, this is basically fruit juice and carbonated water. With as little as nine (or so, depends on the flavor) fruit ingredients, Izze is a perfect substitute for coke- and it tastes great too.
• Tea: Not the bottled or canned kind- I’m talking about the tea that comes in tea bags. Many health benefits are thought to come from tea, and you can chose between decaf or caffeinated. Some tea has Ginseng, which is a natural substitute for caffeine. My favorite kind of tea is Sport Tea.

And with that, I’ll stop writing and hope that I’ve convinced you to live a happier, healthier life.

-Rika