beverages

The 6 Most Surprisingly Unhealthy Beverages

Tara Struyk — Tue, 19 Aug 2014 21:00:05 +0000

Think what you're eating is what matters most in your diet? Maybe it's what you're washing it all down with that's really the problem. According to statistics compiled by the Harvard School of Public Health, the rising consumption of sugary drinks is a major contributor to obesity in the United States. In fact, for about 25% of Americans, these drinks contribute 200 or more calories to their diet each day. (See also: 22 Reasons to Stop Drinking Soda)

Of course, the obvious culprit is soda (or "pop," depending on where you live). Fizzy, sugary drinks are also the indulgence that get vilified the most in the press and nutritional publications. Unfortunately, that isn't the only unhealthy drink you should be avoiding. Check out these six surprisingly unhealthy beverages you may have overlooked.

1. Rice Milk

Cow's milk often gets a bad rap, whether for its saturated fat content, or the hormones that are too often fed to milking cows, or to the conditions in which those cows produce their milk. And while those may all be valid concerns, many milk substitutes have problems of their own. Rice milk, in particular, is essentially just starchy water; if it isn't fortified, it provides virtually nothing in the way of protein or vitamins. Much like soda, rice milk only promises empty calories.

2. Smoothies

When it comes to having a refreshing summer treat, a smoothie seems like a good bet. But you might be better off getting the ice cream. Because let's face it: That's what you really want anyway, and you probably won't be any worse off for it.

Smoothies tend to start out as being pretty healthy. They often contain yogurt and fruit. But then, many smoothie and drink chains add sugar, protein powders, juice, and ice cream, ratcheting up the calories to as many as 500 per cup. That said, a few chains do make healthy, relatively low calorie smoothies. Just check the nutritional information rather than assuming that a smoothie is a health food. Or take control of what's in your smoothie by making your own at home.

3. Vitamin Water

Vitamins and water. It sounds like a good combo, right? After all, our bodies need both. But before you pop the cap on one of these drinks, take a look at the label. Sure, there are plenty of vitamins, as promised. But there's also a lot of sugar. About 120 calories' worth in a typical bottle. That's less than what you'll find in the same about of soda, but not by much. And as for vitamins, well, even the leading vitamin water producer says they probably won't do you much good. Is it any wonder vitamin waters are hawked by major soft drink companies like Coca Cola?

4. Iced Tea

Tea has tons of health benefits, but when it's brewed and bottled and sold as iced tea, its health benefits get a little murky.

Most people drink what those in Southern United States call "sweet tea." According to the United States Department of Agriculture's Nutrient Database, a 12-ounce glass of iced sweet tea is almost entirely made of water and carbohydrates, with 136 calories, no fat, fiber, or protein, and 32 grams of sugar. Compare that to a typical can of soda, which has about 150 calories. Sure, there are some antioxidants in that tea, but in bottled varieties, those levels are often pretty low. In other words, iced tea isn't much better than soda unless you make your own and keep sugar to a minimum.

5. Fruit Juice

A glass of fruit juice has long been represented on the USDA's Food Guide as a serving of fruit. Unfortunately, more recent research has found that while 100% fruit juice is made of fruit, it doesn't act like fruit in our bodies. Juice does include some vitamins and minerals, but it lacks whole fruit's fiber, which is what helps all the sugar in fruit enter our bloodstream at a slower rate. Plus, many fruit juices are as sugary as soft drinks. In small quantities, the vitamins in juice make it a little healthier than soda, but not by much.

6. Diet Soda

If you're a diet soda lover, you probably know it isn't healthy for you, exactly, but you may assume think it's a cut above sugar-sweetened fizzy drinks. Unfortunately, calorie-free diet drinks aren't free of health consequences. According to a 2008 University of Minnesota study, just one diet soda a day is linked to an increased risk of metabolic syndrome. A University of Texas Health Science Center study found that downing two or more cans of diet soda per day increased people's waistlines by 500%. Diet soda consumption has even been linked to kidney problems and acid reflux.

The bottom line? Many drinks that are marketed as being healthy — or healthier — are just as bad for your health as soda.

Any other surprisingly unhealthy beverages? Please share in comments!

This article is from Tara Struyk of Wise Bread, an award-winning personal finance and credit card comparison website. Read more great articles from Wise Bread:

22 Reasons to Stop Drinking Soda

Elizabeth Lang — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 11:36:40 +0000

We all know that drinking soda isn't good for us. We know that it would be better for our health if instead we drank [insert pretty much any other beverage choice here — even beer!]. But there's just something about soda that keeps drawing us back. Whether you call it "soda," "pop," "soda pop," "Coke," or something else entirely, it's a good idea to stop drinking it once and for all. Here's why.

Financial Reasons to Stop Drinking Soda

If saving money motivates you to kick a bad habit, here are the top three financial reasons to quit drinking soda.

1. The out of pocket cost of drinking pop adds up.

The average American drinks 216 liters (that's 7304 ounces, or about 365 20-ounce bottles) a year. If you purchased your soda only at a vending machine, that's about $550/ year. If, instead, you put this into a retirement account for 30 years at a 7% interest rate compounded annually, you'd have about $60,000. Even if you buy your soda at the grocery store for 40 cents a can, that's still $243 per year and over $26,000 over 30 years.

2. You'll make poorer financial decisions by drinking diet soda.

A research study looking at decision making after drinking soda found that "The sugar-free soda drinkers were more likely to choose the immediate reward, even though it was less money and not the best overall decision. "

3. The long term health consequences lead to high medical expenses.

I've listed numerous health reasons to not drink soda pop below — if you have even one of these health problems because of (or it's exacerbated by) drinking soda, your long-term medical costs will skyrocket. (See also: 5 Places to Check Out Medical Care for the Uninsured)

Health Reasons to Stop Drinking Soda

Here are just a few of the scientifically researched reasons to kick the habit.

4. Soda increases your blood pressure.

A March 2011 study links soda consumption to higher blood pressure.

5. Soda destroys your teeth.

In case your dentist hadn't told you, between the sugar and the acidity, pop is terrible for your teeth.

6. It contains an ingredient banned in over 100 countries.

About 10% of soda flavors contain BVO, or brominated vegetable oil, which is banned by the World Health organization and 100 countries.

7. It makes you fat.

Calories from drinks including soda make up over 20% of the total daily calories consumed by Americans, according to a 2004 article in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine (as cited by WebMD).

8. It may lead to diabetes.

Non-diet soft drinks contribute to the onset of type 2 diabetes. Even if you drink diet, you may not be in the clear (see the study published by the American Heart Association discussed below).

9. It may lead to heart disease.

According to a study published by the American Heart Association, "Drinking as little as one can of soda a day — regular or diet — is associated with a 48% increased risk of metabolic syndrome, a key predecessor of heart disease and diabetes."

10. Soda consumption is linked to osteoporosis.

While researchers aren't sure of the precise reason, people who drink pop are more likely to have osteoporosis.

11. Drinking cola can increase your risk of kidney stones.

A study published in Epidemiology found that "Drinking 2 or more colas per day was associated with increased risk of chronic kidney disease."

12. Soda can cause heartburn.

It shouldn't surprise you that highly acidic sodas can lead to heartburn.

13. It's linked with liver problems.

A study found that people with liver problems are also more likely to drink soda.

14. Your soda likely either contains aspartame or high fructose corn syrup.

If you drink diet soda, your pop has some sort of artificial sweetener. If you drink full-calorie soda, chances are it has high fructose corn syrup. There are long debates about these ingredients and studies are not entirely conclusive, but both ingredients are artificial and are likely not good for you.

Environmental Reasons to Stop Drinking Soda

Recycling your pop can or bottle isn't enough to prevent harm to the environment, as soda destroys the planet in numerous other ways.

15. It can take up to 132 gallons of water to produce a 2-liter bottle of soda.

The 132 gallon/2-liter bottle figure includes the water it takes to grow ingredients, and according to a Wall Street Journal article, Coke says that it takes about 1 gallon to make a 2-liter bottle. Chances are the number is somewhere in between. Either way, that's a lot of water.

16. That water has to come from somewhere.

Since a Coca-Cola plant was opened in northern India, the water levels have fallen 18 feet in the surrounding area, and the plant was blamed for it.

17. And the ingredients in the soda have to go somewhere.

According to a German report, the artificial ingredients in soda don't get fully removed by sewage treatment facilities, and those ingredients may end up downstream and even in our drinking water.

18. Be it glass, aluminum, or plastic, all bottles have their environmental costs.

Glass bottles, even if reused, take a lot more fuel to transport. Aluminum cans are only partially recycled, and the mining of aluminum has horrific environmental consequences. And just like bottled water, plastic bottled soda requires an enormous amount of oil to produce.

19. Transportation of soda pop requires a lot of fuel.

Exact figures about how much fuel it takes to transport soda are not evident — but that soda has to get from the factory to the store to your house somehow. And that requires a lot of fuel.

Social Reasons to Stop Drinking Soda

And if the financial, environmental, and health reasons weren't enough to convince you to give up soda, these social reasons may be strong enough for you to make a new resolution.

20. In some countries, soda contains pesticides.

You might consider this a health or environmental reason, but it seems to me that it's socially completely unjust to produce a healthier product for some countries than others. The Center for Science and the Environment found "high levels of toxic pesticides and insecticides, high enough to cause cancer, damage to the nervous and reproductive systems, birth defects and severe disruption of the immune system" in soda manufactured by Coke and Pepsi in India.

21. The rest of the world doesn't drink much soda.

Take a look at this soft drink consumption chart. Ireland is the next lowest soda-consuming country, and they consume roughly half the amount that Americans do.

22. It's just not that cool.

While I have no hard data to back it up, it seems that drinking pop has lost the "cool" factor it tries so hard to market. I asked several friends why they drink soda, and their responses included "for the caffeine," "I like the taste," and "it's the cheapest drink on the menu at restaurants." None of them thought that drinking soda was particularly cool and instead pointed to numerous other drinks that have a much cooler image: tea, coffee, probiotic drinks, and kombucha.

Soda Alternatives

So if you stop drinking soda, what should you drink instead?

Tap water is most cost-conscious and healthiest choice that has the least environmental and social impact. Make it easier to drink by drinking from an eco-friendly water bottle. (I prefer stainless steel water bottles or glass water bottles.) I also like to add a few slices of orange, lemon, or fresh mint leaves to my tap water for a tasty alternative.

If tap water isn't your thing here are some better options depending on the time of day:

If you're looking for a morning caffeinated substitute, try coffee or tea.
At lunch time, try homemade lemonade or iced tea.
In the afternoon, decaf tea or freshly squeezed or locally sourced fruit juices are delicious.
In the evening, why not opt for a cheap beer or a glass of wine? (But remember to drink responsibly.)

Do you drink soda? What would convince you to give it up?

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This article is from Elizabeth Lang of Wise Bread, an award-winning personal finance and credit card comparison website. Read more great articles from Wise Bread:

10 Reasons to Drink Tea

Meg Favreau — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 12:36:12 +0000

I start most mornings with a cup of coffee, but at heart, I am a tea-drinking gal. Green, black, herbal — I love it all, and I usually drink a couple mugs of the stuff a day. (See also: Is Green Tea All It's Cracked Up to Be? It's Close.)

I mostly like tea just because it's delicious, but here are a bunch of other great reasons to consume it:

1. To Wake Up

Depending on the kind of tea you drink, an 8 oz. cup of tea can have up to 120 mg of caffeine. Black tea has the most caffeine, followed by green.

2. To Calm Down

Not only can chamomile tea help you fall asleep, but researchers at the University of Pennsylvania discovered that it can also help relieve anxiety.

3. To Soothe Your Stomach

Teas made from peppermint and ginger are both known for their stomach-calming properties. And there's no need to pay for tea bags here — dried peppermint (picked from your garden, if you have it, and hung to dry inside) or fresh chopped ginger placed in a tea ball or reusable tea bag work just as well. (Just be careful if you're prone to acid reflux; mint can actually aggravate the condition.)

4. To Lower Your Blood Sugar

As Andrea reports in her piece about inexpensive ways to lower blood sugar, green, black, and white tea can all help bring blood sugar down. She also notes that cinnamon can as well, which is often used along with black tea as an ingredient in chai.

5. To Help Prevent Heart Disease and Cancer

Studies have show that green tea — widely held as the reigning champion of teas when it comes to health benefits — might help prevent both cancer and heart disease thanks to the tea's awesome antioxidants, which are called catechins.

6. To Get Warm (or Cool Down)

Drinking a big mug of tea — or any other hot drink, really — will raise your body temperature. Put it on ice, and it makes a great summertime thirst quencher.

7. To Keep a Bright Smile

Researchers have found that drinking green tea can reduce your risk of periodontal disease. Yes, it's true that tea can also stain your teeth, but if you stick to lighter teas like green, that's less likely to happen.

8. To Get Flavor Without Calories

From tropical fruits to wintry spices, from delicate jasmine to the classic black, green, white, and oolong, tea comes in a variety of flavors and has pretty much no calories to speak of. (Well, until you start adding milk and sugar. I'm not going to tell you that your Starbucks chai latte is calorie-free, buddy — and don't get me started on those big ol' cans of Arizona.)

9. To Wean Yourself Off of Coffee

If you want to kick the coffee habit but aren't looking forward to the ensuing withdrawal headaches and cranky, yawning mornings, switch your mug of java for a mug of tea (green, ideally, since it has less caffeine than black) for a while to step yourself down slowly.

10. To Socialize

Whether you plan a fancy afternoon tea party (with potluck finger foods, perhaps?) or just meet a friend for a cup of the steeped stuff at a coffee shop (nobody calls them tea shops, do they?), drinking tea is a great way to catch up with friends.

Why do you drink tea? Do you know of any awesome benefits I missed? Share your thoughts in the comments.

This article is from Meg Favreau of Wise Bread, an award-winning personal finance and credit card comparison website. Read more great articles from Wise Bread:

8 Reasons to Drink More Water

Healthy Theory — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 14:00:10 +0000

It's old news by now that we don't really need to drink eight glasses of water per day. Nobody really knows where the "8 x 8 Rule" originated, and most researchers agree it isn't supported by science. But don't put down that bottle or cup yet; there are still plenty of reasons to keep well hydrated, and water is the best option. (See also: 22 Reasons to Stop Drinking Soda)

1. Water Regulates Body Temperature

Water has "high specific heat," which means it is resistant to changes in temperature, up or down. Body temperature affects the rate of the chemical reactions that keep us going; normal body temperature, which can vary slightly depending on person, mood, or time of day, is the most efficient. When it's hot, we sweat, and the evaporating water on our skins cools us. When it's cold, blood vessels near the skin contract, holding blood and water closer to our cores to provide more insulation and to prevent heat loss.

2. Water Lubricates Our Joints

Most of our joints contain a dense, egg-yolk-like liquid called synovial fluid, which nourishes cartilage, removes waste, reduces friction between cartilage, and acts as a shock absorber. Elsewhere, the fluid in our organs helps them keep their shape because water is resistant to compression.

3. Water Is Essential to Proper Cell Function

Water transports all the sugars, salts, fats, amino acids, vitamins, and minerals our cells need. About two-thirds of our water is found inside our cells, which are mostly microscopic drops of water with dissolved ions of sodium, potassium, and other elements; and larger protein molecules doing this and that. Metabolism, the transformation of food into energy and building blocks, happens in these little drops of water. Afterward, water carries away cell waste and other toxins via the lymphatic system.

4. Water Is Important to Digestion

Digestion begins with the first bite, and water plays a key role throughout, first as enzyme-rich saliva, next as the enzyme-rich mucus covering of our stomach lining, and eventually as the food and enzyme-rich fluid that passes into our intestines.

5. Water Is Critical to Metabolism

Water is the medium within which "metabolic pathways" take place. These step-by-step biochemical reactions transform food into energy and everything else. Hydrolysis is a fundamental metabolic reaction in which complex sugars are broken down into the simpler sugars our cells use by adding hydrogen and oxygen ions taken from molecules of water.

6. Water Can Prevent Hangover Symptoms

Alcoholic beverages cause a net loss of water, as alcohol in the bloodstream triggers the pituitary gland to stop producing a hormone called ADH (or vasopressin). A shortage of ADH in the bloodstream tells the kidneys to start producing urine, and our cells respond by giving up some of their water. Dehydration may be a big factor why a big headache accompanies alcoholic intake. Drink a glass of water along with your evening glass of wine to keep your body water balanced.

7. Water Helps Brain Function

Water comprises as much as 75% of our brain cells (about the same percentage as muscle cells) and researchers have noted that dehydration impairs brain function. The electro-chemical reactions that allow our nerves to send and receive signals also require water to function.

8. Water Has Zero Calories (and May Have Less Than Zero Calories)

A cool glass of water is not the only way to replenish your body's needs, but it's probably the healthiest. Drinks sweetened with sugar are higher in calories, and the diuretic effect of caffeinated beverages (such as many sodas and coffee) means replacement isn't one-to-one. And that cold glass of ice water has another advantage — it can help your body burn more calories. The effect is minimal, just a few calories per glass, and the causes are unclear, but over the course of a year, an extra 1.5 liters of water a day can add up to five pounds of additional weight loss, not counting extra trips to the rest room. Drink up!

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This article is from Healthy Theory of Wise Bread, an award-winning personal finance and credit card comparison website. Read more great articles from Wise Bread:

Homebrewed Beer: Make Your Own and Save Money?

Marla Walters — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 17:00:02 +0000

A brewery has been born in my kitchen. There is a huge stockpot, with foam clinging to the sides, a giant thermometer, something that looks like a thermometer but isn't, mysterious tubes and tubing and oddly-shaped brushes. A bag of "carbonation drops" (which look just like lemon drops, except that they are white) sits in a box, along with bottle caps, a capping apparatus, and other small things I cannot identify. As I write this, I am looking at a six-gallon glass "carboy" (a huge, heavy, bottle) full of future beer in our dining room. For a while, our house smells like a brewery, but in a good way. (See also: 21 Great Uses for Beer)

My husband decided to give homebrewing a try last December, when a friend of ours served his homemade beer with lunch at their home. It was fabulous. We tried two types — a pilsener and an ale — and we were hooked. The most amazing thing, though, was our friend claimed it was cheaper than buying.

Wait, you say, not necessarily. Correct. My husband drinks what I'd consider to be mid-priced beer: Primo, Kirin Ichiban, Heineken, St. Pauli Girl, Corona. He likes some microbrews, but they are not usually in our beer budget. If he were a "Bud Light" guy, this would not be cost-effective. But at the price we pay per case (about $22 - $25), this should work out well.

Besides the flavor and the cost, there are intangible reasons to make your own beer. If you have not yet seen the documentary, "Beer Wars," I highly recommend it. As it turns out, fewer and fewer of those mid-priced beers we buy are independently brewed. Most of the beer in the world is brewed by two huge, growing conglomerates. Somehow, for us at least, that takes some of the appeal, or the intrigue, away from trying beers from around the world.

The process reminds me a lot of canning, in that there is a lot of work to be done beforehand, like sanitizing and boiling and mixing. There is also a lot of equipment involved, which is why brewing doesn't begin to save you money until you are several batches in. And, frankly, if you are someone who always has to have bigger, better, newer things for your hobby, it may never save you money.

For equipment, we started at a slight advantage, as we already owned the carboy, a food-grade plastic bucket, and a few smaller items. Trips to two different local homebrew stores rounded out what he needed, at a cost of just about $150. He purchased the homebrewer's bible, The Complete Joy of Home Brewing (Charlie Papazian) and I bought him The Home-Brewer's Answer Book (Ashton Lewis ), each of which retails for about $15, new. We had to save up sixty bottles to start the bottling which only cost us a nickel apiece that we didn't receive for recycling them. If you had to buy the bottles, that would cost much more — about $1 apiece. (Our neighbors obliged by drinking up and saving their bottles to help the cause.)

Roughly, the start-up cost was about $180. Had we needed to buy a carboy and a bucket, it would have been about $50 more. Of course, used equipment, which occasionally shows up on Craigslist, eBay, and at garage sales, could greatly reduce startup costs. My husband saw an offer of a bottle drying rack for free on Craigslist in another part of the country, with the note that a 6-pack of homebrew would be a nice thank-you.

A standard batch of homebrew is five gallons, which should make more than 48 bottles, or two cases of beer. At our usual $22 to $25 per case, that would be more than $44 to $50 worth of beer. The ingredients and consumable supplies for the first batch cost $31, so this represents a $13 to $19 savings on two cases. As you can see, it will take several batches to make back our initial capital outlay for equipment and supplies.

For a microbrew buyer, the break-even point would come much sooner. Like all such hobbies, though, one has to weigh the cost, plus the labor, against the benefits — both tangible and intangible — to make a decision. Yes, the labor is considerable, but the satisfaction of learning a craft, making something so satisfying, making it better than what we normally buy, and having something alive and slightly magical bubbling away in the house, outweigh that, for us. And hey, it's fun.

Day 1 Lessons

He started kind of late in the day. It is now 7:36 p.m., and he still needs to cool the batch to "pitch" the yeast in.
The dogs also loved the smell and have been underfoot, which is annoying. They should be banished outside, but it is pouring rain.
Give your brewmeister his space. (I totally understand this, because when I am canning, I want everyone out of my way.) I have kept my questions to a minimum.
He should have marked the carboy with gallon measurements beforehand.
He should have washed the giant stockpot in which he boiled the wort (water, hops, etc.) after it was emptied, not two hours later.

Beer-making, as it turns out, is also apparently a fantastic male bonding experience. They seem to like talking about beer almost as much as they like tasting it. There is also a local club he can join, which sounds like a lot of fun. They can apparently get together to share their latest creations and talk about brewing.

Being a huge fan of DIY cost-saving items, I am anxious to sample, but am told it takes about three weeks before it is ready to drink.

I will report back when we have our tasting. In the meantime, I feel a mysterious urge to make hot wings.

Disclaimer: Check with your state for laws regarding homebrewing.

This article is from Marla Walters of Wise Bread, an award-winning personal finance and credit card comparison website. Read more great articles from Wise Bread:

How Much Caffeine is in That?

Sonja Stewart — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 18:00:03 +0000

Whether you're trying to avoid your own caffeine intake due to breastfeeding, pregnancy, or health reasons, or trying to keep your kids from ingesting more than their fair share, here's a list of a few everyday items and their caffeine content. (See also: 7 Nutrients You Need More Of)

Coffee

Coffee varies in caffeine content drastically, even in the same coffeehouse, on the same day. Everything from roast styles to brewing methods affect the amount of caffeine you get. The lighter the roast, the more caffeine it has.

Starbucks (Grande) iced coffee, 16 oz: 190 mg. This is double-brewed. Without the ice it contains 380mg.
Starbucks brewed coffee, 16 oz: 330 mg. Brewed coffee has 50% more caffeine on average than instant coffee.
Instant coffee, 16 oz: 60-345mg
Starbucks latte, 16 oz: 150mg
Starbucks espresso, 1 oz (1 shot): 58-75mg

Tea

The longer a tea is steeped, the higher the caffeine content. If after the first steep, you add more hot water to the tea or tea bag, the tea becomes almost entirely decaffeinated.

Starbucks Tazo chai tea latte, 16 oz: 100 mg
Regular black tea, 8 oz: 40-120 mg
Stash green tea, 18 oz: 78 mg
Snapple iced tea, 16 oz: 18 mg
12 oz Nestea: 17 mg
Decaffeinated black tea, 8 oz: 2 mg

Soft Drinks

All drinks are 12 oz servings

Mountain Dew: 54 mg
Mello Yello: 53 mg
Diet Coke: 47 mg
Tab: 47 mg
Dr Pepper: 42-44 mg
Sunkist Orange: 42 mg
Pepsi: 36-38 mg
Coke: 35 mg
A&W Cream Soda: 29 mg
Barq's Root Beer: 23 mg
A&W Root Beer: 0 mg
7-Up: 0 mg
Sprite: 0 mg
Mug Root Beer: 0 mg
Fanta: 0 mg

Energy Drinks

No Name (formerly known as Cocaine), 8.4 oz: 280 mg
Monster Energy, 16 oz: 160 mg
Full Throttle, 16 oz: 144 mg
Enviga, 12 oz: 100 mg
No Fear, 8 oz: 83 mg
Rockstar, 8 oz: 80 mg
Red Bull, 8.3 oz: 76 mg
AMP, 8.4 oz: 74 mg

Food

Hershey's Special Dark Chocolate, 1.45 oz: 31 mg
Hershey's Milk Chocolate Bar, 1.55 oz: 9mg
Ben and Jerry's Coffee Heath Bar Crunch, 8 oz: 84 mg
Haagen-Daz Coffee Ice Cream, 8 oz: 58 mg
Starbucks Coffee Ice Cream, 8 oz: 50-60 mg

Medications

No Doz, 1 Tablet: 200 mg
Excedrin Extra Strength, 2 tablets: 130 mg
Anacin Maximum Strength, 2 tablets: 64 mg
Midol Maximum Strength: 60 mg

Things get a little tricky when it comes to what has caffeine and what doesn't. I knew Barq's Root Beer had caffeine, but didn't know that A&W Cream Soda has it as well. And just to confuse matters more, A&W Regular Root Beer is caffeine free. Also surprising was the caffeine content in Sunkist Orange. This list will help you keep the caffeine out of little hands (because they absolutely do not need it), and keep the buzz where it belongs — in your hectic, parental world.

This list was compiled with help from the Mayo Clinic article on caffeine content.

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This article is from Sonja Stewart of Wise Bread, an award-winning personal finance and credit card comparison website. Read more great articles from Wise Bread:

Concession stand treats – a license to print money.

Paul Michael — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 17:58:18 +0000

I was at a local fair recently. The kids were hungry, I was thirsty and we all wanted a snack break. But my wife and I knew we’d have to pay the price. At events like these, you’re paying way over the norm for anything. A 16oz soda cost me $4, a simple burger was $8! By the time I had fed my family, I had very little change left from $35. And to be honest, the food was junk. Welcome, my friends, to the over-priced world of event concessions.

It’s actually a double-edged sword. As the consumer, you’re paying the high price of being a captive audience. Be it a movie theater, zoo, church event or a local concert, you can expect to pay serious extra cash for a regular item. From the $5 bag of popcorn to the $4 corndog, these are premium prices for very ordinary foods. But you usually let it go, because you’re having a good time.

You may grumble as you hand over $9 (yes $9) for a beer, like I did recently at a Stevie Wonder concert, but it’s all part of the show. And other than sneaking in food and drink, there’s really not much you can do about it, other than not eat or drink at all.

However, if you’re a business owner or a charity or looking to do a little fundraising, concessions are a veritable goldmine. I did a little digging on this, which wasn’t easy as it sounds. Most companies don’t want you to know food markup percentages, with very good reason. However, a friend of mine recently did a fundraising event and when I asked him about his supplies, he gave me the number and website of a business called Fun Food Products. As you can clearly see, the markups on some of these concession stand items are enormous.

We’re talking a 97% profit margin on a simple Sno-Kone! But on a hot day, with the sun beating down, those Sno-Kones are in high demand, and people will pay your asking price.

So, you can use this information to save money, or make it. As a consumer, if you’re going out to a gig or fair, go prepared. Grab a bite beforehand or if you are allowed, pack a lunch. We usually take a cooler with sandwiches and drinks if we know we can get away with it.

If you’re looking to make some money, whether it’s for fundraising, charity or your own pockets, concessions are a great way to go about it. You could even hire someone to man the stand for you, at $8-$10 per hour you’ll easily cover the cost of that person’s salary with the huge markups you’re making from the menu.

Bottom line – concessions are very healthy for your bottom line as a business. But buyer beware, as a consumer this is daylight robbery and no mistake.

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This article is from Paul Michael of Wise Bread, an award-winning personal finance and credit card comparison website. Read more great articles from Wise Bread:

Eight Natural Ways to Make Water More Flavorful

Xin Lu — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 20:54:35 +0000

In a previous article about gasoline prices I noted that many packaged drinks are quite expensive and the cheapest drink out there is water. The main reason that people don't drink water is that it is tasteless and not very "fun" to drink. On the other hand, water is definitely more healthy than sodas so now there is a entire category of packaged drinks such as VitaminWater that is basically bottled water with coloring,vitamins,and flavor. Instead of buying these drinks, there are many things you can add to water add home to make it more exciting to drink.

1. Salt - I am sure you have heard of the term "electrolytes" in the marketing for energy drinks. Actually electrolytes are just ions that can be found in common table salt. Adding a little bit of salt to water helps your body absorb the liquid more quickly. As long as you don't go overboard with the salt the water should be very quenching and it would be great for workouts since the body loses salt through sweat.

2. Ginger - If you like spices, ginger is a great way to add a "zing" to your water. If it is added to boiling water it is also a great way to clear your throat and sinuses during a cold.

3. Citrus - My husband's family members often freeze a small citrus fruit called kalamansi in ice cube trays and then put the ice cubes in water for flavor. The same can be done with other citrus fruits and the water produced would be infused with vitamin C.

4. Herbs - Mint, lemongrass, and parsley are great for adding aroma and a hint of green to your water. If you want to release the flavor you can crush the plants a little bit before putting them into your water.

5. Cucumber - I saw this at a spa I went to in Hawaii. A water dispenser was half filled up with cucumber slices, and the water dispensed tasted very refreshing and smelled a bit like cucumber.

6. Wine - A favorite of mine to add to water is plum wine or umeshu. It is a very sweet Japanese liquere made from green plums so I drink it with a lot of water. The distinct sweet flavor still comes through when there is one part umeshu in ten parts water. I am sure the same can be done with other syrupy liqueres.

7. Berries - Blueberries and strawberries have distinct flavors that could be soaked up by water. All you have to do is cut or crush a few of the berries into your water.

8. Vinegar - Adding vinegar to water is similar to adding citrus. You will get sour water that has vitamin C. When I was a kid I liked adding apple vinegar to water and then drinking it. I do not recommend mixing in balsamic vinegar since it has oil, but any clear vinegar is good for flavoring your water.

Of course any of these things could also be added to soda water if you want to make your own lightly flavored soda. The possibilities are really endless since you can mix and match the ingredients any way you want. What do you think? Do you prefer flavored waters over plain tap? What do you do to make your water more palatable?

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This article is from Xin Lu of Wise Bread, an award-winning personal finance and credit card comparison website. Read more great articles from Wise Bread:

How to Make Moonshine

Philip Brewer — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 02:04:14 +0000

It has been legal to make wine at home since the end of prohibition, and legal to make beer since 1978, but it's still illegal to distill spirits for beverage purposes without going through so much fuss and bother that the government admits flat out that it's "impractical." That's too bad, because homemade moonshine is incredibly frugal. (See also: 21 Great Uses for Beer)

Making moonshine is easy. In one sense, making any alcoholic beverage is easy, because the yeast do all the work. But moonshine is especially easy because running it through a still makes all the delicate balancing of flavors that mark a great beer or wine irrelevant.

I learned most of what I know about moonshine from the classic book Possum living: How to live well without a job and with almost no money by Dolly Freed. (A great book and well worth reading.)

[Updated 2010-01-14 to add:; I've just learned that Tin House books has reissued Possum Living! It's wonderful to see this classic once again available a reasonable price.]

Alcoholic beverages all start with yeast and with sugar for the yeast to eat. The sugar for wine usually comes from grapes (although other fruits are used, especially for homemade wine). The sugar for beer usually comes from malted barley (although other grains are also used). The sugar for commercially produced spirits can come from almost anything — corn for bourbon, barley for scotch, rye for rye, sugar cane for rum, and so on. For moonshine, what you want is the cheapest sugar you can find. Dolly Freed found that the cheapest sugar she could find was white granulated sugar. Nowadays, corn syrup might be cheaper.

Let me take a moment here to praise yeast. I'm a huge fan of yeast. They work tirelessly to make our bread and our booze, then uncomplainingly give up their lives that we may eat and drink. If there were an American Yeast Council, I'd want to be their spokesman.

The main difference between brewer's yeast and baker's yeast is that brewer's yeast has been bred to survive a higher alcohol content. That lets wine makers work with natural fruit juices that have a high concentration of sugar and get a higher concentration of alcohol before the yeast die of alcohol poisoning. If you're going to make your own sugar solution to grow the yeast in, though, you can just make the sugar solution's strength match what the yeast can convert before they die. It all comes out even with no waste.

According to Dolly Freed, it is a happy coincidence that 5 pounds of sugar in 3 gallons of water works out just right for ordinary baker's yeast.

[Updated 2007-12-30 to add:

A lot of people have asked how much yeast to add. I answered that in comment #16 below, but that's an obscure place to look for the answer, so I'm copying what I said up here.

I'd add one packet.

Since the yeast reproduce, it almost doesn't matter how much you add — after 20 minutes you've got twice as much, so if you add half as much it changes your total fermentation time from 10 days to 10 days 20 minutes.

All you need to do is add enough that your yeast overwhelms any wild yeast that happen to get in. (There are wild yeast in the air everywhere, so you really can't avoid them.)]

There are lots of good books on making beer and making wine. Any of them will describe the fermentation process, but very briefly you just:

add sugar to the water
bring to a boil (to kill any wild yeast in it and make it easy to dissolve the sugar)
wait until the temperature comes down to 110°F (so you don't kill your own yeast)
add yeast
wait

The fermenting liquid is called the "must." You want to leave it loosely covered to keep other things from getting into it (wild yeasts, mold spores, etc.), but the yeast produce carbon dioxide as well as alcohol and you want to make sure the carbon dioxide can easily escape. If you seal it up tightly, it could explode.

Give it 10 to 25 days (depending on various things, but mainly how warm it is). You'll know its done when it:

quits bubbling
begins to turn clear
no longer tastes sweet

Now, if you were making beer or wine you'd have several more steps: bottling, aging, etc. Making moonshine, though, all you need to do is distill the stuff. For that, you need a still.

You can buy a still, but you probably don't want to. (They cost money, and the federal government — which scarcely polices this activity at all — probably does keep tabs on people who buy stills from commercial outlets.)

A still, though, is just:

a pot with a lid with a hole in it
a tube, closely fit to that hole, running to a jar
something to cool that tube

You bring the pot to a boil, the alcohol evaporates, the vapor goes out the hole, into the tube, and the condenses back into liquid alcohol.

Conveniently, an old-fashioned pressure cooker is a pot with a hole in the lid. Modern pressure cookers won't work as well, because they have a fancy valve to release the pressure, but with an old-fashioned one you just remove the weight and then fit the tube to the valve.

If you've got some room, you can just make the tube long enough and you don't need to do anything extra to condense the alcohol. Using a tube that coils some can save space. Alternatively, you can run your tube through a sleeve and run cold tap water through the sleeve. (Dolly Freed has a diagram of just such a setup.)

The things to be sure of here are that your entire set-up needs to be of food-quality materials: copper, aluminum, stainless steel are all fine. Plastics are iffy as some may leach stuff into the alcohol. Lead is right out, as is putting the pieces together with solder that includes lead.

Make sure the hole can't get plugged up, which could lead to your still exploding.

Set up your still and bring it to a light boil. Pretty soon you'll have almost pure alcohol dripping into your jar. The water content of the distillate will gradually increase. At some point a sample taken from the tube will no longer taste of alcohol, and you're done.

As I said, it's too bad it's illegal. Otherwise you could make some pretty good booze (well, let's say barely drinkable booze) for the price of a few pounds of sugar.

Additional Information

Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau FAQ on Alcohol
About.com on making moonshine
A step-by-step guide on making a still

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This article is from Philip Brewer of Wise Bread, an award-winning personal finance and credit card comparison website. Read more great articles from Wise Bread:

Top 5 Ways to Hustle Free Drinks

Paul Michael — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 03:44:05 +0000

I am a dangerous combination of two entities. One, I'm English and therefore love a good pint of ale. Two, I'm a tightwad, and if I can get those drinks for free, I'm a happy tightwad. Here, I show you a few great ways to hustle free drinks in your local bar or pub. (See also: How to Make Moonshine)

I must first point out that I'm in no way advocating con artists. Not at all. These are harmless pranks to play on good friends and co-workers. And dare I say it, you may even want to try them on family, maybe that weird uncle that never buys you a birthday gift.

The main theme of all these hustles is something called a Proposition Bet. Basically, a proposition bet is a challenge which looks like it only has one outcome...and it does. It always favors the person placing the wager. That's because you know something the other folks don't — you know the "challenge" is always going to go your way. Always. A show in Britain called "The Real Hustle" does these bets often as a way to show you how much fun they can be, and also how to avoid getting caught out by them. So, here we go. My top free drink hustles, in no particular order.

Note: Some videos were removed recently, so I have updated. Sorry about that.

And if you liked these, please check out 5 More Ways to Hustle Free Drinks. Cheers.

This article is from Paul Michael of Wise Bread, an award-winning personal finance and credit card comparison website. Read more great articles from Wise Bread: