Healthy Hot Drinks - Help Me Find One?

[judifilksign]

Okay, a query for my LJ collective mind (paralleled from FB): I'm cold, and want a hot drink. I've been drinking cider, but that's too sugary for multiple cups. My diabetes has not gone away, and I must not pander to my sweet tooth, lest I unleash another set of unhappy health problems.

My usual hot drink is tea, but I'm to avoid tea (antioxidants

Comments

Warm drinks

[hvideo]

A glass of warm milk is a traditional bedtime relaxer. You could add a couple of drops of flavoring (almond flavoring might be a good choice, perhaps with a bit of orange, or mint, or whatever way your tastes run).

There are decaffeinated teas available. I've never tried them, so I can't comment on their taste. If antioxidants in tea are a problem, though, I'd imagine those would be unchanged - and probably present in herbal teas as well.

Hmmm... your main concerns are Blood Pressure and Diabetes, right? Hot chocolate might still be an option. There are versions available with artificial sweeteners (the Swiss Miss variety uses Splenda and is reasonably good). And milk chocolate has very little caffeine. (Dark chocolate has more.) To quote wiki

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The very small amount of caffeine found in cocoa may also be a concern, though a typical eight ounce cup of hot chocolate contains nine milligrams of caffeine
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That's less than 1/10th of a cup of coffee. (Some other sources give somewhat different numbers, but that's a middle-of-the-road figure.) "Chocolate Milk" (which could be heated, of course) is listed as 4 mg per 8 oz (but you'd want to watch out for the sugar content in grocery products). Hershey's even makes a DECAFFEINATED hot chocolate. Unfortunately, both versions are sweetened with sugar.

Now, in addition to the very small amounts of actual caffeine in hot chocolate there is also theobromine. That's a chemical "first cousin" of caffeine - but the differences might be significant. Caffeine is a vasoconstrictor (which can raise BP). But theobromine (to quote wiki again):

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In modern medicine, theobromine is used as a vasodilator (a blood vessel widener), a diuretic (urination aid), and heart stimulant.[2]

Theobromine increases urine production. Because of this diuretic effect, and its ability to dilate blood vessels, theobromine has been used to treat high blood pressure

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Now, the "heart stimulant" aspect is something only your doctor can evaluate. If your stress test indicated certain heart problems, he might feel that the BP benefits from the diuretic/vasodilator effects are outweighed by the heart stimulant effect. But if the main worry was a general "stay away from any amount of caffeine because it's a vasocontrictor"
then perhaps hot chocolate would be acceptable to your doctor.

(Dark chocolate also has significant amounts of antioxidants, but milk chocolate has a much smaller effect from this.)

Re: Warm drinks

[judifilksign]

Thank you for that analysis. I may pick up some sugar free hot cocoa.

Re: Warm drinks

[jenrose1]

Chocolate is an antioxidant AND anticoagulant. Not my first choice for you right now, personally.