Which drink is "healthy"?

[scubascuba3]

 
It was long assumed that tea was not as effective a hydrator due to its slight diuretic effect, however recent studied have demonstrated tes to be jusr as effective and may actially be the healthier option as it contains some other beneficial elements. 
 
Coffee is a different story, it makes your heart rate increase, limits REM sleep patterns, and plays havoc on the digestive system, it is in no way as healthy as water or tea and should be limited, whereas tea can be drunk exclusively in place of water.

Thai tea is good for you isn't it?

[Sheryl]

Drinking at home is easy, lots if choices including herbal teas (boil fresh lemon grass for instance or buy herbal tea bags).

But OP was asking about bars and restaurants. For these soda water with twist of lime is probably best. Unsweetened uce tea should also be available at restaurants but probably not most bars.

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[mike787]

Clean Water! Period!

[Confuscious]

6 minutes ago, mike787 said:

Clean Water! Period!

I see many Thai people order plain water at the local restaurant and then add something to the water (taste enhancers?).
The restaurant owner seems to have no objection to this.
I don't know if the restaurant owner would allow that if you order only water without ordering a meal.

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

38 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

2 hours ago, Kieran00001 said:

 
It was long assumed that tea was not as effective a hydrator due to its slight diuretic effect, however recent studied have demonstrated tes to be jusr as effective and may actially be the healthier option as it contains some other beneficial elements. 
 
Coffee is a different story, it makes your heart rate increase, limits REM sleep patterns, and plays havoc on the digestive system, it is in no way as healthy as water or tea and should be limited, whereas tea can be drunk exclusively in place of water.

Thai tea is good for you isn't it?

 

If you mean the typical commercially prepared sweet Thai tea, with tons of sugar and high fat cream added, then I'd say NO!

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

10 minutes ago, Confuscious said:

I see many Thai people order plain water at the local restaurant and then add something to the water (taste enhancers?).
The restaurant owner seems to have no objection to this.
I don't know if the restaurant owner would allow that if you order only water without ordering a meal.

 

 

In this climate, I like a regular sparkling water (though still water would do in a pinch) with some lime juice added... Or even a couple squirts of the bottled part lime juice mixes sold in the supermarket that the Thais use for adding lime flavor to their cooked food dishes.... Those usually seem to be labeled as being 40% or so lime juice. 

 

Makes for a refreshing, cooling drink that offers a bit more than just plain water taste.

 

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

22 hours ago, donim said:

Try make your own drink with tea, iced and mixed with mint.

Take it to the pub, if they complain, reason 'special diet'.

Restaurant hardly a problem take your drink, you are eating their

food anyway.

 

 Most restaurants in BKK seem to have some variety of iced tea available, but I always ask if they have some variety with no sugar.

 

About half the time, they can't provide it, because they're using a premixed or bottled ice tea that comes with sugar at the source. The other half of the time, where they're making the tea fresh in the venue, they can leave out the sugar and just deliver a plain, unsweetened iced tea. It's always a hit or miss proposition.

 

[scubascuba3]

 
If you mean the typical commercially prepared sweet Thai tea, with tons of sugar and high fat cream added, then I'd say NO!
 

i mean the thai tea you buy loose, about 20 baht a small box. I'm making ice tea with it. Seems to have to wash the tea leaves first. Thailand and chemicals and all that

[BritManToo]

1 hour ago, Sheryl said:

Drinking at home is easy, lots if choices including herbal teas (boil fresh lemon grass for instance or buy herbal tea bags).

But OP was asking about bars and restaurants. For these soda water with twist of lime is probably best. Unsweetened uce tea should also be available at restaurants but probably not most bars.

I've just started drinking ginger tea, in Vietnam you could buy it in tea bags really cheap, Thailand doesn't seem to have those (just instant ginger tea with loads of sugar), so I've taken to slicing up fresh ginger root and making tea with that, nice with a squeeze of lime and a large helping of honey.

[Dexlowe]

On May 3, 2019 at 12:23 PM, flyingtlger said:

Water....PERIOD!

 

 

Ewwww ... disgusting.

 

(And it's not recommended for vegetarians.)

[Kieran00001]

3 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

i mean the thai tea you buy loose, about 20 baht a small box. I'm making ice tea with it. Seems to have to wash the tea leaves first. Thailand and chemicals and all that

 

No idea about pesticide or other chemical residue in Thai tea, but this study found them in high levels in popular Western brands.  Also, not sure if washing will remove them or not.

 

Tetley, Lipton and Twinings, brands popular with Australians, were among those highest in pesticide contamination.

https://thenewdaily.com.au/life/wellbeing/2018/07/28/chemicals-in-tea-and-teabags/

 

 

[KC 71]

Carbon dioxide lowers the ph and makes water acidic. The acid can soften enamel and effect teeth. Dentists recommend either not drinking soda in quantities and using a straw.

God ,if i met some of these angry posters ,they would be eating through a straw [emoji38]


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[wilcopops]

I don't drink alcohol and find that the majority of bars in Thailand simply don't cater for this......they normally offer Coke or Fanta.

However, I'm a fanatical tea drinker - all kinds - Green/black/British style, whatever....

I can often get then to make me an iced lemon tea. NOT LIPTON - that's as sugary as coke.

 

Get them to make a cup of tea with a lion tea bag or similar, put in sugar to taste and squeeze in some lemon/lime then pour the whole lot into a glass of ice.

At first they might resist but once thy realize it is no effort and looks good on the table, they usually will make as many as you like.

You also have control over how much sugar you ingest.

 

PS - my Chinese colleagues always rinse their Green tea before brewing.

[scubascuba3]

 
PS - my Chinese colleagues always rinse their Green tea before brewing.

How do they do that? pore hot water from a kettle over the leaves?

[wilcopops]

10 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

 

 

How do they do that? pore hot water from a kettle over the leaves?

 

Yes - they pour water or hot water over the leaves and rinse.

[scubascuba3]

Yes - they pour water or hot water over the leaves and rinse.

I had a brain freeze how to spell pour, google was no help

[Confuscious]

On 5/4/2019 at 12:03 PM, scubascuba3 said:

On 5/4/2019 at 10:08 AM, JAG said:

I make a big jug of tea (1 liter) first thing in the morning. 2 Tea bags ("Heladiv" from Sri Lanka - much cheaper than "Liptons") and when it cools put it in the fridge. Come the afternoon/ evening a lovely refreshing drink.

Who sells the Heladiv?

Found these 2 in Big-C today.
147 Baht
 

[Confuscious]

On 5/3/2019 at 12:13 PM, robblok said:

I had the same problem until @Wavehunter pointed me to Iherb where they had a powder with only 10 calories for a liter of water (ok i double up so that is 20). It helped my diet a lot.

I tried today the Electrolite mix from Big-C.
Several types and flavors and only 5 baht per bag.

I ordered a Soda water at the local restaurant and mixed 1 bag with the Soda.
The taste is not bad, but as advised by the seller, I only drink 1 bag.

Another mix which I baught at big-c was 8 baht and turned water in a kind of fruit juice.
This mix was not limited and was full of Vitamins (according to the seller).
Taste was good without adding anything special (sweetener) and the restarant owner did not mind that I would mix something with my soda.

Maybe I should try to mix these bags with plain water next time ....
 

[impulse]

In my mind, the biggest issue with most of the answers here are that the OP is in a restaurant.  That eliminates the vast majority of the healthy choices.  I found most restaurants offer soda water and plain bottled water.   So that's my recommendation, based on 7 years in Thailand as a non-drinker.

 

Ordering iced tea at a restaurant is a risk because very few offer fresh brewed tea, much less fresh brewed iced teas.  Some coffee shops do, but very few restaurants.  The vast majority of bottled iced teas are so sweet with sugar that they'd send even a non-diabetic into a sugar crash.

 

Edit:  I have, on occasion, excused myself to walk next door to the 7/11 to buy bottled water if the restaurant doesn't sell bottled water or soda.  To their credit, none of them seemed to mind since I'm buying a meal.

 

[elliss]

On 5/3/2019 at 2:22 PM, wgdanson said:

Marginally. I did hear that the politically correct people are trying to stop them using the word TONIC as it no longer is. Originally it had quite a lot of quinine to fight off malaria in India and the other Empire countries.

 

        Gin was also added , beyond  belief the consumption of alcohol , what ever next.

 

[Confuscious]

7 minutes ago, impulse said:

In my mind, the biggest issue with most of the answers here are that the OP is in a restaurant.  That eliminates the vast majority of the healthy choices.  I found most restaurants offer soda water and plain bottled water.   So that's my recommendation, based on 7 years in Thailand as a non-drinker.

 

Ordering iced tea at a restaurant is a risk because very few offer fresh brewed tea, much less fresh brewed iced teas.  Some coffee shops do, but very few restaurants.  The vast majority of bottled iced teas are so sweet with sugar that they'd send even a non-diabetic into a sugar crash.

 

Edit:  I have, on occasion, excused myself to walk next door to the 7/11 to buy bottled water if the restaurant doesn't sell bottled water or soda.  To their credit, none of them seemed to mind since I'm buying a meal.

 

Even the drinks that a lot of restaurants/bars offer nowadays (eg.: Macha) are so full of added sweeteners (sugar, honey, coffee milk, etc.) that I would bot advice anyone to drink one of these.
Diabetes or not.

Adding a little bad of mix with my Soda water seemed to be of no problem with the restaurant owners and you can buy several tastes to have a variation.
 

[robblok]

8 hours ago, Confuscious said:

I tried today the Electrolite mix from Big-C.
Several types and flavors and only 5 baht per bag.

I ordered a Soda water at the local restaurant and mixed 1 bag with the Soda.
The taste is not bad, but as advised by the seller, I only drink 1 bag.

Another mix which I baught at big-c was 8 baht and turned water in a kind of fruit juice.
This mix was not limited and was full of Vitamins (according to the seller).
Taste was good without adding anything special (sweetener) and the restarant owner did not mind that I would mix something with my soda.

Maybe I should try to mix these bags with plain water next time ....
 

I took these because they were so low calorie.. I am not sure about the ones you bought. I thought the Thai ones contained a lot of sugar. But i cannot be sure of course. You would have to read the label.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

I seem to have had better luck with no sugar iced teas here over the years than some of you guys are suggesting....

 

Whenever I see iced tea or want iced tea, I always ask the Thai wait staff if they have a no sugar, unsweetened version or if it's going to be sweetened. And they're usually pretty quick and clear in knowing one way or the other, and I've rarely if ever been told wrong about that....

 

The Thai term for sugar is "nam tan"... So asking if the tea contains sugar would roughly be "mee nam tan" or "mai mee nam tan."  The way Thais sweeten their drinks, you're gonna know with the first sip one way or the other once it's served up.

[Bonobojt]

The healthiest beverage is water, followed by herbal teas  like green tea, Hibiscus tea etc.. and then Coffee 

[wilcopops]

On 5/6/2019 at 11:17 PM, impulse said:

Ordering iced tea at a restaurant is a risk because very few offer fresh brewed tea

I've found that next to pops etc., brewed teas are actually quite common in Thai establishments.....however as I said before you need sometimes to show them how to make iced lemon tea first. I also think your level of Thai language helps.

 

PS if you're making iced tea at home, don't put a hot jug in the fridge, you'll create all sorts of icing problems and overwork the fridge.

The best way is to cool it with ice first and then keep it cool in the fidge.

I often make a "thermos" of iced tea for long journeys.

 

Most teas are mostly rubbish and many contain additives or compounds that can react badly with yourself or any medications you are taking.

[impulse]

13 minutes ago, wilcopops said:

PS if you're making iced tea at home, don't put a hot jug in the fridge, you'll create all sorts of icing problems and overwork the fridge.

The best way is to cool it with ice first and then keep it cool in the fidge.

I often make a "thermos" of iced tea for long journeys.

 

Better yet, make sun tea...

 

[wilcopops]

5 hours ago, impulse said:

 

Better yet, make sun tea...

 

Please explain

[impulse]

56 minutes ago, wilcopops said:

Please explain

 

Sun tea is where you just put tea bags into a clear pitcher of water and let it sit in the sun to brew.  Takes longer, but doesn't require hot water.  I think it tastes better because you don't get the harsher components like you do with boiling water.  But that may be my imagination.

 

In any case, the water never gets truly hot, so you can pop the pitcher into the fridge.

 

[scubascuba3]

I put one of these in water on some days, you get 1000mg Vit C plus a nice flavour. Sugar free and a choice of flavours

 

 

[mommysboy]

The overarching problem here is that you don't like the booze, and are therefore somewhat in the wrong establishment. 

 

Given that you presumably need to down a few, the only healthy, practicable option is water, with perhaps one or two soft drinks.

 

Sorry to have a poke, but the phrase 'hard to please springs to mind' since you don't like alcohol or water.????