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"Thank you Syfo Original. I discovered you on a hot, humid August in Georgia. I have been hooked since. The glass bottle is the key for, it seems to hold the carbonation."
Your health can be said to be your most important asset and what you put in your body protects that asset. That’s why “clean eating” is a term that’s trending these days and for many that means eating unprocessed or minimally processed foods known as “whole foods.” But the beverages you drink can be just as much a factor in a healthy diet as what you eat.
Just as with “clean eating,” clean drinking would have you avoid beverages with additives such as food dyes, propylene glycol, artificial sweeteners, preservatives, sodium, artificial flavorings and high fructose corn syrup. Although sugar is not an artificial ingredient, it is hidden in most processed foods and when eaten in excess has documented adverse health effects. So as with food labels, the longer the list of ingredients on beverage labels (especially names of ingredients you don’t recognize) the more you may want to avoid that beverage and choose a “clean” drink instead.
And don’t be fooled by how a beverage is packaged or advertised. Many “fruit juice drinks” contain almost no fruit juice and copious amounts of sugar (see our post on this topic). Others claim to use filtered or spring waters but those can contain a large amount of impurities.
Under the clean eating and drinking label, we’ve compiled a short list of beverages for healthier living:
- Purified Water
- Syfo Naturally-Flavored Sparkling Waters — Syfo Beverages are deliciously refreshing and contain no sugar, artificial sweeteners, sodium or any other additives and they are made with water purified via a seven-step process that includes reverse osmosis.
- Teas – Black, Green, White or Herbal lightly sweetened with any natural sweetener.
- Coffee — Skip the artificial sweeteners and flavored coffee creamer.
- 100% Fruit Juice (Not from concentrate) – To cut down on the fructose content, mix it with Syfo Original Seltzer of any Syfo Naturally Flavored Sparkling Water.
- Vegetable juices – Add spices like turmeric, cinnamon, capsaicin, cumin, oregano, ginger, thyme or rosemary for a flavorful and healthy beverage.
Want to mix it up? Combine natural fruit juices with Syfo Naturally-Flavored Sparkling Waters for a low-cal, delicious, clean and refreshingly delightful drink.
Here’s a great recipe you can try:
Watermelon Slush
Ingredients:
- 2 ½ cups of Watermelon
- 1/3 cups of Pomegranate Juice
- Syfo Original Seltzer
- 1 cup of Ice
Preparation:
In a blender, puree fresh watermelon, pomegranate juice and ice. Half fill a glass with the juice and add an equal part of Syfo Original Seltzer or Syfo Naturally Flavored Wild Cherry Sparkling Water.
Visit syfobeverages.com for more delicious recipes!
How healthy a beverage is for you must begin with the quality of the water that is used. Syfo Beverages has always used a multi-step water purification process that includes reverse osmosis. But what is the benefit of reverse osmosis and why is it important?
Reverse osmosis is a process in which water is forced through a semi-permeable membrane using pressure. Water will pass through the membrane, leaving the contaminants behind. Reverse osmosis purification systems remove up to 99% of all contaminants found in water, which is more than other filtration methods. Additionally, reverse osmosis removes particles smaller than what other filtration methods can remove.
The process we use involves pre-treatment steps that include double-micron and carbon filtration so that the reverse osmosis system works at the highest efficiency and peak performance ensuring an effective barrier to pathogens, metals, toxins, chemicals, parasites, pesticide, algae and other solids.
To further ensure that the water in our beverages is the highest quality, the water then passes through a deionization system, which removes ions of compounds like sodium and iron. Lastly, the water is ozonated and sterilized using UV exposure to kill any organic matter that could be left in the water.
You can drink Syfo with confidence knowing that you’ve bought one of the purest and healthiest beverages around. To learn more about what makes our beverages healthy, click here.
Recently, news sources have reported that some companies may not be entirely transparent with the ingredients in their food and beverages that are labeled as containing “natural flavors.” So what makes a food or beverage flavoring truly natural?
According to the FDA, natural flavors are the essential oil, oleoresin, essence, extractive, protein or any product derived from roasting or heating that “contains the flavoring constituents derived from a spice, fruit or fruit juice, vegetable or vegetable juice, edible yeast, herb, bark, bud, root, leaf of similar plant material, meat, seafood, poultry, eggs, dairy products, or fermentation products thereof, whose significant function in food is flavoring rather than nutritional.”
That’s not only quite mouthful but also a pretty broad definition. Translated, any process that extracts the flavor from a fruit, vegetable, dairy or animal product would be considered natural. This is opposed to combining chemicals in a laboratory to mimic or simulate the flavor.
Where it gets confusing is the other additives that are used either during or after the process. Some companies add preservatives, including MSG, which is both a preservative and a flavoring, into their natural flavors. Propylene glycol, a derivative of natural gas, is used by some beverage manufacturers as a solvent and humectant. Brominated vegetable oil (BVO) is an oil derived from soy that is used by some soda brands as an emulsifier to keep their flavorings from floating to the top of the drink. The bromine in BVO is a known endocrine disrupter and has been banned as a food ingredient throughout Europe and Japan.
So as you can see, plenty of products can be labeled as having “natural flavors” but what you’re consuming is anything but natural. Syfo Beverages’ natural flavors do not include propylene glycol, BVO or any other preservatives added during or after our flavor extraction process. Our all-natural flavors are derived from the essential oil that is extracted from the peel of the fruit. Instead of propylene glycol, we use vegetable-based glycerin that naturally keeps the product moist and inhibits bacteria growth.
Plus all of our products use water that is purified through reverse osmosis and they contain no sugar, artificial sweeteners, sodium or any other additives. So if you’re looking for a refreshing beverage that is both healthy and natural, reach for Syfo.
Staying hydrated is a good idea all year round, but as temperatures rise in the summer, it’s important to drink enough fluids to combat the heat. Many people don’t enjoy sticking with plain water, but if they turn to other beverages like soda, they may not be getting the benefits of hydration and actually what they drink could have the opposite effect.
It’s true that all beverages contain some water, but practically speaking, caffeinated, sweetened and alcoholic drinks pack chemical cargoes (or trigger chemical reactions) that demand significant amounts of fluid to properly process and filter. Chief among these are sugar and caffeine, so as your body works to move these substances through your body, your body’s actual stores of fluids may be reduced. According to an article on the care2.com website, this has led some experts to believe that non-water beverages actually dehydrate the body.
In another article on diabeteslibrary.org, the website reports that “the body will attempt to dilute the high level of glucose in the blood by drawing water out of the cells and into the bloodstream in an effort to dilute the sugar and excrete it in the urine.” This dynamic can be compounded by the levels of caffeine in soda, which can have an additional diuretic effect.
Syfo Beverages Naturally-Flavored Sparkling Waters contain no sugar, caffeine, artificial sweeteners or any other additives, so they’re just pure hydrating refreshment. And since they’re made using 100% purified water with all-natural flavors, they’re a healthy way to stay hydrated throughout this hot summer and all year long.
“Sip All Day, Get Decay” is more than a catchy slogan. It’s a campaign with the purpose to bring awareness to the nation’s growing dental concerns and correlation between soda and tooth decay.
According to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, approximately 50% of the population in the US aged two or older consumes sugar-based drinks on any given day and more than half of these sugar-based drinks are consumed at home. According to the CDC, almost 60% of high school students drink a minimum of one sugar-based beverage every day. Even more surprising, SipAllDay.org reports that one-fifth of all one- and two-year old children drink soda.
Not only have soda and other sugar-laden drinks been linked to obesity, diabetes and high-blood pressure, but soda and sugar-based beverage drinkers must also be concerned with tooth decay. In a study conducted by Bernabe, Vehkalahti, Sheiham, Aromaa and Suominen published in the Journal of Dentistry, the researchers set to explore the association between cavities and the frequency of sugar-based beverages consumed. They found that the higher the consumption of sugary drinks, the higher the amount of teeth affected by cavities. Surprisingly, the researchers found that the use of fluoride toothpaste did not reduce the risk of dental cavities when drinking sugar-based drinks regularly. The Wisconsin Dental Association also points out that the kind of sugar in soda and other sweetened beverages combines with the bacteria in your mouth to form acid, which attacks the enamel of your teeth.
Consider replacing your daily soda habit with Syfo. Syfo Naturally-Flavored Sparkling Waters and Original Seltzer are made from 100% purified water and have no sugar, artificial sweeteners, sodium, preservatives or any other additives. Just delicious, natural refreshment, Syfo is a healthy and satisfying alternative to soda.