The weather is getting warmer outside (hooray!) and one of the most ubiquitous sights in the spring time is the lemonade stand. As soon as it gets warm, my kids want to set up a card table at the foot of the driveway with a hand lettered sign offering lemonade for a quarter a cup.

I’ve passed many a stand in my travels, and I started to wonder – is there such a thing as a healthy lemonade? After all, lemonade by it’s very nature is simply water, lemon juice and sugar. Often lots and lots of sugar, to compensate for the bitter taste of the lemon juice. Is there a better choice? I decided to look at several of the lemonade options in an effort to find the healthiest beverage.

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There’s a long list of things you shouldn’t drink if you suffer from acid reflux or heartburn: orange juice, hot chocolate, carbonated beverages, lemonade, anything with mint and any bottled drinks with added acid. Water is really the best thing for people with reflux to drink, along with low-fat milk.

You may know that I have been undergoing treatment for acid reflux for about two months, under the supervision of Dr. Jamie Koufman at The Voice Institute of New York. Dr. Koufman is one of the authors of Dropping Acid: The Reflux Diet Cookbook & Cure. I’m a big lover of tea, and I was happy to hear that there are still several varieties of teas that don’t trigger acid reflux. Some doctors might recommend that patients stay away from caffeine altogether, but Dr. Koufman says that a cup of tea (black, green or white) or coffee with milk per day is fine. It’s the people who drink “a fishbowl” of coffee each day who have a problem. Herbal teas like chamomile and rooibos are good, but any fruit-infused teas will be too acidic.

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St. Patrick’s Day is fast approaching, and the holiday brings to mind all things green. One of the best ways to get into the spirit is with green food and drink. Rather than adding food coloring to your milk – tried and true, been there, done that and need to move to something more fun – why not try some of these great green drink options? Beware that some are better for you than others, but all are green!

Green Tea – Packed full of flavonoids, green tea is known to have fat burning properties and has been enjoyed in China and Japan for years.

McDonald’s Shamrock Shake – This cult favorite has an enormous following, as is evidenced by a website devoted to “Shamrock Shake sightings”. The shake may be tasty, but it is nutritionally a disaster, with 550 calories in one 16 ounce serving. 13 grams of fat and 96 grams of carbs means you’ve blown your diet in just one drink.

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In January, Starbucks introduced its new Trenta size, a 31-ounce cup. Food, drink and health bloggers went nuts over the cup that was sure to be the continued downfall of American obesity. Admittedly, even the nice folks over here at DietsInReview.com, ahem us, pointed a few fingers too, calling out that the Trenta is larger than a bladder (which, it is).

We took a few steps back and realized that while Starbucks was catching all sorts of heat about its giant new cup, in which they only serve iced coffee or iced tea, it’s not the worst offender. In fact, why aren’t we raising more stink about the 7-Eleven Double Big Gulp, equivalent in size to a six-pack of soda?

So, we did. Here’s our big stink, and the beverage offenders who make Trenta wipe the mud off her face.

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Early morning drives to work are definitely improved by a stop at Starbucks. The coffee-masterminds can create your perfect drink, whether you want something unique and frou-frou or just a tall, black cup of joe.

Imagine this: you’re standing at the counter, waiting to order your favorite drink to get your day started on the right foot, but when you are ordering it, do you stop to think about how your vente double latte is going to affect your diet plans?

Typically, humans don’t pay as much attention to liquid calories as they do to calories that come from food. For some reason, they just tend to slip our minds, but unfortunately, they still affect the number on the scale.

So, in order to help you keep your daily calorie intake in the range you need for your weight loss, we’ve made a list of the best and worst Starbucks drinks, based on calories and fat grams. All of these drinks are the “Tall” size- the smallest one, so if you get a larger cup, it’s going to be even more calories. The Best Drinks do not have whipped cream, while all of the Worst Drinks do have whipped cream.

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