Few things are more refreshing on a summer's day than a cold drink on a hot patio. But alcohol is normally a no-no for dieters. Simply put, they're full of empty calories, particularly if you fancy sweet cocktails.

eDiets recently put together a list of sweet-but-not-sinful summer cocktails that you can enjoy without packing on too many calories. On their list of healthy drinks:

• Strawberry Lemonade Martini
• Berry Blast Spritzer
• Less Guilt Margarita
• Summer Breeze Punch
  

What's your favorite summertime drink? Mine is a low-cal Mojito, made with one part white rum, two parts club soda, flavoured with lime, mint and just a touch of sweetener.

Source

I recently saw this article from eDiets on the best alternatives to soda. Their choices? Vegetable juice, fruit juice, teas and coffees, enhanced waters and spring waters. These are all great choices, but if I was a soda addict, I don't know that they'd cut the mustard. So I decided to come up with my own list of my favourite soda alternatives:

1. Club Soda and Cranberry Juice. I drink this pretty much every day. It's basically just half club soda and half low-cal cranberry juice. It's refreshing, fizzy and very low in calories.
   
2. Italian Sodas: Italian sodas are kind of like the previous drink, but with flavoured syrup. I buy low-sugar vanilla-flavoured syrup, add some club soda or carbonated water, stir and enjoy! And the Olive Garden has delicious Italian sodas if you're out for a meal.
   
3. Homemade Lemonade: I make my lemonade the old-fashioned way -- with lemons and Splenda. It's quite a treat!
4. Homemade Iced Tea: Here's how you do it -- take your favourite flavour of tea, brew it with boiling water in a jug, ad some ice and and a squeeze of lemon, and let it cool in the fridge for a while. You can also add Splenda if you like it sweet, but I like mine au naturel. My favourite tea flavours to use are peppermint and Rooibos.
   
5. Chocolate milk: If I am really craving something chocolaty, I'll have a half-glass of chocolate soy milk. Or I'll use skim milk with some reduced-sugar nestle quick. It leaves me feeling quite full and satisfied!

Of course, I'm also a water fiend--I drink at least 64oz a day--so enjoy these but please make sure you're getting you share of good ole' water too.

Source

While visiting my parents this summer, my mother made me a delightful drink that brought back memories of my ol' favorite as a teenager -- the Raspberry-Lime Rickey.

Instead of the syrupy sweetness of the Rickey, though, it was crisp and refreshing, the perfect drink for a summer day.

Are you ready for this simple recipe?

• one part 100% unsweetened cranberry juice (I get mine at Trader Joe's)
• five parts lime seltzer

Mix and serve.

Easy!

Now, how about a Fizzy Lemonade? This lemonade is healthy (and you can make it with water instead of seltzer if you don't like the fizz) because you use honey instead of sugar to sweeten the drink. If you use raw honey, you'll get the nutrients, bee pollen, propolis and royal jelly benefits, too.

Do you have any favorite summer drinks that you don't have to feel guilty about drinking?

Celebrities are under pressure to be super-thin for movie roles, appearances and more. They try some pretty crazy weight-loss gimmicks to lose weight, while all seem either unhealthy, unnatural or downright uncomfortable. AOL Body has put together this list of the wackiest diet ideas:

• Martha's Vineyard Diet
• Cabbage Soup Diet
• The Lemonade Diet
  
• Blood Type Diet
  
• Facial Analysis Diet: Your diet is determined by an analysis of your skin
• Grapefruit Diet: This involves eating half a grapefruit before every meal
  
• Fat Flush Diet: This mostly-water diet should be called the water-flush diet -- that's all it does
• Coconut Diet: Based on the belief that coconut boost metabolism, you eat a lot of coconut on this plan.
  
• Cardio-free diet
• Any diet using diet pills

Come on, fess up -- have you tried any of these? Most of us have

Source

If you're following a low-carb eating plan, liquids can be the enemy. Some of the tastiest drinks have tons of sugar -- and carbs. Some of the worst culprits are:

• Lemonade
• Iced coffee drinks
• Hot chocolate
• Flavored water
• Soda

Fortunately, most drinks out there have a low-carb equivalent. To check them out, read the original article from eDiets.

My favorite low-carb drink is Iced Tea, home brewed and sweetened with just a touch of Splenda. Rooibos and peppermint teas are the tastiest if you ask me. What about you?

Source