Healthy Drinks: The 10 Best, Ranked, and the Ones to Skip

Water leads the Daily Drinks list in my protocols: about half your body weight in ounces a day, filtered.1 For a 160-pound adult, that's 80 ounces, about 10 cups. It lines up with the National Academies' finding that adequately hydrated women take in about 2.7 liters (91 ounces) of total water a day and men about 3.7 liters (125 ounces), roughly 80% of it from drinks.10

Running low on water shows up in how you think, one of the classic signs of dehydration. In a meta-analysis of 33 studies with 413 people, losing water equal to 1% to 6% of body weight impaired attention, executive function and motor coordination, and the effect was clearer once losses passed 2%,11 though a review limited to dehydration from exercise found no significant overall effect.12

Water helps with weight, too. In a randomized trial of 48 adults aged 55 to 75 on a reduced-calorie diet, those who drank 500 milliliters (about 2 cups) of water before each main meal lost about 2 kilograms (4.4 pounds) more over 12 weeks, a 44% greater weight loss than the diet alone.13 And in national survey data on 18,311 U.S. adults, each one-point rise in plain water's share of a person's daily fluids went with 8.58 fewer calories and 0.74 gram less sugar that day.14

Filter your drinking water; you don't need a whole-house system. A reverse osmosis or solid carbon block filter is enough,15 and in testing in 73 North Carolina homes, under-sink reverse osmosis and two-stage filters removed nearly all PFAS, the so-called forever chemicals, while other carbon filters were less consistent.16 Then store and carry your water in glass or stainless steel instead of plastic.15 In a lab study using a new imaging method, researchers counted about 240,000 plastic particles in a liter of bottled water, about 90% of them nanoplastics.17

Water works best with minerals, and I learned that the hard way. About 12 or 13 years ago, I did a 21-day Daniel Fast eating only vegetables, fruits and nuts, with zero salt. I lost 20 pounds I didn't need to lose, and I felt weak, lightheaded and a little moody. Looking back, I wouldn't do it with no salt. Once I brought a quality unrefined salt back in, my energy and hydration improved drastically.18

Most of your minerals come from fruits, vegetables and bone broth, plus a sprinkle of good sea salt on your food.18 The Biblio Diet, which I wrote with Jordan Rubin, adds a simple habit: a pinch of unrefined sea salt in each glass of water, or about 1/4 teaspoon per quart, because adding salt to your water helps your body absorb and use it.5 If you have high blood pressure, heart failure or kidney disease, read the safety section below first.

The research shows that some drinks stay put longer than plain water. In a randomized trial of 72 men, each drank a liter of still water on one visit and a liter of other common drinks on others, over 30 minutes each time, and researchers collected their urine for the next 4 hours. After still water, the men passed 1,337 grams of urine; after an oral rehydration solution, which carries sodium and potassium, they passed 1,038 grams, and after full-fat or skim milk, 1,052 and 1,049 grams. That's about 300 grams less urine, meaning more of each of those drinks stayed in the body.6

Green tea is the second drink on my protocols' daily list: 2 to 3 cups, before 2 p.m.1 I had matcha, the powdered whole leaf, for breakfast the morning I recorded my episode on microplastics,15 and I drink a lot more matcha and green tea than coffee.19

Tea's research is some of the most encouraging of any drink. In a Japanese cohort of 40,530 adults followed for up to 11 years, women who drank 5 or more cups of green tea a day had 23% lower risk of death from any cause than women who drank less than a cup, and, over the first 7 years, 31% lower risk of cardiovascular death; for men, the drop in risk of death from any cause was 12%.20 In the UK Biobank cohort, 498,043 adults who drank 2 to 3 cups of tea a day, most of it black tea, had 13% lower risk of death over a median of 11.2 years than people who drank none.21

Tea also gives a calmer kind of energy. Matcha is especially rich in L-theanine, an amino acid found almost exclusively in tea that promotes relaxation without drowsiness and smooths out the jittery side of caffeine.22 In a review of 11 placebo-controlled studies, L-theanine taken with caffeine improved alertness and the accuracy of switching attention between tasks over the first 2 hours.23

Brew loose-leaf tea, or tea from bags made without plastic.15 In a lab test, a single plastic teabag steeped at brewing temperature released about 11.6 billion microplastic and 3.1 billion nanoplastic particles into one cup.24

Herbal teas are everyday drinks in my protocols, chosen for what you need. The High Blood Pressure Protocol calls for 2 to 3 cups of hibiscus tea a day,2 the Deep Sleep Protocol uses chamomile, lemon balm or passionflower tea in the evening,4 and the Anti-Inflammatory Reset adds golden milk made with turmeric, ginger and cinnamon.25 Lemon balm and chamomile are two of the herbs I like most for sleep.26 Ginger tea and turmeric tea round out the list.

Hibiscus is the herbal tea with blood pressure trials behind it. In a placebo-controlled trial of 65 adults with prehypertension or mild high blood pressure who weren't taking blood pressure medication, in which neither the people nor the researchers knew who got what, three 240-milliliter (8-ounce) cups of brewed hibiscus tea a day for 6 weeks lowered systolic pressure by 7.2 points, against 1.3 points on a placebo drink. Diastolic pressure fell 3.1 points against 0.5, a difference too small to rule out chance.7 In a review of 17 trials, hibiscus lowered systolic pressure by 7.10 points more than placebo, most of all in people who started with higher readings, and in the trials that compared it with blood pressure medication, the drops were similar.27

Bone broth earns its place as a drink and a food at once. It has some naturally occurring potassium and sodium, which makes it something like a mineral fluid,18 and my Heal Your Cells protocol calls for 8 ounces most days.1 Every single day, you should either drink bone broth or get collagen another way, such as a collagen supplement or a protein made from bone broth.28 Chicken broth may be the most beneficial, because along with collagen it carries glucosamine, chondroitin and hyaluronic acid, building blocks of your gut lining, skin and joints.29

Simmering bones and connective tissue releases amino acids such as glutamine, glycine, proline, histidine and arginine, along with calcium, phosphorus, potassium, magnesium and zinc. A 2025 review from Mayo Clinic gastroenterologists concluded that these components support the gut barrier and help calm inflammation in the intestinal lining, based on animal and human studies of the components rather than of broth itself.30 Sip a warm mug on its own, or use it as the base for soups.

With coffee, one person's healing food is another person's poison.19 If you tolerate it well, coffee can be an amazing healing food that extends your lifespan; if you don't, it can take years off your life.19 The safe range for most people is 1 to 2 cups a day, up to 3 if you do well with it, and I don't recommend 4 or more for anybody.19

Drink it in the morning, with or after breakfast rather than on an empty stomach, which spikes cortisol and blood sugar even more, and keep it out of the afternoon so it doesn't disrupt your sleep.19 If you want the flavor later in the day, have decaf.19 Choose coffee that's organic or unsprayed, lower in acid and mold-free.19 Mushroom coffee, herbal coffee substitutes made from chicory or dandelion, and cacao keep the ritual with little or no caffeine.19

Those amounts fit the research. In a meta-analysis of 40 observational studies with 3,852,651 people, risk of cardiovascular death was lowest at about 2.5 cups a day (17% lower than no coffee) and risk of death from any cause at about 3.5 cups (15% lower), with no further drop at higher intakes.31 In 28 cohorts with 1,109,272 people, 1, 2 and 3 cups a day went with 8%, 15% and 21% lower risk of type 2 diabetes,32 and in 9 cohort and case-control studies of 432,133 people, each extra 2 cups a day went with 44% lower risk of cirrhosis.33

Coffee and soda don't count toward your water.18 When I've asked patients what they drank that day, some have listed a coffee, another coffee, maybe a soda, another coffee and a glass or two of water, and counted all of it.18 In the beverage hydration trial described in the water card, a liter of coffee was retained about as well as a liter of still water over 4 hours.6 Coffee isn't that strong a diuretic, and as long as you drink a little more water, it shouldn't be a problem.19 So count your water separately, and drink a little extra on the days you have coffee. If coffee leaves you jittery, anxious or with an upset stomach, the safety section lists who should be most careful with it.

Kefir and yogurt are my top two probiotic foods, the highest in bacteria, and if you choose dairy, I recommend A2 milk.34 Goat milk and sheep milk are naturally A2. For milk drinks, The Biblio Diet gives the order: raw organic A2 milk first, then organic A2 fermented milk such as goat milk kefir, then organic A2 milk, then organic full-fat milk.5

Fermentation uses up much of milk's lactose. In a randomized trial of 15 adults who digest lactose poorly, plain kefir cut breath hydrogen, a sign of undigested lactose, by more than half compared with the same amount of lactose in milk, and kefir and yogurt eased gas by 54% to 71%.35 In a meta-analysis of 7 trials with 385 adults, kefir lowered the inflammation marker CRP in the trials that lasted 8 weeks or longer, though across all the trials it didn't significantly change blood pressure or CRP.36

I'm a big fan of raw milk. Many people can benefit from it, but raw milk isn't for everyone: people with Candida, mucus buildup or certain immune issues may do poorly on it.37 Whether it's safe comes down to the source, so buy it only from a reputable farm.5 In a cross-sectional study of 8,334 rural school-age children in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, those who drank raw farm milk had 41% lower odds of asthma, 26% lower odds of atopy, the tendency to develop allergies, and 49% lower odds of hay fever, while boiled farm milk showed no protective effect.38

If dairy doesn't agree with you, coconut milk from a can with a BPA-free lining is my top nondairy pick, and it's the one people with dampness, a pattern in Chinese medicine, or Candida tend to tolerate best.39

On days you sweat, add an electrolyte drink, and the best one is the one you make at home. Here's mine: 8 ounces of water, the juice of 1 lemon, about 2 teaspoons of local raw honey and about 1/4 teaspoon of unrefined gray sea salt.18 For variations, stir about 1/4 teaspoon of sea salt into coconut water, or about 1/8 teaspoon into watermelon juice.18 Honey is still sugar, so keep it to about 2 teaspoons.

Here's why the salt and honey help. Oral rehydration solutions, the standard treatment for dehydration worldwide, work because sodium and glucose are absorbed together in the small intestine and water follows them.40 If you use a packet, look for one made from food, with a sodium-to-potassium ratio around 1:1 to 2:1 for most people; many electrolyte powders carry artificial sweeteners, dyes, fillers and a lot of synthetic sodium.18 I take a 1:1 packet most of the time, and on my hard days I add more sea salt to my food.18

Coconut water brings potassium, about 600 milligrams in a cup,41 and potassium is the mineral most Americans fall short on: in national data from 2003 to 2008, fewer than 2% of U.S. adults met the 4,700-milligram target in place at the time.42 Its sodium runs lower and varies with the coconut's age,43 which is why I add a little salt.18 In small trials, coconut water rehydrated about as well as water or a sports drink. In one, each of 8 men tried all three drinks after sweating off 2.78% of their body weight, and they regained 75% of it with fresh young coconut water, 73% with plain water and 80% with a carbohydrate-electrolyte drink, differences too small to rule out chance.44 The men also found the coconut water sweeter and easier to drink in larger amounts, with less nausea and fullness and no stomach upset.44 In another, in which 12 trained men each tried every drink, coconut water matched a sports drink and bottled water on fluid retention and treadmill time, though these men reported more bloating and stomach upset with it.45

I learned how much sodium matters on a triathlon team. From about 19 to 29, I competed in a lot of triathlons, including a couple of half-distance races, training in the heat of Kentucky, Tennessee and Florida. I was a profuse sweater, I cramped in my quads and calves at the end of races, and I wasn't getting nearly enough sodium. If I'd known then what I know now, I probably would have raced a lot better.18

In Chinese medicine, coconut water and watermelon are cooling, so go easy on them in winter or if you tend to run cold, have IBS with diarrhea or have hypothyroidism; warm them up or pair them with something warming like ginger.18

A few juices earn a small glass in my protocols. My High Blood Pressure Protocol calls for 4 to 8 ounces of beetroot juice a few times a week.2 Beets are rich in nitrate, which your body turns into nitric oxide, a compound that widens blood vessels.48

In a placebo-controlled trial of 68 adults with high blood pressure, funded by the British Heart Foundation, in which neither the people nor the researchers knew who got what, 250 milliliters (about 8 ounces) of nitrate-rich beet juice a day for 4 weeks lowered systolic pressure by 7.7 points in the clinic, 7.7 points over 24 hours and 8.1 points at home, compared with beet juice with its nitrate removed; blood vessel function improved by about 20%.48 Across 16 trials with 254 people, beet juice and nitrate lowered systolic pressure by 4.4 points on average, with a smaller change in diastolic pressure that wasn't statistically significant.49

Tart cherry juice is the small glass in my Deep Sleep Protocol.4 I don't drink fruit juice unless I'm in the middle of a workout, and then it's tart cherry juice.50 In a placebo-controlled trial of 20 adults, in which each person tried both and neither they nor the researchers knew which was which, a week of tart cherry juice concentrate raised melatonin and increased time in bed, total sleep time and sleep efficiency.51

A vegetable green drink is the other exception. When my mom was recovering from cancer through nutrition and lifestyle alongside her medical care, her morning green drink was spinach, celery, cucumber, cilantro, lime and a green apple, blended or juiced, and she made it every day. It's one of the two daily drinks in my Cancer Support Protocol.52

When you want something cold and fizzy, sparkling water with a squeeze of lemon is the swap in my Type 2 Diabetes Protocol, in place of juice, soda and sweetened drinks.3 Plain sparkling water is water with bubbles, and in the beverage hydration trial, it was retained the same as still water.6 Choose it unsweetened. The same protocol adds 1 to 2 teaspoons of apple cider vinegar in water before large meals.3

Kombucha is fermented tea, and a little on occasion can be fine for a lot of people. It ranks last here because kefir and yogurt are more beneficial. If you have a lot of dampness or Candida, skip it.34 If you've never had it, start with about 8 ounces.53

The early human research is promising. In a pilot trial of 12 adults with type 2 diabetes, using kombucha donated by its maker, each person drank 240 milliliters (8 ounces) a day of kombucha for 4 weeks and of a placebo drink for another 4, and neither the people nor the researchers knew which was which. On kombucha, average fasting blood sugar fell from 164 to 116 mg/dL, while on the placebo drink it went from 162 to 141; with complete readings from 7 people, the gap between the two drinks wasn't clear-cut.54 A 2025 review of 8 clinical trials found mixed blood sugar results, along with less constipation-type discomfort in two of the trials and shifts in gut bacteria in two.55