What to drink on a GLP-1 besides water

Short answer: almost every drink counts toward your fluid, so the useful question is what else it brings. Milk, soy milk, kefir and broth carry protein or minerals; tea, coffee and sparkling water are fluid and little else; sugary drinks and alcohol are the ones a 2025 joint advisory for people on GLP-1 medications suggests limiting.^[1][2]

Fluid is one of the five priorities in our guide to what to eat when you're eating less. This page takes the drinks one at a time, whether the medication is Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro, Zepbound or another GLP-1.

Does everything I drink count as water?

Yes, for the purpose of a daily target. The National Academies count every beverage toward total water intake, caffeinated ones included.^[1] Their reference intake for healthy adults is about 3 liters of beverages a day for men and 2.2 liters for women, with roughly another fifth of total water normally arriving in food.^[1] We go through the numbers, and why they matter more when appetite is low, in how much water to drink on a GLP-1. For a range adjusted for your weight, activity, heat and appetite, use the hydration calculator.

That food share is the part that shrinks. The advisory reports people eating 16% to 39% fewer calories on these medications,^[2] and the water in those meals goes with them. So drinks have to cover a little more of the day than they used to, at a time when a full stomach makes every glass feel larger.

What does each drink add?

Drink	What it adds besides water	Worth knowing
Milk or soy milk	About 8 g of protein a cup (milk) or about 6 g (fortified soy milk),[3] plus calcium and potassium	The most useful drink on this list when food is hard
Kefir or a yogurt drink	Protein and calcium	Check the added-sugars line on flavoured versions
Broth or clear soup	Sodium, and warmth	Sodium varies a great deal by brand; read the label
Herbal tea	Very little	Ginger and peppermint tea are named in the advisory[2]
Coffee and black or green tea	Caffeine	Counts toward fluid;[1] easier alongside food
Sparkling water	Nothing	The gas is the problem for some people, not the water
Electrolyte mixes	Sodium, potassium, sometimes magnesium and calcium	Useful on low-intake or high-loss days, not automatically every day
Fruit juice	Some vitamins and potassium, and sugar	Little of the fruit's fiber[3]
Regular soda, sports drinks	Sugar	Sugar-sweetened drinks are on the advisory's limit list[2]
Alcohol	Calories without nutrients	Also on the limit list[2]

Do milk and soy milk count toward protein?

A cup of milk has about 8 g of protein, and a cup of fortified soy milk about 6 g.^[3] That is not a lot next to a plate of chicken, but on a day when chewing is the obstacle, it is protein arriving in the one form that still goes down. Milk also brings calcium and potassium, two nutrients the Dietary Guidelines list as under-consumed across the US population before any change in appetite.^[4] Fortified milk is one of the few ordinary food sources of vitamin D.^[5]

If you are working toward a protein target, a glass of milk between meals counts as an eating occasion rather than a drink you have to make room for. The arithmetic for the target itself is in how much protein to eat on a GLP-1.

What about protein shakes and smoothies?

The joint advisory notes that some people meet their protein target with high-protein shakes and other fortified products.^[2] They are a convenience, not a requirement. Two things to check on the label: the grams of protein per serving, and the added sugars. A smoothie made with milk or yogurt does the same work and you control what goes in.

Thick drinks are still a volume of food. If a full glass sits badly, drink half and come back to the rest an hour later.

What about broth and soup?

Broth is the drink many people reach for on a bad day, and with reason: it is warm, savoury when sweet things are unappealing, and it brings sodium with the fluid. That sodium is the thing to watch on ordinary days. Americans already eat about 3,400 mg a day on average against a limit of 2,300 mg,^[4] and eating a third less food still leaves many people near that limit. Read the label and choose the lower-sodium version as the everyday one.

A soup with lentils, beans or shredded chicken in it is a meal as well as a drink, which is a better use of the same space.

Do tea and coffee count toward fluid?

Both count toward fluid; the National Academies make no exception for caffeine.^[1] The practical caution is not dehydration but timing. Black coffee or strong tea on an empty stomach can be uncomfortable for people prone to reflux, and a cup that replaces breakfast removes an eating occasion from a day that already has too few. Have it with something. Which GLP-1 tablets need a 30-minute wait before coffee, and how much caffeine a cup holds, are in coffee on a GLP-1.

Herbal teas are fluid with almost nothing else in them, which is sometimes the point. The advisory mentions ginger and peppermint tea among the options people use when their stomach is unsettled.^[2] What else to eat and drink on those days is in eating on queasy days. Hot drinks are also simply easier to sip slowly than a cold glass.

Is sparkling water as good as still?

As fluid, sparkling water is the same as still. The difference is the gas, which some people find uncomfortable in a stomach that is emptying more slowly than it used to: these medications delay gastric emptying.^[2] If it causes no trouble, there is no reason to stop. If it does, you will usually know within one glass. More on the foods and drinks that are harder to tolerate in what to eat on a GLP-1.

When do electrolyte drinks and mixes make sense?

Sodium, potassium, magnesium and calcium come mostly from food, so intake falls when food does. For most people regular meals and plain water still cover it. An electrolyte drink earns its place on days when you are eating very little, sweating heavily, or have lost fluid through vomiting or diarrhea. We go through who needs them, and who should not use them without asking, in electrolytes on a GLP-1.

When choosing one, read three things on the panel: how much sugar, how much sodium against that 2,300 mg limit, and which of the four minerals are actually present in printed amounts.

For transparency about our own product: if you want an example to compare against, Zornava Replenish is a lemon-lime mix with sodium, potassium, magnesium and calcium as citrates, a prebiotic fiber and several vitamins, and no sugar, glucose, dextrose or maltodextrin. What each mineral is there for is on our ingredients page.

When you are actually sick

An everyday electrolyte drink is not the right tool for a day of vomiting or diarrhea. An oral rehydration solution is the product designed for that: it is built around sodium and glucose together, because the gut absorbs sodium and water more readily with glucose alongside.^[6] A daily electrolyte mix without glucose is not a substitute for one. Pharmacies sell it ready to drink or as sachets. If you cannot keep fluids down at all, that is a call to your prescriber, not a choice between drinks. The prescribing information for these medications warns of acute kidney injury in people who lost fluid through vomiting or diarrhea.^{[7][8][9][10]}

What about juice, soda and sports drinks?

Sugar-sweetened drinks are on the advisory's list of things to limit.^[2] On a small appetite the cost is less about the sugar itself than about what it displaces: a glass of soda or a sports drink takes up room that milk, soup or food could have used, and brings nothing else with it. Sports drinks are made for long, hard exercise.

Fruit juice sits in between. It has some of the fruit's vitamins and potassium, little of its fiber,^[3] and the fruit's sugar in a form that goes down much faster than the fruit would. A small glass with a meal is a reasonable choice; a large one as a thirst-quencher is not.

Diet sodas do not have the sugar problem, but they share the space problem: they fill a small stomach without adding protein, fiber or minerals.

What about alcohol?

Alcohol is also on the advisory's limit list, and the advisory notes it can make reflux and queasiness worse on GLP-1 therapy.^[2] It also adds calories without protein, fiber or vitamins at a time when every calorie has to carry something. If you drink, have less of it, with food, and not on a day you have barely eaten. Ask your prescriber how it fits with your medication and your dose. What the labels say about drinking, and who should be careful, is in can you drink alcohol on a GLP-1.

Why do drinks matter when you add fiber?

If you are adding fiber, add fluid at the same time. In a two-month trial in adults with chronic constipation, the same 25 g a day of fiber raised stool frequency more in the group that drank about 2 liters of fluid a day than in the group that drank as usual.^[11] Fiber supplements also carry a required warning to take them with enough fluid.^[12] Milk, tea and soup all count toward that fluid. The detail is in fiber and staying regular on a GLP-1.

Who needs different advice?

People taking ACE inhibitors, ARBs or potassium-sparing diuretics, or living with kidney disease, need to be careful with potassium-containing drinks.^[13] People with kidney disease, heart failure or a history of low blood sodium are sometimes told to limit fluid. If that is you, your clinician's numbers replace everything here.

Not sure which part of your intake is slipping on lighter days? Our two-minute quiz sorts it into water, protein, fiber and vitamins.