You Are What You Drink

Americans today drink too many calories and often don’t know it because they don’t consider beverages a food. Why is this a problem? Most of the time our bodies are quite good at regulating intake, that is compensating for when we eat a big lunch by telling us to eat a small dinner or by telling us that we are really hungry after we spend an afternoon being physically active. Unfortunately, beverages, with the exception of milk, don’t trigger the same feeling of fullness or satisfaction that food does. Therefore, we tend to drink beverages high in calories AND have that big dinner, blowing our daily calorie allotment in just 1 or 2 meals.

Recently, a panel of experts reviewed the literature on beverages and health to provide better guidance to consumers. What did they discover? American’s consume about 21% of their calories as beverages with only a fraction of that consumed as milk, a beverage that provides several high quality nutrients. We consume over 200 calories a day in beverages that provide no nutrition, just empty calories. This alone can add over 20 lbs. to the average adult in one year! What’s even more concerning is that children ages 2-18 consume approximately 12% of their calories each day from sugar sweetened beverages, such as soft drinks and fruit drinks (not 100% fruit juice).

So what does the panel recommend for the average adult?

  • Aim to consume no more than 10-14% of daily calories from beverages
  • Aim to consume the vast majority of beverages as water or coffee and tea (without the extras)
  • Aim to consume up to 16 oz of low-fat or skim milk per day
  • Aim to consume no more than 8 oz a day of sugar sweetened beverages or 100% fruit juice per day.

Suggestions for making these guidelines easier to follow:

  • When you are thirsty, drink water
  • Drink low-fat, skim milk or water with meals
  • Think of soda and fruit drinks as “sometimes” food. Do not keep them on hand if they are too tempting to ignore
  • Drink 4 oz. of 100% fruit juice with breakfast as a special treat
  • Don’t like the taste of water?
    • Add a squeeze of lemon or lime to your glass
    • Add a packet of calorie-free, “Crystal Light To Go” to your water bottle
    • Buy carbonated water or calorie-free flavored water

Information obtained from www.beverageguidancepanel.org.