Tip 24: Cut Out the Sweetened Soft Drinks

Want an easy way to reduce your daily calories and turn toward a healthier lifestyle?  Cut out or limit your sweetened soft drinks.  Sweetened soft drinks are addictive to most of us--we drink them for a few days, then we want more soft drinks more frequently.  Market analysis supports the idea that we are drinking more.  According to the National Soft Drink Association (NSDA), consumption of soft drinks is now more than 600 12-ounce servings per person per year!  Since the late 1970s soft drink consumption in the United States has doubled for females and tripled for males. The highest consumption is in males between the ages of 12 - 29; they average a half gallon a day or 160 gallons a year. 

Ironically, even "the real thing" does not contain real good calories.  Sweetened soft drinks are high in non-nutritive calories and are often sweetened with high fructose corn syrup.  Some investigators have concluded that these drinks contribute to the growing epidemic of childhood obesity in our country.  A Princeton study has shown that long-term consumption of high fructose corn syrup leads to abnormal increases in body fat, especially around the abdomen. The relationship between soft drink consumption and body weight is so strong that researchers calculate that each additional soft drink consumed daily increases the risk of obesity 1.6 times.  Drinking soft drinks may be harmful to your heart as well.  According to a new study published in Circulation, the Journal of the American Heart Association, "Drinking one or more carbonated beverages per day may increase your risk of developing cardiovascular disease.”

So what should you drink instead?  Water would be best.  Milk or fruit juices are reasonable choices as well.  If you savor the bubbles of a carbonated beverage, but don’t care for plain water, add a splash of lemon or orange juice to carbonated water and enjoy.