May 25, 2010 The Dregs of All the Drinks
Eat This, Not That! just came out with their list of the 20 Worst Drinks in America 2010. It's going to blow your mind.
You should read the list. But be warned: You’re not going to be happy. (Do you really need to know that the worst drink in America has over 2000 calories and 153 grams of sugar?)
The 20 Worst Drinks in America 2010 is fascinating to read for a couple of reasons. It highlights:
- How big the servings are. More than half the beverages that made the list are sold in containers bigger than 20 ounces. Only 1 drink on the list comes in 12 ounces (and it’s a beer).
- How much sugar the drinks contain. The seven 20-ounce beverages on the list have an average of 75 grams of sugar each. (To put that in perspective, 1/2 cup of Aunt Jemima syrup has only 64 grams of sugar.)
- How no drink category remains unscathed from the effects of added sugar. Even water is sometimes tainted.
You won’t believe how much sugar your kids are consuming with these beverages.
Get this: According to Eat This, Not That! your kids would have to eat 7 bowls of Froot Loops to take in the 81 grams of sugar they get from drinking one 23-ounce can of Arizona Kiwi Strawberry (#12 Worst Juice Imposter).
And each 20-ounce bottle of Tropicana Tropical Fruit Fury Twister (#14 Worst Kids’ Drink) contains as much sugar – 60 grams – as two 7-ounce canisters of Reddi-wip.
If you have small children they’re probably not drinking 23 ounces of anything. But it doesn’t matter how much your kids consume because every sip tastes just as sweet.
And it’s the taste that matters.
Every time you give your kids a sugary beverage you are training their tastebuds. The sweeter the beverage, the sweeter your kids expect everything to be.
Good luck getting your kids to eat broccoli after they’ve sucked down even a small glass of SoBe Green Tea (#19 Worst Bottled Tea). Just 5 ounces (smaller than a medium-sized juice box) has the sugar equivalent of — and tastes as sweet as — one slice of Sara Lee Cherry Pie. (Drinking the whole bottle is equivalent to eating 4 slices, or 1/2 a pie.)
Think regular juice boxes -- apple, grape, punch -- are a better deal?
Ounce for ounce they tend to have more sugar than Coke. Sure, they've been fortified with Vitamin C, and in 4-6 ounce boxes they're a more reasonable size, but it's the sweetness that shapes your kids' habits. So pay attention to how often you give your children sweet flavors and make sure they don't dominate their drinking (or eating) diet.
Read Juice: Apple, Grape, Punch and Coke Beats Juice.
~ Changing the conversation from nutrition to habits. ~
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Source: http://eatthis.menshealth.com/slideshow/20-worst-drinks-america-2010#title accessed 5/24/10; http://www.auntjemima.com/aj_products/syrups/orginal.cfm accessed 5/24/10.
Reader Comments (1)
Bring on the soda tax!