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Thursday, Nov. 05, 2009

Be wary of liquid calories hidden in drinks

People in today’s world seem to fight the battle of the bulge constantly. The unseemly culprit of the creeping bulge can often be attributed to the liquids we consume.

You may be making smart eating choices and maybe even exercising some. Yet that pesky scale shows that you’ve gained a pound!

Does that seem impossible? Sometimes the extra calories we consume don’t come from the food that’s eaten but from the beverages that you drink. All of those frothy coffee drinks, sparkling sodas and smoothies can quickly add up to a full day’s allotment of calories and turn into unwanted pounds.

Be aware of the hidden calories in your favorite beverages and choose or prepare them wisely. You have plenty of options for reducing the number of calories in what you chose to drink.

Let’s take a look at some of the popular beverages that adults choose to drink.

The nutritious sounding strawberry banana smoothie purchased at the drive-through can have anywhere between 440 and 550 calories. For people who only need 1,600 to 2,000 calories a day that’s one-fourth of their daily calorie needs.

If you make a mid-morning run for a cafe latte with whole milk and syrup flavor, you have just consumed 365 calories. If you instead chose a mocha frappucino with whipped cream, the calorie count is 310 calories. A cocktail of vodka and cranberry juice would cost you 250 calories. Even a 12-ounce soft drink packs 110 calories.

Just think if you drank each of these drinks in one day you could easily consume more than 1,600 calories. And all 1,600 calories are liquid, you haven’t eaten a thing.

There are reduced-calorie choices for the beverages just mentioned. You could make your own smoothie with fruit, juice and plain nonfat yogurt. Substitute the cafe latte with one made with fat-free milk and sugar-free syrup. Rather than drinking a regular soft drink, try a diet soft drink.

Southerners love their sweet tea. You can still drink your tea sweet by choosing to use an artificial sweetener rather than sugar.

There are many different artificial sweeteners on the market.

Try one of the new ones if you didn’t care for the ones that have been on the market for a while. It is recommended that you use two forms of sweetener for a sweeter product.

You can use less of both sweeteners to come up with a sweeter product. You can use one artificial sweetener and add about a tablespoon of sugar to a pitcher of tea. Just the combination of the two sweeteners will make the tea sweeter and cut the “artificial” taste.

Just by switching to a lower calorie beverage you can cut your calorie intake significantly.

Research reveals that you can lose about 4 pounds in six to eight months just by changing your daily soft drink to a diet drink.

Those liquid calories not only affect an adult’s weight but they also affect that of children.

There is a definite link between sugar-sweetened drinks and weight gain in children and teens.

It’s no wonder why: Many beverages including soft drinks, sports drinks and punches have a lot of added sugar.

By helping your children cut back on sugary drinks, you can help them cut calories. You will also help them develop healthier nutritional habits.

Cutting calories along with adding physical activity is a key in slowing down the rate of weight gain. For overweight children, slowing the rate of weight gain gives their bodies a chance to catch up with their weight as they grow.

Try some of these beverage alternatives with your children.

Ÿ Water: Just plain water works. You can add the fruit flavored mixes that are no calorie. For young children, use fun shaped cups or containers.

Ÿ Seltzer: Plain, pre-flavored, or mixed with unsweetened juice.

Ÿ Lemonade or fruit drinks made with no-calorie sweeteners instead of sugar.

Ÿ Nonfat or low-fat milk (for children 2 and older), which provides calcium, protein and vitamin D. Children 2 to 8 years old should have 2 cups of nonfat/low-fat milk or dairy products each day; children 9 years and older should have 3 cups daily.

Ÿ Win your children over to low-sugar drinks. Children drink what’s handy, so don’t stock the sugary stuff. Keep the low-sugar drinks on hand.

Give them choices so they won’t feel deprived: bottled water, sugar-free lemonade, nonfat/low-fat milk, iced tea flavored with no calorie sweetener.

Take the children to the grocery store and let them pick their choice of no-calorie or low-calorie drinks.

Ÿ Though juice boxes are a quick and convenient drink for young children, consider other beverage choices.

Choose only 100 percent fruit juices and look for those fortified with fiber and calcium. Stay within the 4 to 6 ounce limit per day for children ages 1 to 6 and 8 to 12 ounces daily for those 7 to 18.

Avoid juices at least two hours before meal times. When children fill up on juice, they have less room for healthy foods. If your children drink a lot of juice, mix it with a small amount of water; every few days, use more water and less juice.

Jan Baggarly is Bibb County Extension Coordinator with the University of Georgia Cooperative Extension working in the field of Family and Consumer Sciences.