Too many of us think drinks don’t have any impact on our waistline, the hard fact is they do! Drinking your calories is an easy way to give your body too much energy as they often do not make you feel full and make it harder to be a healthy weight. On top of this there is often stacks of added sugar in these drinks which can harm the enamel on your teeth. So what can you do?
Firstly, it is important to know what to look for and how much sugar you should try to limit yourself to each day. It is recommended to have no more than 10% of total daily energy or kilojoules or calories as added sugar. This is the same as 12.5 teaspoons of sugar for a 2000 calorie or 8364 kilojoule diet. So what do you need to drink to get this much sugar? Below is a list of drinks and roughly how many teaspoons of sugar they contain:
• Iced teas (355mls) – 8 teaspoons
• Juice pops (355mls) – 10 teaspoons
• Energy drinks (500mls) – 14 teaspoons
• Speciality Coffee (473mls) – 17 teaspoons
• Sweetened Bubble Tea (500mls) – 21 teaspoons
• Large Slushy (1L) – 24 teaspoons
Sugar can be called other things besides sugar, just to make it more confusing. Reading labels is important and if you see in the ingredients words like brown, cane and beet sugar, high fructose corn syrup, dextrose, fructose, glucose, maltose, sucrose, fruit juice concentrates, honey, molasses, maltodextrin, agave syrup, malt syrup, maple syrup and syrup these all equal sugar! When you look at the back of the nutrition panel, aim for no more than 15g per 100g as well as taking note how high up the list any sugar ingredients are as the ingredients are listed from the most ingredient present to the least.
Ways you can reduce the sugar you drink:
The good news is water contains no teaspoons of sugar! Not only is water important to keep your body functioning optimally but assists in helping a healthy weight as often we mistake hunger for thirst.
There are times when we don’t feel like water and this is completely understandable. Here are some useful tips to help reduce the sugar you drink:
• Try drinking tea with no added sugar or using a natural sweetener such as stevia instead of store bought iced tea which can be loaded with sugar.
• If you drink coffee select a coffee with no added sugar, syrups or whipped cream and try adding cinnamon or nutmeg for flavour or sweetness instead.
• Try sparkling mineral water with some lemon and mint leaves to add flavour instead of water with added powdered drink mix or cordial.
• Choose plain milk or soy drinks over sugar drinks or flavoured milks.
• Limit your juice intake to a maximum of 125mls (half a cup) of 100% fruit juice with no added sugar a day. Juice can contain almost as much sugar as soft drinks and often without a lot of the beneficial nutrient whole fruit provides your body.
Take home message: Knowledge is power and by limiting the added sugar in your diet your health will thank you.
References:
1. Ageing AGDoHa. Understanding Food Labels Australia: Australian Government; 2017 [updated 2015; cited 2017 28/02/2017]. Available from: www.eatforhealth.gov.au.
2. McMichael AJ. Food, nutrition, physical activity and cancer prevention. Authoritative report from World Cancer Research Fund provides global update. Public Health Nutrition. 2008;11(7):762-3.
3. Canada Do. Sugary Drinks Sense Canada: British Columbia Ministry of Health; 2017 [cited 2017 28/02/2017]. Available from: http://www.dietitians.ca/getattachment/b926d698-86fa-4280-b384-550514741bf5/sugary-drinks-factsheet-collection.pdf.aspx.
