Empty Sugary Beverages

Nix soft drinks from the house: Drinking just one sugary beverage a day increases a child’s risk of becoming obese by 60 percent. Soda and soft drinks may seem like an innocuous treat — after all, they are fat-free. But a 12-ounce can of Coke has almost three times as much sugar as a serving of Oreos. According to research conducted at Children’s Hospital in Boston and the Harvard School of Public Health, most adolescents drink soft drinks daily, with boys averaging 20 ounces a day. That, says lead researcher David S. Ludwig, MD, PhD, director of the obesity program at Children’s Hospital, amounts to 15 to 20 teaspoons of sugar a day, just from soda, fruit punch and other sugar-sweetened beverages. Since calories from drinks don’t fill us up, we tend not to cut back on calories elsewhere. That can lead to weight gain. Wean yourself and your family off soda with fruit-juice-sweetened seltzer.