Probably the single biggest contributor to obesity for many of us is because we drink sugared beverages rather than water. This trend started because of eating more of our meals away from home where the restaurant and fast food establishments encourage us to order a beverage with our food. Sugared drinks cost only a few pennies to make, so restaurants make a lot of money by selling them to us. Servers are told to ask us, “And what would you like to drink with that?” Of course, the answer should be “water”, but it rarely is. It is usually a carbonated sugar drink. Now we have gotten so used to drinking candy-flavored water that more than half of all sugar drinks are bought at the store and consumed at home, while just over a third of the total sugar drinks are consumed in restaurants or fast food places.
One cup (8 ounces; 0.24 liters) of sweetened soft drink like Coca-cola or Pepsi contains about 28 grams or 6 1/2 tsp of sugar and 112 calories. On average, when people order a soft drink, they don’t drink 8 ounces; they drink 21 ounces, which contains about 73 grams or 17.4 tsp of sugar and 292 calories. For comparison, a 2-ounce Snickers candy bar contains 266 calories. Ten milk chocolate Hershey’s kisses contain 222 calories. One piece of Brach’s butterscotch hard candy contains 23 calories. A roll of Smarties candy contains 25 calories. So in the last 150 years we have gone from using sugar as an expensive spice, to needing the equivalent of 10 to 12 pieces of candy with every meal just to flavor our water. If you would not allow yourself to eat a large candy bar with every meal, why is it okay to consume the same amount of sugar and calories in our drinks? Imagine if parents fifty years ago, feeding their children at home, told their children to not drink their water until they had stirred in more than two tablespoons of sugar into the cup. The idea would be absurd. But since soft drink companies mix in the sugar for us, it is now our normal behavior. Remember this when you order a soda with your meal. You are really ordering a drink of candy water, and not just one piece of candy, but equal to 1 piece of candy for every 2 ounces of your drink.
I meet many adults and children who say they “don’t drink water”, usually because they dislike the taste. Instead they drink soda or sugared juice or other sweetened drink. A recent patient in his 30s who works as a local delivery driver weighs 355 pounds. He has gained over 100 pounds in the last 10 years, and 25 pounds since I last saw him six months ago. He could not understand why he was gaining so much weight. To gain 26 pounds of fat in 6 months, he had an excess calorie intake of about 500 calories per day. On further questioning, he drank at least six 12-ounce cans of Coke every day. A 12-ounce can of Coke or other soft drink contains about 140 calories each. So drinking 6 cans per day gives him an extra 840 calories every day. This is easily enough extra calories to explain his gradual weight gain.
In the United States, we drink five times as many soft drinks now as we did 50 years ago. “Soft drinks” include carbonated sodas as well as other sweetened drinks such as fruit drinks, sport drinks, energy drinks, lemonade and sweetened tea. In 1940, just over 5 ½ gallons (21 liters) of soft drinks per person were produced each year in the United States. By 2000 production had increased to 37 ½ gallons (142 liters) per person per year. Since the mid 1970s, the number of calories we get from sweetened soft drinks has almost tripled and now equals about 7 percent of all the calories adults consume in a day, and more than one out of every ten calories that children and adolescents consume every day. Approximately half of the population consumes sugar drinks on any given day. About one out of every three carbohydrate calories we consume are from sugar and sweeteners, and about half of the sugars and sweeteners are in our drinks.
Eating and drinking are two different behaviors controlled by different internal triggers. Thirst is triggered by low blood volume and too many dissolved sodium and electrolytes in our blood. Hunger has many complex internal controls. There is a complex relationship between food and fluid intake. For example, we tend to eat less when we are thirsty. But drinking is not a very effective way to reduce hunger. This is partly because liquids very quickly pass through your stomach. Stomach stretching plays a large role in our feelings of fullness and liquids do not stick around long enough to stretch your stomach.
We do not feel like we have had anything to eat when we drink calories. This means that we feel just as hungry as if we did not drink them, and we still eat just as much food as we would have if we had drunk only water. In fact, some studies found that we actually eat more food (about 17%) when we also drink soft drinks. This may be because drinking soft drinks actually makes us feel hungrier (due to large release of insulin causing rapid drop in blood glucose). Or it may be because when we are used to the sugary flavor of soft drinks we expect a higher level of sweetness in our food, which leads us to eat more sweets (which may explain why we gain weight even when we only drink sweet flavored “diet” drinks). You would be better off if you were to place 13 Hershey’s kisses beside your water and eat them with every meal than you are drinking the same number of calories in a 21-ounce soft drink. This is because the candy would contribute to your feeling of fullness and cause you to eat less food during the meal, but not when you drink the sugar in your water.
The more sweetened beverages you drink, the more likely you are to be overweight or obese. The World Health Organization has calculated that each can or glass of sugar-sweetened drink that you consume each day increases your risk of becoming obese by 60%.
Calorie containing beverages are probably the biggest single cause of the obesity epidemic. If you are serious about losing weight, you should accept the fact that obesity and drinking calorie-containing liquids occur together. When you are thirsty, drink water. Some large beverage corporations and their stockholders won’t like it, but your body will thank you.
One cup (8 ounces; 0.24 liters) of sweetened soft drink like Coca-cola or Pepsi contains about 28 grams or 6 1/2 tsp of sugar and 112 calories. On average, when people order a soft drink, they don’t drink 8 ounces; they drink 21 ounces, which contains about 73 grams or 17.4 tsp of sugar and 292 calories. For comparison, a 2-ounce Snickers candy bar contains 266 calories. Ten milk chocolate Hershey’s kisses contain 222 calories. One piece of Brach’s butterscotch hard candy contains 23 calories. A roll of Smarties candy contains 25 calories. So in the last 150 years we have gone from using sugar as an expensive spice, to needing the equivalent of 10 to 12 pieces of candy with every meal just to flavor our water. If you would not allow yourself to eat a large candy bar with every meal, why is it okay to consume the same amount of sugar and calories in our drinks? Imagine if parents fifty years ago, feeding their children at home, told their children to not drink their water until they had stirred in more than two tablespoons of sugar into the cup. The idea would be absurd. But since soft drink companies mix in the sugar for us, it is now our normal behavior. Remember this when you order a soda with your meal. You are really ordering a drink of candy water, and not just one piece of candy, but equal to 1 piece of candy for every 2 ounces of your drink.
I meet many adults and children who say they “don’t drink water”, usually because they dislike the taste. Instead they drink soda or sugared juice or other sweetened drink. A recent patient in his 30s who works as a local delivery driver weighs 355 pounds. He has gained over 100 pounds in the last 10 years, and 25 pounds since I last saw him six months ago. He could not understand why he was gaining so much weight. To gain 26 pounds of fat in 6 months, he had an excess calorie intake of about 500 calories per day. On further questioning, he drank at least six 12-ounce cans of Coke every day. A 12-ounce can of Coke or other soft drink contains about 140 calories each. So drinking 6 cans per day gives him an extra 840 calories every day. This is easily enough extra calories to explain his gradual weight gain.
In the United States, we drink five times as many soft drinks now as we did 50 years ago. “Soft drinks” include carbonated sodas as well as other sweetened drinks such as fruit drinks, sport drinks, energy drinks, lemonade and sweetened tea. In 1940, just over 5 ½ gallons (21 liters) of soft drinks per person were produced each year in the United States. By 2000 production had increased to 37 ½ gallons (142 liters) per person per year. Since the mid 1970s, the number of calories we get from sweetened soft drinks has almost tripled and now equals about 7 percent of all the calories adults consume in a day, and more than one out of every ten calories that children and adolescents consume every day. Approximately half of the population consumes sugar drinks on any given day. About one out of every three carbohydrate calories we consume are from sugar and sweeteners, and about half of the sugars and sweeteners are in our drinks.
Eating and drinking are two different behaviors controlled by different internal triggers. Thirst is triggered by low blood volume and too many dissolved sodium and electrolytes in our blood. Hunger has many complex internal controls. There is a complex relationship between food and fluid intake. For example, we tend to eat less when we are thirsty. But drinking is not a very effective way to reduce hunger. This is partly because liquids very quickly pass through your stomach. Stomach stretching plays a large role in our feelings of fullness and liquids do not stick around long enough to stretch your stomach.
We do not feel like we have had anything to eat when we drink calories. This means that we feel just as hungry as if we did not drink them, and we still eat just as much food as we would have if we had drunk only water. In fact, some studies found that we actually eat more food (about 17%) when we also drink soft drinks. This may be because drinking soft drinks actually makes us feel hungrier (due to large release of insulin causing rapid drop in blood glucose). Or it may be because when we are used to the sugary flavor of soft drinks we expect a higher level of sweetness in our food, which leads us to eat more sweets (which may explain why we gain weight even when we only drink sweet flavored “diet” drinks). You would be better off if you were to place 13 Hershey’s kisses beside your water and eat them with every meal than you are drinking the same number of calories in a 21-ounce soft drink. This is because the candy would contribute to your feeling of fullness and cause you to eat less food during the meal, but not when you drink the sugar in your water.
The more sweetened beverages you drink, the more likely you are to be overweight or obese. The World Health Organization has calculated that each can or glass of sugar-sweetened drink that you consume each day increases your risk of becoming obese by 60%.
Calorie containing beverages are probably the biggest single cause of the obesity epidemic. If you are serious about losing weight, you should accept the fact that obesity and drinking calorie-containing liquids occur together. When you are thirsty, drink water. Some large beverage corporations and their stockholders won’t like it, but your body will thank you.