Are you Pouring on the Pounds?

Are Sugary Beverages Sabotaging Your Weight Loss?

Its easy to overlook the caloric impact of many of the drinks we consume. Sugary beverages are being blamed for the current childhood obesity epidemic and the country is considering a tax on all sugary drinks, specifically soda. The average soda contains 35 grams of sugar. Thats almost 10 tablespoons or 10 packets of sugar! A soda from time to time will not kill you, but for many Americans, its a staple in their diet. We cant just blame soda however, juice is no better. There are better ways to get vitamins and antioxidants than starting your day with a fruit flavored suspension of sugar.

Many of the popular sports drinks are misguiding too. Unless you are exercising for over an hour, you do not need to be consuming extra sugar to get through your workout. Not to mention many of these beverages have substituted pure sugar for high fructose corn syrup. They are really sodas without the carbonation, disguised as a performance enhancing product. Start substituting water, tea, and low fat milk with these high sugar drinks and watch the pounds start dropping.

The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene is doing something about it. With a "tell it like it is" add assault on sugary beverages, encouraging consumers to purchase drinks with less sugar.

Douglas Robb from Health Habits wrote about some alarming facts on sugar and insulin resistance.

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