Drinks: Quench Your Thirst Without Gaining Weight

Staggering Statistics

You may decide to shake up your beverage choices after totaling the calories and carbohydrates. Like Jerry Murris, 52 and type 2, of Fairfax, Virginia, you may find your drinks have more calories and carbs than you expect. "I changed my ways lickety-split," Jerry says. The results? He shed pounds, plus his blood glucose levels dropped toward normal. You may be able to achieve this too, just by changing to lower calorie and sugar-free beverages.

A team of obesity experts formed as a Beverage Guidance Panel reports that American adults consume an average of 230 calories from beverages daily. Worse, nearly half drink 500 calories a day. In 1977, Americans consumed two calorie-sweetened beverages each day. By 1996, the number of portions rose to 2.5. That's more calories from beverages each day, especially because portion sizes during the same time period grew from 14 ounces to 21 ounces.

Barry Popkin, Ph.D., a professor of nutrition and coauthor of the proposed beverage guidance system, blames this increase on the growing number of liquid high-calorie options that are now available at take-out windows, supermarkets, and convenience stores.

"This greater, grander array of calorie-containing beverages is one strong factor underlying our obesity epidemic and the closely related higher incidence of type 2 diabetes," he says.