Are You Pouring On The Pounds?

In a recent NYC Department of Health campaign they ask, “Are You Pouring On The Pounds”? The campaign is to increase public awareness that healthy weight loss and weight maintenance depends not only on what you are eating, but also on what you are drinking. For instance, did you know that the typical cola contains 16 1/2 teaspoons of sugar? That’s 260 calories! And some people drink several cola’s per day, especially children who love that caramel sweet taste. Now to get a visual of 16 1/2 teaspoons check out the poster that the DOH hung all over the city.

If that isn’t scary enough allow me to present you with an even better visual aid in the form of a home, school or office project. Take a small bowl and spoon out 16 1/2 measured teaspoons of sugar onto it. When you literally SEE how much sugar piles up it will blow your mind. Humm, that reminds me of the scene in Super Size Me when they measured out all the sugar Morgan Spurlock ate in one month while eating every single meal only at McDonald’s. He ate 30 pounds of sugar. In one month. Yikes! That is about one pound of sugar per day. Much of that sugar came from the all the cola he drank.

Anyhoo, don’t go thinking that you can switch yourself or the kids over to drinking apple juice because there are 13 teaspoons of sugar in that juice. That’s right I said it, THIRTEEN teaspoons of sugar in apple JUICE. It drives me nuts when I see parents filling up their toddlers bottles and sippy cups with juices. And they wonder why their kids are hyperactive, over-weight and Type 2 diabetics. It all boils down to over consumption of sugar. If you are bored with plain water, then you can add a splash of juice for flavor.

Oh and that Orange Delight Drink the DOH mentions on the poster is also known as Sunny-Delight. Sunny-D is NOT juice as many parents believe. It only contains 5% juice. The rest of the ingredients include water, high fructose corn syrup, yellow dyes # 5 AND #6 and something else I can hardly pronounce, called SODIUM HEXAMETAPHOSPHATE.  What the hec is that??? I looked it up. Okay are you sitting down? Are you ready for this? According to Chemicaland21.com Sodium Hexametaphosphate is an inorganic (chemical) product used as a seqestering agent. It is used in the industry of soap, detergents, water treatment, metal finishing and plating, pulp and paper manufacture, synthesis of polymers, photographic products, textiles, scale removal and agriculture. According to ScienceLab.com’s MSDS sheet on the chemical it “May cause gastrointestinal tract irritation with nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. May affect behavior/central nervous system/peripherial nervous system (somnolence, convulsions, lethargy, flaccid paralysis), urinary system (kidneys- renal failure, acute tubular necrosis). It may also cause heart disturbances (fall in blood pressure, slow pulse) and blood chemistry effects (reduction of serum level of calcium). The toxicity of phosphates is because of their ability to sequester calcium. Systemic metabolic acidosis may result as this material is believed to be hydrolyzed to ortho phosphates when ingested (before absorption). Tetany may also occur as a result of reduction in serum level of ionic calcium”.

As far as I am concerned there is no redeeming quality in Sunny-D, even if the commercials want to tell me that the product will make my life as a mother oh-so much more convenient on hectic school day mornings. I am not believing their lies that Sunny-D is a healthy choice for my kids. I mean they want me to believe that feeding my son 12 1/2 teaspoons of sugar before school is going to keep him healthy and make him smarter in school. Pleeeeeease. Sure it contains 100% Vitamin C but weigh that against the 12 1/2 teaspoons of sugar and the sodium hexametaphosphate (among other chemicals) and I’ll stick with giving my kid a fresh whole orange to get his daily dose of C, thank you very much. Okay so let me get off of my sunny soap box.

So the NYC Department of Health kindly gave www.optionsforweightloss.com permission to reprint their press release. Great job of of getting the word out NYC DOH. And good job of all you readers who rid these junk drinks from your diet. Think before you drink!

New Campaign Asks New Yorkers if They’re “Pouring On the Pounds”

Health Department encourages consumers to choose beverages with less sugar

It’s hard to overeat without noticing it. By contrast, soda and other sugar-sweetened beverages can sneak up on you, adding hundreds of calories to your diet each day without ever filling you up. In a new effort to highlight the health impact of sweetened drinks, the Health Department is confronting New Yorkers with a bold question: Are you pouring on the pounds? The agency’s new public-awareness campaign, which includes posters in the subway system and a multilingual Health Bulletin, goes live today and will run for three months.

The campaign’s signature image – in which a bottle of soda, “sports” drink or sweetened iced tea turns to a blob of fat as it reaches the glass – is s a stark reminder of how these products can lead to obesity and related health problems. The ads urge New Yorkers to cut back on sugary beverages and quench their thirst with water, seltzer or low-fat milk instead. Many people may stir a teaspoon or two of sugar into their coffee, but few realize that a 20-ounce bottle of soda can contain 16 ½ teaspoons of sugar.

“Sugary drinks shouldn’t be a part of our everyday diet,” said New York City Health Commissioner Thomas A. Farley. “Drinking beverages loaded with sugars increases the risk of obesity and associated problems, particularly diabetes but also heart disease, stroke, arthritis and cancer.”

On average, Americans now consume 200 to 300 more calories each day than we did 30 years ago. Nearly half of these extra calories come from sugar-sweetened drinks. When Health Department researchers surveyed adult New Yorkers about their consumption of soda and other sweetened drinks, the findings showed that more than 2 million drink at least one sugar-sweetened soda or other sweetened beverage each day – at as much as 250 calories a pop. Daily consumption was highest among Bronx residents, followed by residents of Staten Island, Brooklyn, Queens and Manhattan. Sweetened-beverage consumption is higher among men than among women, and especially prevalent among 18- to 44-year-olds and among adult blacks and Hispanics.

Like Bronx adults, Bronx teens reported high intake of sugary drinks. When public high school students were asked whether they drank at least one soda a day over the course of a week, the proportion answering “yes” was 29% in the Bronx, followed by Staten Island (25%), Queens (23%), Brooklyn (22%) and Manhattan (21%). Teens who drink sugary beverages get an average of 360 calories from them each day – an amount they would have to walk 70 city blocks to burn.

Rething Your Drink

It’s no secret that soft drinks have gotten bigger over the years. Soda used to come in 6.5-ounce bottles. Today, 12-ounce cans are considered small and 20-ounce bottles are typical. A single super-sized soda can pack as many calories as three to four regular cans of soda.

Fruit juice is more nutritious than soda, and rarely consumed in such large portions, but it is just as rich in calories. Whole fruit has fewer calories and has plenty of fiber.

The Health Department advises parents not to serve their kids punch, fruit-flavored drinks or “sports” and “energy” drinks. Most of them are low in nutrients and high in empty calories. The best way to stay hydrated while exercising is to drink water. Coffee and tea drinks also pack more calories than many consumers realize. New Yorkers are often surprised when they see how many calories are listed on menu boards for these popular drinks.

The Health Department recommends these simple strategies to avoid pouring on the pounds: If you drink coffee or tea, order it plain and flavor it yourself. If you order a sugar-sweetened beverage, ask for a “small.” When you shop for beverages, read the labels and choose products with fewer than 25 calories per 8-ounce serving. And if you enjoy sugar-sweetened beverages, make them an occasional treat and not a daily staple.

“When people count calories, they too often forget to include the liquid ones, said Cathy Nonas, director of the Health Department’s Physical Activity and Nutrition Programs. “We need to start thinking of the sugar in sweetened drinks as unwanted, wasted calories. These calories provide no nutritional benefits and can lead to weight gain. Water and other zero-calorie beverages are a better choice.”

Data on the consumption of soda and sweetened-beverages comes from the Health Department’s 2007 Community Health Survey and Youth Risk Behavior Survey. For more information, New Yorkers can go to http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/html/cdp/cdp_pan.shtml or call 311.

Juliette Aiyana has an appetite for yummy, healthy and balanced meals several times per day. Her love for food, for writing, for cooking and for Chinese medicine led her to author her first book, Chinese Medicine & Healthy Weight Management An Evidence-based Integrated Approach (Blue Poppy Press, 2007). She is an acupuncturist, herbalist, workshop instructor, wife and mother. Her private practice, Aiyana Acupuncture & Chinese Herbs, is located in New York City. To read more of her articles visit her website and related blog at www.amazinghealing.com.