It’s easy to consume empty calories by drinking sweetened juices or super-sized sodas. Keep an eye on the nutrition labels of the foods and beverages. You might be surprised by how much sugar is hiding!
Here’s how to determine how much sugar a product contains: 4 grams = 1 teaspoon of sugar. Divide the number of grams listed on the label by 4 and that’s how many teaspoons of sugar are in one serving.
For example, one brand of cranberry-apple raspberry flavored juice that says “made with real fruit juice” has 57 grams of sugar in one 15.2 oz. bottle. That’s a little more than 14 teaspoons of sugar (57 divided by 4 = 14.25 tsp)! Also, be sure to check the label to see how much is considered one serving and how many servings are in the container. If it says 2 servings, and you eat or drink the entire container, you’ve consumed 2x the sugar.
Children really only need water and milk. There is no need for anything else. If you want to add variety and fun, use natural flavors by adding cut up cucumber, strawberries, limes or melon to jazz up the taste of water. Avoid flavored milk like strawberry or chocolate milk because those drinks pack in a ton of hidden sugar as well.
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