Health Tips
Colorado / My Eating Habits / My Sugared Beverage Intake / My Tips & Tools / Tools
I will mix my sugared beverage with 1/2 of no calorie beverage to reduce sugar and calorie content
Following are some ways to mix sugared beverages to reduce the amount of sugar and calories:
- Mix 6 oz. of regular soda with 6 oz. of diet soda
- Mix 4 oz. of fruit juice with 4 oz. of seltzer water or club soda
- Mix 6 oz. of sweetened tea with 6 oz. of unsweetened tea
- Mix 6 oz. of sweetened lemonade with 6 oz. of unsweetened tea
- Mix 6 oz. of sweetened lemonade with 6 oz. of unsweetened lemonade
Sweeteners that add calories to a beverage go by many different names and are not always obvious to anyone looking at the ingredients list. Some common caloric sweeteners are listed below. If these appear in the ingredients list of your favorite beverage, you are drinking a sugar-sweetened beverage.
- High-fructose corn syrup
- Fructose
- Fruit juice concentrates
- Honey
- Sugar
- Syrup
- Corn syrup
- Sucrose
- Dextrose
| Occasion | Instead of… | Calories | Try… | Calories |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Morning coffee shop run | Medium café latte (16 ounces) made with whole milk | 265 | Small café latte (12 ounces) made with fat-free milk | 125 |
| Lunchtime combo meal | 20-oz. bottle of regular cola with your lunch | 227 | Bottle of water or diet soda | 0 |
| Afternoon break | Sweetened lemon iced tea from the vending machine (16 ounces) | 180 | Sparkling water with natural lemon flavor (not sweetened) or diet soda | 0 |
| Dinnertime | A glass of soda with your meal (12 ounces) | 124 | Water with a slice of lemon or lime, or seltzer water with a splash of 100% fruit juice | 0 calories for the water with fruit slice, or about 30 calories for seltzer water with 2 ounces of 100% orange juice. |
| Total beverage calories: | 796 | 125-155 | ||
| (USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference) Substituting no- or low-calorie drinks for sugar-sweetened beverages cuts about 650 calories in the example above. | ||||