Children today are exposed to a variety of beverage choices. Beverage calories can add up and don’t contribute to a sense of fullness like food. Children and teens are the biggest consumers of soft drinks. Soda accounts for more than 27% of American children’s beverage consumption and therefore a good percentage of their daily calories. There are 97 calories in 8 oz of soda and most sodas come in 20 oz bottle offering 250 calories per bottle. Juice drinks are popular as well and have the same amount of calories per ounce as soda!
A recommended beverage choice for children and teens is milk. Milk is the most excellent beverage choice for meals or snacks because it helps children meet their requirements for calcium and each cup has 8 grams of protein as well. There are 80 calories in 1 cup of skim milk and 120 calories in 1 cup of low fat milk. Sometimes children are not big fans of milk but will drink low-fat chocolate milk which ends up being 151 calories. You can save calories by buying 1% or skim milk and adding sugar-free chocolate syrup to the milk to flavor it.
Other beverage choices are water or 100% juice. These are also better choices then soda or high sugar juice drinks. Children need plenty of water, especially after any physical activity. Daily water recommendation for children is have half their body weight in water. For example, a child that weighs 65 pounds should have 32.5 ounces of water per day. 100% juices are packed with vitamins but have a significant number of calories so the recommendation for children is limited to just 1 serving (8 oz) per day.
What can you do to keep beverage calories to a minimum for you and your family? Buy only 100% juice and low-fat or skim milk for the household. Limit sodas for special occasions only. Dilute juices to increase the volume and not the calories. Encourage children to drink water to quench thirst instead of caloric beverages.
Rebecca Mohning
