Your Beverage Choice Could Affect Both Your Health and Weight

27/06/07 Obesity continues to be a serious health issue facing millions of Americans. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), it is estimated that 1/3 of Hispanics are considered obese. While most strategies to address our widening waistlines focus on changing what we put on our plates, an analysis of U.S. beverage habits called What America Drinks suggests we should also take a closer look at what’s in our glasses.

The new report suggests that beverage choice may be the forgotten factor in weight management. Specifically, What America Drinks indicates that what we drink may have a powerful impact on what we weigh. The in-depth analysis found that teenagers and adults (ages 14-49) who drank a lot of nutrient poor sugar-sweetened beverages, like soft drinks, fruit-flavored drinks and presweetened teas and little milk tended to weighed more, then their peers who drank more milk and fewer sugary beverages less, regardless of calories. Milk drinkers also had better quality diets that were richer in nutrients.

Claudia Gonzalez, a renowned certified Hispanic nutritionist and author of the book “Gordito Doesn’t Mean Healthy”, explains: “Given the high obesity rates among Hispanics and the reality that they are predisposed to certain diseases like diabetes and heart problems, it becomes essential to educate them about the importance of looking more closely at the beverages they intake.”

Drinking milk is an important part of a healthy diet and may help promote a healthy weight. By reducing calories and increasing your physical activity, along with following the government’s advice for consuming adequate amounts of healthy foods like lowfat and fat free milk, you may be more likely to maintain a healthy weight.

Chicago Weighs Beverage Choices

To urge Americans to think about their drink, the milk industry has teamed up with dietitians and school nutrition professionals to promote healthier beverage choices, a message being spread from coast-to-coast via the Think About Your Drink Tour, a 75-city grassroots initiative stopping in Chicago from June 13-17, 2007.

While in town, the Think About Your Drink Tour will host a series of free events aimed at shining the spotlight on the fact that choosing nutrient-rich beverages like lowfat milk instead of nutrient-poor, sugar-sweetened beverages like soft drinks may be a key strategy to help fight obesity. At events, visitors can:

-- Receive a personalized analysis of daily beverage habits.
-- Speak with a registered dietitian who can explain how nutrient-rich beverages may help maintain a healthy weight.
-- Sign up for the Think About Your Drink Challenge pledging to drink 24 ounces of lowfat or fat free milk every 24 hours and have a chance to enter Chicago’ own Think About Your Drink Sweepstakes to win some fun got milk? prizes.
-- Get exercise tips from representatives of Curves International, the leader in women’s fitness.
-- Sample lowfat or fat free milk from Dean, Swiss Valley Farms, Foremost Farms, Kemps, Bareman, Prairie Farms, and Liberty Dairy.
-- Take a souvenir Milk Mustache photo and check out a six-foot glass visual detailing what women, on average, drink each day.
-- Take home “Sabor Latino”, a limited edition recipe booklet filled traditional healthy Hispanic recipes.
-- Obtain home a copy of the “Think About Your Drink” booklet filled with tips from Dra. Aliza and beverage recipes from stars such as Sofia Vergara and Ana Maria Canseco.