Sweetened beverages

Many sweetened drinks are high in calories and can cause weight gain, even in active people. If you feel like drinking something sweet, try to choose a beverage that is made with non-nutritive (or sugar-free) sweeteners. You can also add flavor to plain water or seltzer with fresh fruits or a splash of fruit juice.

Sweetened Drinks

Drinking a lot of sugar-sweetened beverages can cause you to gain extra pounds. Even though these drinks are just liquid, they can add a lot of calories to your diet. And, because liquids do not fill you up as much as solid foods do, you probably will not eat any less at your next meal. Examples of the calories in some popular sweetened drinks are:

• A 16-ounce (480 ml) latte with whole milk has 220 calories.
• A 20-ounce (600 ml) bottle of non-diet soda has 220 calories.
• A 16-ounce (480 ml) glass of sweetened ice tea has 144 calories.
• A 16-ounce (480 ml) Hawaiian Punch has 120 calories.
• A 16-ounce (480 ml) Ocean Spray Cran-Apple juice has 308 calories.
• A 16-ounce (480 ml) sports drink has 180 calories.

The 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines recommend limiting added sugars to less than 10% of your daily calories. Read the ingredients and watch out for drinks that are high in sugar. Sugar can go by many names, including:

• Corn syrup
• Dextrose
• Fructose
• High fructose corn syrup
• Honey
• Syrup
• Agave syrup
• Brown rice syrup
• Molasses
• Evaporated cane juice

How About Fruit Juice?

Fruits contain many important vitamins and other nutrients, but drinking too much fruit juice can be unhealthy and can lead to weight gain.

A 12-ounce (360 ml) serving of orange juice has about 170 calories. If you are already getting enough calories from the other foods you eat, an extra 170 calories a day can add up to 12 to 15 pounds (5.4 to 6.75 kg) a year.

If you like to drink juice, consider diluting it with water. Try to limit juice to 8 ounces (240 ml) or less per day. Whole fruits are a better choice than fruit juices.

Watch out for Those Coffee Drinks!

Coffee drinks you have on the way to work and during coffee breaks can add plenty of extra calories and saturated fat, more often if you buy ones that have flavored syrups, whipped cream, or half-and-half added. They can cause major weight gain.

All of these examples are for 16-ounce (480 ml) drinks. You can buy these drinks in smaller and larger sizes, too:

• A flavored Frappuccino has more than 250 calories. With whipped cream, it has over 400 calories.
• A nonfat mocha has 250 calories. With whipped cream, it has 320 calories.
• A mocha made with whole milk and whipped cream has 400 calories.
• A latte made with whole milk has 220 calories. With 1 flavor added, it has 290 calories.
• A hot chocolate made with 2% milk has 320 calories. With whipped cream added, it has 400 calories.

An unsweetened latte made with skim milk would be a healthy choice.

Healthier Coffee Choices

Order regular coffee and add only nonfat or 1% milk or a fat-free or low-fat latte. Use a sugar substitute if you like your coffee sweet.

If you have a special coffee drink now and then, following these tips will cut down on the calories:

• Order the smallest size available. Skip the whipped cream on a mocha or hot chocolate and save about 100 calories.
• Flavoring adds about 50 calories per tablespoon. Skip it if you can, or ask the server to use only half as much.

What You Could Drink Instead

Skim or low-fat milk are healthy choices. You can also choose drinks that have 5 calories or less per serving.

Some choices that have 0 calories are:

• Water
• Diet soda
• Sparkling water with natural flavors, such as lemon, lime, and berry
• Plain coffee or tea