Life is sweeter without sugar.
Every day, millions of kids, teens, and adults drink sugar-filled drinks and think nothing of it. But with sugary drinks now proven to increase the risk of obesity, diabetes, and heart disease, and with obesity an important cause of cancer, we’re on a
mission to change that.
Together, we can kick the sugary drink habit, start drinking water, and #LiveSugarfreed.
Young adults take in about 14% of their calories from added sugars. The single largest source of added sugars is sugary drinks.
Obesity increases your risk of many types of cancer.
Sugary drinks cause cavities, which can make you lose your teeth.
Drinking one or more 12-ounce sugary drinks per day increases your risk of becoming obese by 31%.
In the Tri-Cities area in 2015, adults age 18-45 drink an average of 1.7 sugary drinks per day.
One in seven (14%) drinks four or more sugary drinks per day.
The average young adult drinks one to two sugary drinks a day. That adds up to 68 pounds of sugar a year.
Each additional 12-ounce serving of sugary drinks per day increases your risk of heart disease by 17%.
Drinking just one or more sugary drinks per day increases your risk of developing type 2 diabetes by 26%.
It's not just soda: fruit drinks, sports drinks, "energy" drinks, and sweet tea also contain large amounts of sugar.
One 20-ounce bottle of soda contains the equivalent of 16 teaspoons of sugar.
One in eight adults in Tennessee is diagnosed with diabetes.
In 2013, 68% of adults in Tennessee were overweight,
including 34% who were obese.
In 1996, 17% were obese.
We know you’ve heard it before. But it’s the best thing you can put in your body. It quenches thirst, helps you avoid gaining weight, and it falls out of the sky for free.
Ok, so maybe drinking nothing but water is best, but we’re not monks. There are alternatives to sugar-filled sodas and fruit drinks chock full of sugar. Try some low calorie offerings like flavored waters, unsweet tea and if you must, diet sodas.
Take five minutes and look at the nutrient labels of your favorite sugar-filled drinks. You’ll be floored at just how many calories from sugar you’re swigging down.
Nothing has a bigger impact than your friends and family. The question is, will you affect them or will you let them define you? Recruit some of your closest allies to #LiveSugarfreed with you, and it’ll be easy to avoid temptation because you’ll be too busy kicking butt.
We all know we shouldn’t be hawking sugary drinks to our kids in school. But what about you? Do you really want to be surrounded by unhealthy sodas when you’re on the job? Talk with your boss about making drinking water more available, or even getting rid of the giant sugary sodas in the vending machines. That’s how you #LiveSugarfreed.