We’ve all heard about the obesity epidemic. It’s a health risk that has widespread consequences, but it’s also preventable. What causes obesity is the key to understanding how we can change course and create better health outcomes for our families. There’s a specific answer that’s been proven: added sugar in our diet. The reason? Added sugar from beverages does not signal us to feel full the same way other foods do, and as a consequence, we end up consuming far more calories than we can reasonably burn. Jeff Ritterman is a doctor who has been building awareness about the deadly risks of added sugars. He writes, “U.S. children and youth obtain on average 224 calories per day from sugary drinks, about the amount of sugar in one 20-ounce soda. A 50-pound child would need to walk for more than three hours at three miles per hour to burn off all of those calories.”
Click here to read his full article on what causes obesity from the Huffington Post. Big Soda has many tricks to sell us sugary drinks as part of a “healthy” lifestyle. Let’s stick to the facts: we can prevent obesity by ditching soda. Our health, our kid’s health, and our planet’s health will all be better for it. Want to join the effort to build that healthy future? Click here to learn more about the Berkeley vs. Big Soda campaign.
[Photo by Shardayyy on Flickr]
