Avoid sugary drinks
It’s easy to forget that we take in energy (kilojoules) through drinks as well as food. You can drink a lot of kilojoules without realising it.
Plain tap water is the best drink choice. It’s cheap, quenches your thirst and has no kilojoules whatsoever! Buy a plastic water bottle so you can take your own water everywhere you go. Keep water in the fridge so you can have a cold drink when you’re thirsty.
Soft drinks are very high in sugar and kilojoules, and have no nutritional value other than fluid. A 600ml bottle of regular soft drink contains around 15 teaspoons of sugar and over 1000 kilojoules – the equivalent of almost three Tim Tams!
Diet soft drinks generally have no added sugar (only sweetener) and are lower in kilojoules than regular varieties but still have no nutritional value other than fluid.
It’s also interesting to note that the size of drink containers has doubled and in some cases tripled in the last 50 years.
Fruit juice (100% fruit) is fine in a healthy diet if you have small quantities (no more than half a cup) but it is high in sugar. A 250 mL glass of orange juice contains roughly 6 teaspoons of sugar. It’s better to eat a whole piece of fruit as it has less sugar, and contains more vitamins and fibre.
Cordials, sport drinks and energy drinks are all high in sugar and you should limit how much of these you drink.
Reduced-fat milk is a good choice. It can be one of the three serves of dairy you need each day. It’s also a good source of calcium and protein. But be aware that flavoured milk contains added sugar.
Green and black tea and coffee are good sources of antioxidants. Switching to reduced-fat milk and limiting the amount of sugar you add will help to reduce the amount of kilojoules.
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