Calories In, Calories Out

It's true that all foods can fit into your diet, even your favourite soft drinks - as long as you watch portion sizes and stay within your daily calorie needs. If consumed in moderation with appropriate portion size and combined with regular physical activity, then there's no reason why you shouldn't treat yourself from time to time.

Think 'Calories in' (those consumed) must not outweigh 'Calories out' (the amount needed to carry out daily physical activity).

One way to limit the number of calories you consume is to look for light, low-calorie and no-calorie versions of your favorite foods and drinks.

Making a series of small changes such as focusing family time on physical activity, eating out less, serving more fruits and vegetables, and downsizing portions - may, over time, make a big difference.

Managing The Calories You Drink

The following tips can help families manage beverage calories:

• Switch to low-fat or skimmed milk. An average glass of whole milk contains around 160 calories. The same-size serving of skimmed milk has just 80-90 calories.
• Get nutrition out of your beverage calories. For instance, 100% juice has about 120 calories per average glass, but also contains vitamin C and other important nutrients.
• Stock the fridge with grab-and-go bottles of water and low-calorie drinks for between-meal drinking.
• Talk to your teens about their beverage choices outside the home. Learn how often they drink full-calorie soft drinks, fruit drinks and sweetened coffees or teas - and how much. Then help them decide how to lower the calories in their beverage choices, like opting for water, 'skinny' lattes and low-calorie soft drinks and fruit drinks.

Weight Management Tips

• Read food labels. Look for the calories per serving, serving size AND the number of servings provided by the packages you buy. To help control portion sizes, consider switching to smaller packages. Many of your favorite foods and beverages now come in single-serving sizes or 100-calorie packaging.
• Trick your mind. Research suggests that serving beverages in tall, skinny glasses or dinners on smaller plates may give the appearance of more volume. This might help you trick yourself into thinking you had a full portion and make you less likely to go back for seconds.
• Write it down. Keeping a food journal increases your awareness of what you are consuming and may uncover habits that lead to excess calories.
• Take small steps. Cutting just 100 calories out of your diet each day (or doing just 100 extra calories-worth of exercise a day) may result in about a one-pound weight loss per month - that's 12 pounds a year.
• Choose wisely. Although certain foods and beverages contain calories, they may be providing important nutrients to the body. Calorie-containing beverages, such as milk, many fruit juices and sports drinks, can also provide important nutrients in the form of carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins and minerals.
• Remember that physical activity does not give you the liberty to eat as much as you want with no control. Rather, keep in mind that for every 100 calories you eat, you will need to exercise for approximately 15 to 20 minutes (or walk 1 mile) to burn that same 100 calories. Most experts agree that excess weight gain, whether in adults or children, is due to routinely consuming more calories than the body burns each day. All foods and calorie-containing beverages can contribute to excess weight gain.

Notes to Editors:

• Coca-Cola Great Britain (CCGB) is a subsidiary of The Coca-Cola Company (TCCC), the third largest bottled water producer in the world and owner of the Coca-Cola trade mark globally as well as over 400 other brands. CCGB is responsible for marketing 20 brands (over 100 products) in Great Britain, developing new brands and extending existing brands.
• First invented in Covington, Georgia by John Pemberton, 'Coca-Cola' has grown into a very important British business and now employs over 4,500 people in six factories spread across the UK, with our Wakefield factory the biggest soft drinks factory in the world.
• CCGB is committed to reducing the amount of packaging materials used in the production of its drinks whilst retaining high standards of quality and performance to give consumers what they want. CCGB currently recycles over 90% of the waste from its UK manufacturing sites and remains focused on working to minimise its impact through research and new technologies to reduce the environmental effect of manufacturing and equipment.
• 'Coca-Cola', 'Coke', 'diet Coke', 'Sprite' and 'Minute Maid' are registered trade marks of The Coca-Cola Company. 'Malvern', 'Schweppes' and 'Oasis' are registered trade marks of Atlantic industries.