It is 4:00 pm, I have to get my daughter to her soccer game and I just received a reminder text from her coach that I’m on drinks and snacks for the game!  Great!  I have an hour to get organized and to the field.  What to do?

It’s hot, the sun is strong and soccer is physical.  I look in our basement pantry to find that we have no supply of drinks. I move back to the kitchen and then it dawns on me, the best drink is water! It hydrates, is free and is available from my kitchen tap!  Everyone brings water bottles, so I can just refill them.  Perfect!

Besides its convenience, I realize there are many reasons why water should be the drink of choice. I think about the dietitians I work with and the information they provide me as a health promoter at the health department.

Water makes up more than half of a child’s weight and it is needed for their bodies to work properly.  It contains no calories, but most of all no sugar.  There are so many drinks that contain sugar and if consumed can replace other nutritious foods and provide too many calories to a diet.  Research has shown a relationship between sugar sweetened beverages and weight gain. Sugar can also lead to dental cavities, an increased risk of heart disease and the development of type 2 diabetes. I remember a poster the dietitian showed me and I was struck by the fact that a 355ml can of sugar-sweetened pop has about 10 teaspoons of sugar. Wow!  This is the poster.

So, I grab our camping water container and fill it up.  Now what about the snacks?  I look in the fridge and find an English cucumber, some baby carrots and a bag of apples.  Perfect. I start cutting up the cucumber which takes no time, the baby carrots are ready to go and I bring some apples to cut up just before the first half ends.  Done!  The whole thing took only 15 minutes.

I yell up the stairs to my daughter that it’s time to go and we are off.

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For parenting information or to speak with a Public Health Nurse (every Monday to Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.) simply dial 311 or 905-825-6000.

About this guest blogger:

Jennifer Jenkins-Scott has been a health professional for 32 years.  She lives in Dundas, Ontario with her three children, husband and the family dog.  When she is not at work she can be found chauffeuring the kids around to various activities, or if she is lucky, on the bike trails, in the gym, skiing, crafting, entertaining or at home with a good book or movie.