Do you drink your daily calories?!

As I was sitting at Starbucks yesterday, I couldn't help but people-watch as I tried to get some work done.  Some people were there to mooch off the free wi-fi (yours truly) or have a business meeting.  Others were there for their afternoon caffeine fix.  But for the most part, most of the people coming in were parents with their kids or the herds of teens with no adult.  A good amount of the time, the kids were getting a frappaccino with some sort of "snack" that consisted of a scone, cake or donut.  Among a host of other issues that came up, two things stuck out:

1) Were these parents setting their kids up for Type 2 Diabetes or a multitude of other ailments?  (I'll focus on this at a different time)

2) What percentage of their calories come from empty calories or liquids in general?

As these questions were bouncing around in my head, I receive an email from a friend about article who's title is Beverage Consumption is a Bigger Factor in Weight.  I love it when great minds think alike!!

According to this study, 37% of all liquid calories come from these empty-calorie drinks (regular soft drinks, fruit drinks, fruit punch, high-calorie beverages sweetened with sugar, diet soda and other “diet” drinks sweetened with artificial sweeteners).  In addition, because of the increase in the consumption of sweetened drinks, by 2015, 75% of US adults will be considered obese....75%!!!!  That's only 5 years away!!

C'mon people...whatever happened to water and milk!?