Bad Sodas, and an Employee Wellness Solution

Think you can’t make it through the day without that Coke or Sprite—or two or three?

Some residents in six San Francisco Bay area counties are swearing off their favorite fizzy, sugary drinks as part of the Bay Area Nutrition and Physical Activity Collaborative’s campaign for a “Soda-free Summer!” It’s something you might want to consider adopting for a corporate wellness program.

The group’s website, at www.sodafreesummer.com, is chock full of disturbing statistics:

• The average person eats almost 175 pounds of sugar a year—or approximately half a pound of sugar a day.
• Drinking just one 20-ounce bottle of soda each day for a year can result in 25 extra pounds of weight gain.

Nancy Brown over at Healthline discusses the Soda-free Summer initiative and why giving up all sugary drinks is a healthy idea.

As you may know, many companies are beginning to evaluate the products in workplace soda machines.

It’s something we have consulted on at Wellness Corporate Solutions. We’ve found that as long as the alternatives are appealing—mostly- or all-juice drinks, low-sweetener teas, lower-fat, 100-calorie snacks and even fresh fruit—employees see the changes as a positive one. They even see it as a good benefit—as a sign the company cares about them.

So if you’re feeling brave, how about taking a cue form the Bay area and trying a company-wide soda-free summer? And have a celebratory lunchtime walk, with free healthy beverages along the way?

For more info, here’s a great article on healthy vending machines from Forbes.