Physical Activity and Nutrition

Health Department Asks New Yorkers if They’re “Pouring On the Pounds”

Disgusted? Most people don’t realize how easy it is to gain weight from drinking sugary sodas, juice drinks, sport drinks and sweetened tea and coffee drinks. Just one 20-ounce bottle of soda can pack 250 calories and more than 16 teaspoons of sugar. Is the lemon-flavored iced tea any better? Not by much – with 210 calories and 14½ teaspoons of sugar. Sugar-sweetened beverages add hundreds of calories to your diet each day. Don’t drink yourself fat. Try water. It’s good.

Drinking Yourself Fat

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Over the past 20 years, obesity levels have doubled in the United States. In New York City, obesity is epidemic, and it begins early in life. More than half of adult New Yorkers are overweight (34%) or obese (22%), and nearly half of all elementary school children (43%) and Head Start children (42%) in New York City are overweight or obese.

Being overweight is not about looks. Many serious health problems are related to being overweight or obese, even during childhood, such as diabetes, heart disease, asthma, and depression. Making lifestyle changes to improve nutrition and increase physical activity is the best way to reach a healthy weight and to prevent these chronic health problems.

The Physical Activity & Nutrition Program’s work addresses the obesity epidemic in New York City, using evidence-based strategies to improve health outcomes and target communities most affected by health disparities.