How many “empty calories” do kids eat?

The quick answer: WAY too many.

“Empty calories” is a term that describes calories from foods that provide little nutrition beyond energy.  Empty calories in the diet come from solid fats and added sugars.  Examples include: soda, cakes, and candy.

With the old food guide pyramid, the term moderation was used to guide us in incorporating some tasty – but not so nutritious – foods into our day.  But what exactly does moderation mean?  With obesity on the rise, MyPyramid goes a step further to provide a specific upper limit for the number of calories that should come from discretionary calories – a complex word that means empty calories.

Researches found 40% of total calories kids consumed were from empty calories.  It is recommended that we only get 8% to 20% of our calories from empty calorie foods.

Kids eating 2,000 calories a day are given an upper limit of 267 empty calories – that’s about the calories in a snickers bar.  The research showed kids ate on average 2,037 calories, 798 of those calories were from empty calories.  That’s equivalent to eating two candy bars along with a 20 oz. bottle of soda.

The biggest contributor of empty calories was sugar-sweetened beverages (soda and fruit drinks). They provided 173 calories/day.

The next largest contributor were grain desserts, including cakes, cookies, donuts, pies, crisps, cobblers, and granola bars, that provided 138 calories/day.

So what’s a parent to do?  To start, provide a healthy eating environment in your home with meals and snacks centered around grains, fruits, vegetables, low fat milk, meats and beans.  Next month, I’ll provide detailed tips on how we can positively influence what our kids eat.