What We're Watching: Brenda

Obesity in a Bottle: Understanding Liquid Calories & Nutrition and Obesity in a Bottle II: How to Pick Healthy Beverages by Learning ZoneXpress

These are two great DVDs that will help you and your family make the right choices when selecting a healthy beverage to drink.

The first DVD "Understanding Liquid Calories & Nutrition" is aimed at children in the 5th grade and above. It is definitely corny but has tons of good information in it. It talks about the relationship between weight gain and the empty calories in soda and juices, the increase in serving size over the years, the dangers of diet soda, and the negative effects of energy drinks among other topics. It ends with a segment on the benefits of drinking water.

The second DVD "How to Pick Healthy Beverages" is aimed at children in the 9th grade and above. This DVD is narrated by a nutrition expert and is not nearly as corny. I think it would be better received by older children who may not be able to get past the silliness of the first DVD. It talks about how much sugar is in many popular beverages that most people would probably think are healthy options. It also stresses the importance of looking at the label and checking both the nutrition information and the ingredient list. Finally it discusses what to drink when participating in sports activities and some myths about caffeine.

These are both great DVDs to either watch on your own to make healthy choices for your younger children or to watch together as a family with older kids.