Ditch the soft drink and jump on the water … that’s the message Wyndham council wants to get through to residents.
The council has joined forces with VicHealth to take part in the H30 Challenge, which asks participants to go off all sugary drinks and take on water instead for 30 days.
Council’s family friendly portfolio holder Mia Shaw said residents taking part in the campaign would find a “big difference” in their health.
“A regular bottle of soft drink contains about 16 teaspoons of sugar, and there are about 11 teaspoons in a sports drink,” she said.
“[The campaign] encourages people to cut out these and other sugary drinks, including energy drinks, fruit drinks, ready-to-drink iced tea, flavoured water and cordial.”
Figures show that a quarter of Wyndham residents are obese, significantly higher than the state average of 19 per cent. Type two diabetes is also more prevalent, with 6.2 per cent of Wyndham people already diagnosed with the condition.
“I try to drink one to two litres of water every day, and I carry a water bottle with me when I’m at work, so I don’t get tempted to grab a sugary drink,” Cr Shaw said.
Sign up to tackle sugar at its source: h30challenge.com.au/lga/wyndham
