Rethink Your Drink

According to the CDC, sugar-sweetened beverages are the number one source of added sugars in the American diet. Many commercial beverages contain well over the recommended daily amount of sugar in a single serving. According to the American Heart Association, excess sugar consumption increases the chance of developing chronic health conditions like diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

For this reason, the Skokie Health Department and NorthShore University HealthSystem are partnering to help you Rethink Your Drink. Making the switch from consuming sweetened drinks to water will dramatically decrease your overall sugar intake and lower your risk for developing many chronic diseases. 
Rethink Your Drink Logo

Visualizing Your Sugar Intake

When reading nutrition labels, it can be difficult to picture the amount of sugar you are actually consuming. Converting the sugar from grams to teaspoons allows for an estimate of sugar that is easier to picture.
one teaspoon of sugar equals one sugar cube which equals one sugar packet, divide the total number o

Daily Sugar Intake Guidelines


The American Heart Association recommends the following daily limits for added sugar intake.
Image of text in a box, maximum advised daily intake of sugar. Children: 16 grams, four teaspoons. A
Compare these daily limits to the amount of sugar in some of the beverages listed.
Image of text box with average amount of sugar in drinks. Juice box: 18 grams, sports drink: 32 gram

See Sugar Content for Beverages

  1. Rethink Your Drink Energy Drink (PDF)
  2. Rethink Your Drink Iced Tea (PDF)
  3. Rethink Your Drink Juice (PDF)
  4. Rethink Your Drink Soda (PDF)
  5. Rethink Your Drink Sports Drink (PDF)

More Sugar Information

  1. Obesity and Serving Size (PDF)
  2. The Problem with Sugar (PDF)
  3. Skokie Childhood Obesity Report 2015 Final (PDF)
  4. What to Drink (PDF)

Rethink Your Drink in Other Languages

  1. Rethink Your Drink Arabic (PDF)
  2. Rethink Your Drink Chinese (PDF).pdf
  3. Rethink Your Drink Gujarati (PDF).pdf
  4. Rethink Your Drink Hindi (PDF).pdf
  5. Rethink Your Drink Korean (PDF)
  6. Rethink Your Drink Russian (PDF)
  7. Rethink Your Drink Spanish (PDF)
  8. Rethink Your Drink Tagalog (PDF)
  9. Rethink Your Drink Urdu (PDF)