No matter how many articles are published or how many television programs call attention to the issue, we are still a nation driven by our sweet tooth. This time it’s not desserts that are grabbing the headlines, but the sugary drinks we prefer over choosing water as our drink of choice. The most recent take on this comes from a study released by the Nestle Pure Life water people who found that consumers drink on average 3 sugared beverages daily, and this, of course, contributes to the overall caloric intake and adds to the outcry about healthy eating (drinking).

The company has designed a novel strategy to help people pick up more bottles of water than any of a long list of sugared drinks. They established the Nestle Pure Life Pledge with the hopes of eliminating a billion, that’s a B, calories from American family diets during this year. The mathematical formula works like this: If 10,000 families of three replace a typical 12 oz. sugared beverage a person a day with a bottle of water in a year they will have saved 50,000 calories! Whew, those numbers are staggering!

The company will make a $5 donation (up to $50,000) to the Healthy Kids Challenge for each family that signs up and participates! We could add to that challenge and create an additional challenge to see if more families participate than anticipated. Will the company increase its donation? That should be fun to watch!

This is a contest we can all enjoy. Sign up. Take the pledge and quench your thirst in a more natural, less caloric, way.