(ARA) – Obesity rates are on the rise, making maintaining a healthy lifestyle for yourself and your family more important than ever. You may know the benefits of monitoring what you eat – but how about what you drink? With the average American drinking 400 calories a day and warmer weather here, watching the calories in beverages is especially crucial. Taking what you eat and drink into consideration is vital to a balanced diet and lifestyle.

Staying healthy is particularly important during the summer – with vacations, camp and the great weather, there is a lot you do not want to miss out on. Incorporating healthy eating and drinking habits into this summer’s routine can be easy – and rewarding. A few quick tips for you and your family:

* Replace one 12-ounce sugared beverage per day with water, such as Nestle Pure Life, to trim more than 50,000 calories a year from your diet.

* Sip on water with snacks to stay hydrated (and help stave off hunger) throughout the day.

* Choose baked or air-popped treats over fried chips and pack trail mix for lasting energy.

* Encourage your children to drink water instead of sugary beverages to improve mental focus, performance and concentration, whether at camp or on the playing field.

Healthy hydration is especially important during summer when you and your kids are active – and drinking water is a smart, zero-calorie way to quench your thirst.

“Keeping well-hydrated throughout the day – with beverages like Nestle Pure Life water, that don’t pour on the calories – is critical to staying healthy and fit,” says registered dietitian Victoria Shanta Retelny, a nutrition expert and mom. “Don’t wait until you’re thirsty. Drink water throughout the day to maintain good hydration.”

The new dietary guidelines encourage Americans to be aware of their beverage consumption to achieve a healthy lifestyle and balanced calorie intake. Providing families with quick and easy – yet meaningful solutions is important to help families follow the guidelines.

“Nestle Pure Life is committed to helping families live healthy, active lifestyles,” says Retelny. “If you go to nestle-purelife.us and pledge to swap one sugared beverage a day for water, you can cut up to 50,000 calories from your family’s diet a year. By joining the Hydration Movement, you’ll unite with thousands who pledged last year and cut millions of calories from their diets.”

For more information, and to join the Hydration Movement, visit www.nestle-purelife.us. When it comes to healthy living, making simple adjustments to what you and your family are already doing can have a big impact.