We’ve been doing a little spring cleaning around here at Sip & Savor and came across this classic picture of ABA’s CEO and President, Susan Neely, at a press conference in 2010 to announce that we had successfully implemented the National School Beverage Guidelines. Can you believe it’s been 10 years since the American Beverage Association teamed up with the Alliance for a Healthier Generation to develop the Guidelines? In 2006, we started the initiative to remove full-calorie sodas from all schools and replace them with more lower-calorie and smaller-portion choices.

As a result of this ambitious effort we slashed beverage calories in schools by more than 90 percent and successfully changed the beverage landscape in schools across the country. This voluntary step by the beverage industry later helped form the basis of the beverage component of USDA’s regulations for foods and beverages sold in schools. Today, when you walk into a school, you will still see our commitment at work.

Since the School Beverage Guidelines, we’ve continued to pursue efforts to help Americans achieve balance. In fact, we’re working on our biggest initiative to-date -- Balance Calories. Launched in 2014, with the Alliance for a Healthier Generation as our partner once again, we have set a goal to reduce beverage calories consumed per person nationally by 20 percent by 2025, the single-largest voluntary effort by an industry to address obesity.

To find out more about the Balance Calories Initiative, and other efforts to help provide people with choices and information, check out DeliveringChoices.org.