The Lowdown on High Sugar

This article hones in on some everyday practices that can help our children make wise food and drink choices. If we arm our children with this knowledge, it could ward off one of the natio... See More

This article hones in on some everyday practices that can help our children make wise food and drink choices. If we arm our children with this knowledge, it could ward off one of the nation’s most prevalent middle-aged disease, diabetes. One practice is to become aware of how much sugar is in each drink being considered for consumption. The article provides an activity to help students visualize just how much sugar particular drinks contain and to know the maximum amount of sugar they should ingest each day. Even orange juice is heavily laden with several teaspoons of sugar per serving. Therefore, a second practice is to become aware of the fact that even so called healthy foods must be consumed in limited quantities. A colorful chart comparing serving sizes to items children are familiar with is included. Golf ball portions of peanut butter or tennis ball servings of pasta represent the amounts of these food items students should consume in a meal. Read this article to learn more about how to arm your students with this health-wise, powerful knowledge. It includes the instructions for a game, the Insulin Relay Race, to help students understand how sugar is continually entering the bloodstream and how people with diabetes experience higher levels of blood sugar. As many of us have heard our parents say, “Everything in moderation!”