Sonic introduces a new burger this year with a patty containing 25% mushrooms! The concept being that the burger has “less of the guilt.”

According to the World Resources Institute, if we were to replace 30% of beef in hamburgers in America, we could benefit not only our health, but the health of the planet.

Particularly by replacing beef with other more sustainable substitutes like mushrooms, we can reduce greenhouse emissions by a comparable amount of taking over 2 million cars off the road a year. 

To learn more please read the article below:

“Here’s Why Environmentalists Are Cheering The Latest Burger At Sonic Drive-In” – NPR

Check out our Plant Based Eating Resource Page

“The American Association of Clinical Endocrinologist recommends plant based diet for people with diabetes, yet many people and educators are unsure how to get started.” – Coach Beverly

Check out our resource page full of ideas, recipes and more!

“They killed Tony the Tiger. They did away with Cheetos’ Chester Cheetah. They banned Kinder Surprise, the chocolate eggs with a hidden toy.”

Facing skyrocketing rates of obesity in adults and children, the Chilean government is waging war on unhealthy foods.

Here is a list of the strategies health advocates fought hard to implement:

• packaged food companies must display black warning labels in the shape of a stop sign on items high in sugar, slat, calories or fat.
• nixing iconic cartoon characters from cereal boxes.
• mandatory packing redesigns
• new labeling rules
• prohibits sale of junk food in Chilean schools
• scrubbing ads for junk food on TV or radio from 6am to 10pm.
• a ban on marketing infant formula to promote breast feeding

The goal is to transform the eating habits of an entire country.

Soaring obesity rates are forcing governments around the world to confront one of the more serious threats to public health in a generation.

Nutrition experts say the broad effort is the world’s most ambitious attempt to remake a country’s food culture. 

This hard fought campaign for health was lead by Senator Girardi, a trained surgeon with a flair for the theatrical.

“Sugar kills more people than terrorism and car accidents combined,” Giardi said in an interview as he shook a box of Trix cereal for effect. “It’s the poison of our time.”

Read more: In Sweeping War on Obesity, Chile Slays Tony the Tiger  The New York Times.

Want to help your community get to a place of better health? 
Check out our Six A Day Sugar Pledge Resource page.

We have created this pledge campaign to raise awareness on the health risks of added sugar and the benefits of enjoying less.

By eating less sugar, we all get healthier.

The two most common sugars added to foods are sucrose (white table sugar) and High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS). From a biochemistry standpoint, these disaccharides are broken down into a 50/50 ratio of glucose and fructose.  The 50% glucose, enters the blood stream and is utilized for energy.

The other 50% fructose enters a different energy pathway.

Fructose gets a direct pass through the portal vein to the liver.  The liver utilizes needed fructose for energy and the rest is converted to fat. 

Over time, a liver bombarded with fructose develops fatty liver disease.

Fast Fact: Up to 70% of obese people with diabetes have fatty liver disease. 

If Fructose is unhealthy, what about Fruit?

Fructose is a type of sugar that occurs naturally in fruits and some vegetables.  The good news about natural fructose is that it is wrapped up as part of the food’s complete nutrient package which includes energy, fiber, and essential micronutrients. 

According to Beth Rosen, MS, RD, “The difference between fructose in fruit compared to High fructose corn syrup in sweetened beverages is the concentration. While a 20-oz bottle of cola contains 36 grams of fructose, an apple contains 12 grams of fructose per serving, and a serving of strawberries contains 4 grams. This means that you would need to eat 3 apples or 9 cups of strawberries to equal the amount of sugar in a soda.” 

Following the national guidelines, encourage patients with diabetes to enjoy eating about 3 servings of fruit, spread throughout the day.

Addes sugars are camouflaged in foods including ketchup, breads, granola bars, cereals, yogurts, and many other processed foods.
But, by far, most Americans consume their sugar in beverages including:

• Sodas and Sports Drinks (contain avg 6-12 tsps of sugar)
• Fruit Drinks (contain 6-10 teaspoon of sugar)
• Fancy coffees and other specialty beverages

Sugary Drinks Negatively Affect Health. Studies have found:

• Drinking one or two sugary drinks a day increases risk of developing type 2 diabetes by 26%

• After six months, daily consumption of sugary drinks increases fat deposits in the liver by 150 percent, leading directly to both type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

In America, about one quarter of our calories come from added sugar. In the early 1800s, sugar was considered a luxury and a treat, that was enjoyed on special occasions.

Our increasing intake of added sugar mirrors our rising rates of obesity and diabetes.

In 2009, the American Heart Association (AHA) noted the relationship between added sugar consumption and cardiovascular disease.  “AHA recommends that women limit sugar intake to to 6 teaspoons a day and men limit sugar to 9 teaspoons a day.”

In 2013, The American Diabetes Association Standards of Care states, “people with diabetes should limit or avoid intake of sugar-sweetened beverages (from any caloric sweetener including high fructose corn syrup and sucrose) to reduce risk for weight gain and worsening of cardiovascular risk profile.”

In 2015 the World Health Organization and the FDA recommends that no more than 5-10% of calories should be obtained from added sugars (This equals about 6-12 teaspoons daily).

Fast Fact: There is no white sugar found in fresh fruits, vegetables, wheat, legumes and all whole unpackaged or unprocessed foods.  Sucrose is derived from cane and beets and added to foods.

Humans do not need sucrose to live. 

August 2017 – Short and Sweet – Less Sugar, Better Health

Americans are eating about 30 teaspoons of added sugars a day. 

In the early 1800s we ate about 2 teaspoons of white sugar a day.

Obesity was rare in the 1800s. Today, about 70% of Americans are overweight or obese.

Recently, 3 prominent health organizations have recommended we limit daily added sugar consumption to 5-10% of daily calories.
These organizations include:

• The World Health Organization
• The American Heart Assoc.
• The Food and Drug Administration

It is time to take action and decrease sugar intake.

Added sugar, in the form of sucrose or high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), offers no nutritional value. 

If we decided to eat less added sugar starting today, we would not suffer from any nutritional deficiency. On the contrary, we would get healthier. 

As research is now demonstrating, over exposure to added sugar is associated with fatty liver, insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome and hyperglycemia.

Currently, 45% of the people in the U.S. have prediabetes or type 2 diabetes. That’s too many.

What if the simple action of Reducing Added Sugar to 6 Teaspoons a Daycould slow this worrisome health trend?

We are launching a public awareness campaign called “The Joy of Six.”

We invite you to take the pledge and help get the word out about sugar.

Eat Healthy – Live Longer! Increase intake of vegetables, fruit, whole grains, fish, low-fat dairy and sources of “good” fats, such as olive oil and nuts. Decrease intake of processed foods, sweets, red meat and butter.

– Coach Beverly

“20 percentile improvement in diet quality linked to 8-17% decrease in rise of early death.”

Click here to learn more!

Interested in learning more about nutrition and diabetes? 

Check out our Nutrition and Exercise webinar in our Level 1 – Diabetes Fundamentals. 

Drink coffee, live longer! 

Studies have shown that certain coffee compounds have neuroprotective and anti-inflammatory properties.

Click here to learn more!

Studying for the exam? Grab a coffee and enroll in our CDCES Exam Boot Camp! Includes On Demand Online Course Bundle plus live interactive Webcasts. The series of live Webcasts start July 19 and run weekly through August 30, 2017. 

Learn More