“Uncovering the Truth About Sugar: Examining Our Perception and Intake”

Let’s Talk About Sugar!
Getting Ready
Sugar is a hot topic in pretty much all avenues of media. Most of the time it is reported as harmful to our health (because it really is), yet at the same time we are constantly bombarded with radio and television ads telling us to consume more sugar and grocery stores are FULL of processed foods high in sugar, even foods that you would not imagine needing sugar can have a lot (salad dressing is a sneaky one!). Additionally, sugar tastes good and it makes our brains go to a happy place…at least for a while. Check out this fun video on sugar and dopamineLinks to an external site.. Many of us are not aware of how much sugar is in our food and even if we do look at the label we do not really know if that is a lot or not too much.
Read the information on sugar and watch the sugar video outlined in the Carbohydrate Module for Chapter 4, complete the following.
1. Take a look at a food or beverage that you consume regularly that you are now suspect of regarding its sugar content and list that item.
2. Look at the food label and see how many grams of sugar it contains per serving, or whole container if that is what most people would consume. Take that number and divide it by 4. That is how many teaspoons (cubes) of sugar are in that product per serving.
3. Take a picture of the product with the sugar next to it or record a video of you measuring the sugar. You can use a baggie of sugar, spoonfuls, a small clear cup…. anything you would like! If you do not have sugar, you can use flour or even find an image online that represents the amount of sugar you have in your item, be creative! Use the instructions for uploading pictures onto your Canvas Profile so you can embed the image in your post.
-For example Arizona Ice Tea, lemon flavor
Contains 22g sugar/8 oz serving
22/4 = 5.5
Contains 5.5 teaspoons (cubes) of sugar
In this case, we know that it is all added sugar because it is tea and tea should be calorie-free unless you add something to it. Be sure to mention that some of the sugar may be naturally occurring, but you may not know how much is added unless it has the new food label.
4. Does this activity change your perception of that item?
5. What are your thoughts on your own sugar intake and society as a whole? Is it a problem? Why or why not?
1. Read your classmate’s initial posts.
2. Respond to at least two peers with thoughtful responses with a minimum of 50 words
3. Responses can be to either or both topics.