Sugar!

Blog Post #6­

With the successful beta test of my curriculum, I achieved my goal. I wanted the children to learn about the effects of excess sugar and they did. They learned facts about sugar, how it affects the body, what is bad about eating too much of it, and ways to reduce how much of it they eat.  They had fun with the curriculum and I hope that fun helps them remember the important facts they learned and reduces the amount of sugar they eat throughout their lives.

If I had another semester to work on this, I would develop a complementary curriculum for the parents. Parents buy their children’s food, so even if the children know about sugar, they may not have healthy food available. If the parents learn about sugar at the same time, they will be able to help improve the kids’ eating habits. The best time for a parental sugar class would be during pregnancy. This way, the parents, who want the best for their children, will be able to start building healthy eating habits from the start.

I have learned a lot through the 20 Time project. I learned how to conduct research and compile the information gathered. This is a valuable tool that I will use in college. The information I learned about sugar also helped my family and me improve our diets. This will help my health throughout my life and enable me to provide advice to others.

I believe my Ted Talk was a success. I conveyed what I had learned from my research and described the curriculum. Preparing for and talking in front of the class was also a valuable experience and I believe it went well.  One way I prepared was to turn on our TV, mute it, and then practice my presentation while watching. This helped me get used to visual distractions in the audience and was a great way to determine how well I knew the content.  Overall, 20 Time has been a great experience!

The Curriculum

Blog Post #5

With all the weeks of research, I wrote a curriculum about sugar addiction. Originally, I wanted the curriculum to be for a short time each day, over the course of a week. For example, one day would be about the basics of sugar and the next day would be about sugary drinks.  However, since I am beta-testing the curriculum on the children I babysit, I have to structure it as a single lesson. Following is the basic outline of the curriculum:

1. Ask what the children know about sugar.  Questions to ask may include: Do you guys like eating candy? How do you feel after eating it? Do you feel really energetic after eating it? Do you think a lot of sugar is good or bad for you?

2. Play a true or false game with the children. 

• Make index cards with facts about sugar on each and then have the kids categorize each one as true or false.
• True
• Children ages 4 to 8 eat about 21 teaspoons of added sugar each day (I will hold up that amount with sugar packets).
• Children ages 4 to 8 should limit added sugar to about 3 teaspoons a day (I will hold up that amount with sugar packets).
• You are born with a sweet tooth.
• Soda and juice are the No. 1 source of added sugar.
• There is hidden sugar in foods that do not taste sweet, such as pasta and BBQ sauce.
• False
• Sugar does not occur naturally in fruits and vegetables.  
• It is not possible to become addicted to sugar.
• Apples, bananas, and oranges do not have sugar in them.

3. Find 2 foods and 2 drinks in the kitchen and measure the amount of sugar in each.

• Compare the amount of sugar in each food item with how much a person should eat in one day

4. Talk about the activities.

• Discuss each activity and conclude with how bad excess sugar is for your health, talk about natural versus added sugar, and give them suggestions on how to reduce the amount of sugar they eat.

On Wednesday, I babysat a six year old boy and an eight year old girl. They are the target age for my curriculum, so I was excited to see how the curriculum would work. The girl has a big sweet tooth. She is always sneaking a cookie or a spoonful of nutella.  When I asked what they already know about sugar, they said things such as, “its in candy”, “I get a stomach ache if I eat too much”, and “I love chocolate”. They both knew it was bad for their health, but they had no idea why it is bad or what effect it had on their body. They chose to measure the sugar in lemonade, apple juice , Coco Puff Cereal and a Kit Kat. They were surprised by how much sugar was in each, and by how many health problems can be caused by eating too much sugar.

Based on my interaction with the two kids, I decided that the other children I babysit are too young to understand the curriculum. For this reason, I think the best age for this curriculum is 2nd or 3rd grade.

Overall, I believe the curriculum was a success and that the kids learned a lot about sugar.  However, I do not know if it will change how they eat, or how long they will remember what they learned.  Next, I plan on refining the curriculum and brainstorming how best to make it memorable and effective at reducing sugar addiction.

Sugar is Sugar

Blog Post #4
I decided to conduct more research before I developed my curriculum.  I had not gone into much depth about artificial sweeteners, and natural versus refined sugar, and wanted to know more about these topics.

I learned that “refined sugar” is derived from either sugar cane or sugar beets. These ingredients are processed to extract the sugar, which is called sucrose. Refined sugar is digested quickly, causing a spike in insulin and for you to feel less full (causing you to eat more.) “Natural sugar” is the sugar that is in fruit and dairy products.  The sugar in fruit is called fructose, whereas the sugar in dairy products is called lactose. Natural sugar, which has vitamins and minerals in the fruit or milk, is better for an individual and does not need to be reduced as much as refined sugar should be. However, the body digest both refined and natural sugar the same way. Both types of sugar end up either as fat or glycogen. This is an important distinction that I plan on explaining in my curriculum.

I also learned that artificial sweeteners are often sweeter than refined sugar. For example, sucralose (a type of artificial sweetener) is approximately 600 times sweeter than sugar.  This clearly shows the problem with artificial sweeteners.  Even if an artificial sweetener has zero calories, your body will still crave sweetness (sugar).  Instead, to reduce calories or sugar intake, one should slowly put less sugar in the foods they make.  This way, their body will slowly become less dependent on sugar and will crave less.

Some tips I have found for reducing sugar intake include the following:

• Drink less soda and more water.
• Reduce the amount of sugar you add to foods and drinks, such as coffee or tea.
• Eat more fruit (fresh, frozen, or canned).
• To avoid most of the food with added sugar, shop the perimeter of the grocery store.
• Read the labels and choose products with less added sugar.
• For sweetness in your cereal or oatmeal, add fruit instead of sugar.
• Add less sugar when baking cookies or brownies.

With all the information I have learned, I am ready to create the outline of my curriculum.

Cause and Effect

Blog Post #3

During the past week, I researched more about what initially caused America’s sugar addiction. I found that the over consumption of carbs was a main cause. This over-consumption began with a government recommendation to eat less saturated fat, which led people to replace the fat in their diet with sugar.  I also found that stress was a main cause.  Stress causes people to want comfort food, as they attempt to feel better.  Also, the busy lifestyles people have now-a-days does not allow sufficient time to prepare a healthy homemade dinner.  Instead, people will often do the easy thing -- get a big mac from McDonalds. To read more about these causes, check out the “Causes of Sugar Addiction” tab to the right.

I also researched more about the effects of sugar addiction. I learned that sugar can affect the body both mentally and physically. A person can be mentally affected by experiencing sugar highs and sugar crashes. These highs and crashes can cause emotions to swing from happy/energetic to sad/irritable. A person can also be physically affected by excess sugar. Obesity, diabetes, heart disease and cancer are all problems that can result from sugar addiction. If you would like to read more about the effects of sugar addiction, I have compiled all of the info that I have learned so far into a write up in a tab to the right!

Everyone knows sugar is not good for you, but I don't think they realize just how bad eating too much sugar is for you. My goal for this curriculum is for it to help children realize this at a young age, before they are negatively affected by eating too much sugar.  Next week, I plan on starting to write the curriculum.

Sugar 101

Blog Post #2

This week, I researched more on sugar. I focused on what sugar addiction actually is.  I found the science behind what causes sugar addiction very interesting.  It was cool to see the similarities between sugar and drugs.  Most people do not view sugar as a stimulant that they could become addicted to, but that could actually happen.  I also added the recommended sugar consumption for an average person and an explanation of what sugar addiction is to the tabs on the side (check them out!)

With all my research about sugar addiction, I have started to eat less sugar. At times, this is tough.  Sometimes, I just have to eat that piece of chocolate. I have also noticed that after eating the chocolate, I want more, and then more. I can see how easily it is to over eat sugar, and get addicted to it, when you are not thinking about what you are eating.  

Next, I plan on researching more about what caused the increase in sugar addiction in the United States, and the harmful effects it can have on health.  I have not had any setbacks and, hopefully, if I stick to my plan, I will not have any!

A Nation Addicted to Sugar

Blog Post #1

In my anatomy and physiology class, we were introduced to a concept called “20 Time,” which is also known as “Genius Hour”.  20 Time sets aside 20% of class time for students to work on a project that interests them.  Google originated this idea.  Employees were permitted to devote 20% of their time to any project they found interesting, with the only requirement that the project had to benefit the company.  Google Docs was created through this program.  With such success in the business world, 20 Time is now starting to appear in schools.  20 Time gives students a chance to spend time on topics they are passionate about, and teaches them important life skills such as how to research, how to combine ideas into a purpose, and how to speak publicly.

For my 20 Time project, I am researching sugar addiction in the United States and developing an elementary school curriculum about the topic.  This curriculum will equip the next generation with the information and tools they need to make informed decisions about the food they eat.  In addition, and perhaps most importantly, they will understand how they personally benefit from a healthy diet.  I chose sugar addiction as my 20 Time topic because I am fascinated by the effect various food have on our body and its health.  The saying “you are what you eat” is true, and I would like to help people understand how that impacts them.

Once developed, my plan will be to beta test the curriculum with the children that I babysit.  In this manner, I will be able to determine if the curriculum will work effectively in a classroom setting.  Since the kids that I babysit range in age from 3 to 9 years old, I will also be able to experiment with what works best for various age groups.  To measure whether or not the curriculum works, before beginning, I will ask the children what they already know about sugar.  We will also document what they eat in a typical day.  I will then lead the children through sugar related activities, such as matching various amounts of sugar with each food on a list and measuring out the amount of sugar that their favorite foods contain.  During each activity, we will talk about the basics of sugar and its effects on the body.  A few weeks later, I will ask them what they remember and have them list the food they ate over the prior few days.  By reviewing the results and comparing them with the data collected at the beginning, I will be able to determine how well the curriculum worked.'

My goal for this project is to learn as much as I can about the topic and then apply that knowledge to the development of a new and creative curriculum that will successfully teach elementary students. The curriculum will be fun, hands-on, informative, and memorable.  This will help students learn, remember and apply the information in their lives.  The end result should be that the students live healthier lives than they otherwise would have.