Resources

The Pervasiveness of Sugar in Our Food Environment

In part one of Sugarproof, we talk about our high school food environment and why kids are especially vulnerable to it.

This video gives a good overview of how pervasive sugar has become in our food system and how it is harming our health. 

This website shows how much sugar is in popular foods that are marketed to children.

Unhealthy snack – muffin, cookies, gummy bears, chocolate, yoghurt, coke, juice.

A Focus on Limiting Sugar Sweetened Beverages

In part two of Sugarproof, we talk about solutions for families to bring sugar consumption down to a reasonable level. The most important initial step to take in Sugarproofing is to reduce and eventually eliminate sweetened beverages entirely.

This website site shows how much sugar are in popular beverages and gives tips for cutting down on sugary drinks.

Cucumber water in a glass jar.

Growing Healthy Communities

In our final chapter, we talk about ways to improve the food environments our kids grow up in. One of the ways to do this is to support programs that give kids access to school gardens, culinary education, and improved food in cafeterias.

The original Edible Schoolyard in Berkeley, California, founded by Alice Waters, is an inspirational model for these type of initiatives. Through her larger organization, the Edible Schoolary Project, Alice and her team have formed a network of over 5,000 programs doing similar work. Their website includes many resources including training programs for educators and lesson plans for families and teachers that can be done at home, in schools, or in other community settings.

A girl holding fresh vegetables from the garden.

How Sugar Affects the Brain

Sugar has broad effects on brain and behavior. For a quick primer with great visuals of how exactly sugar affects the brain and our reward system, here is a short TedEd video developed by Dr Nicole Avena

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