This week was national heart health day at Chestnut Hill Hospital. The dietitians and myself were asked to set up a table at a lunch-in for all employees. For our table we decided to focus mostly on added sugars. Our booth was called “rethink your drink.” We took a bunch of popular beverages (ginger ale, coke, Gatorade, Naked Juice, cranberry juice, Starbucks Frappuccino, etc.) We then displayed how much sugar was in each beverage by placing sugar cubes in the cups in front of the beverage. We found that people were very receptive to our presentation and really enjoyed the visual. The majority or people were very surprised by how much sugar was in the “Naked Juice” smoothies. This one contained 55 grams of sugar per bottle! Overall, we had a really good time interacting with people and displaying this information for them. It is very helpful to provide visuals when teaching people about nutrition because showing them, as opposed to just telling them, is very effective.
