Sugar Visuals

Shauna Schultz, RD, Public Health Nutritionist, sent a game idea she uses that is quite popular. It teaches clients that high-sugar beverages are not satiating but add extra calories, which can add up too fast and are not compensated for later!

It also allows them to make visual comparisons and it surprises them with stats from beverages they thought were healthful. Here is a version she did.1) Take 4-5 beverages of different serving sizes (e.g. juice, gatorade, soda, cyrstal light and a bottled smoothie) and label them A through D or E.2) Next, figure out the grams of sugar per serving and measure the corresponding number of teaspoons into small zipper bags. 4 grams of sugar equals 1 teaspoon.3) Have the clients put the beverages in order according to assumed sugar content.4) Next, have them pull out a sugar-filled bag (label it with the number of calories and teaspoons of sugar) and read it.5) The group can then guess which product matches each bag and the correct answers can be given at the end.It is also fun to have them write down everything they drank the day before and come up with alternatives if needed. Shauna also made a bag of sugar with the World Health Organization’s recommendation for a comparison to the other products. Since this is 10% of calories, that would be 200 calories on a 2,000-calorie diet, which translates to 50 grams or 12.5 teaspoons of sugar per day.