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Sugar Shocktober – How To Participate

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How Can You Participate in Sugar Shocktober??

SUGAR SHOCK DEMONSTRATIONS: Students, teachers and faculty learn how to sugar shock their favorite drinks to see the alarming amounts of sugar insports drinks, fruit juices and super size sodas using Energy Up! branded materials.

5 DAY SODA FREE PLEDGE: Students and teachers read aloud Energy Up!’s 5 Day Soda Free Pledge in their homeroom/advisory every morning.

HOST A SCHOOL RALLY: Challenge your students, faculty and teachers to take the 5 Day Soda Free Pledge and sign “I Choose To Be Sugar Free” Banner

MENU REQUEST: School principals submits cafeteria request to school food department to remove all Sugar Sweetened Beverages (SSB’s) from school menu for one week. Participating school cafeterias agree not to sell any Sugar Sweetened Beverages (SSB’s) including chocolate milk, fruit juices, soda, Vitamin Water, Snapple Ice Tea and/or any other sweetened beverages during Shocktober.

AFTER SCHOOL SNACK REQUEST: Principals agree to eliminate Sugar Sweetened Beverages (SSB’s) from After School programs snacks during Shocktober.

SHUT DOWN VENDING MACHINES: Principals agree to shut down vending machines and cover with “I Choose To Be Sugar Free” posters during Shocktober.

NO BAKE SALES: Principals suspend any fundraising involving sugar sweetened food products including cupcakes, cookies, candy and sodas during Shocktober.

INVOLVE FACULTY: Encourage all faculty to abstain from conspicuous consumption of Sugar Sweetened Beverages (SSB’s) on school campus during Shocktober.

GET LOUD & PROUD: Display Energy Up! Sugar Free Shock-tober posters (Sugar Free Zone, I Choose To Be Sugar Free, Energy Up! Affirmations and 5 Day Soda Free Pledge) Post Pledge flyers on doors, walls and hallways

MAKE IT FUN: Host a in-school Energy Up! Sugar Free Shock-tober contest

GET INSPIRED: America’s Top Energy Conductor, Kathie Dolgin aka High Voltage, and her creative team ensures your program’s success by providing colorful graphics, delicious alternatives to sugar sweetened beverages, words of encouragement and ideas for incentives!

JOIN ENERGYUP.ORG: Like ‘Energy Up’ on facebook, and online at www.energyup.org

For more information about Sugar Free Shock-tober contact Kathie Dolgin: thevoltage@aol.com and (310) 713-9229

Sugar Shocktober 2015

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Energy Up!, the leader of the “I Choose To Be Sugar Free” School Movement seeks to help schools improve the overall health of their student body with a proven and successful health and wellness in-school campaign called ‘SUGAR SHOCKTOBER’

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Energy Up!’s SUGAR SHOCKTOBER is a five-day nationwide in-school health and wellness campaign scheduled for the month of October. The program’s goal is to educate students, teachers and faculty about the harmful health impact of Sugar Sweetened Beverages (SBB’s) and to empower them to choose healthy beverage alternatives like water.

Specifically we chose to focus our efforts on the week leading up to Halloween, well known for it’s frighteningly high sugar consumption, to trigger awareness of the hazards of excessive sugar consumption before students go trick or treating. Did you know the content of a bag of typical Halloween treats contains over 4,800 calories, one-and-a-half cups of fat and 144 teaspoons of sugar?

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Halloween is not the end of the average American’s sugar overload. It’s just the beginning of a season of too much sugar-laden candy, desserts and sweet drinks that runs from Halloween through Thanksgiving through Hanukkah and Christmas, and New Year’s. According to some estimates, the average American gains seven pounds during the holiday season which is why SUGAR SHOCKTOBER is so strategic in serving to improve the well-being of our children.

The program kicks off with students, teachers and faculty learning to calculate how much added sugar is in their favorite foods and beverages through Energy Up!‘s popular branded educational tool, Energy Up! Sugar Shock. Energy Up! provides ideas on healthy beverage alternatives and encourages everyone on campus to take Energy Up!‘s 5 Day Soda Free Pledge. Colorful “I Choose To Be Sugar Free” posters and flyers promote awareness and support efforts to change behaviors. Prizes and giveaways make it fun to participate! Participating schools agree to eliminate Sugar Sweetened beverages (SSB’s) from school menus and vending machines throughout the week to make it easier for participants to reach their goals.

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Additionally, students, teachers and faculty receive the tools, inspiration and encouragement they need to eliminate SSB’s from their daily diet for five days and longer at energyup.org

Last year over 2,500 students, teachers and school faculty in private and public schools in the tri-state NYC area participated in Energy Up! SUGAR SHOCKTOBER. For five whole days, these schools took the “SSB-Free” pledge, promoted awareness, eliminated Sugar Sweetened Beverage from the menu, participated in more physical activity and drank more water.

Join the “I Choose To Be Sugar Free” School Movement today! Be a part of this historic health and wellness event by taking the first step to improving the overall health of your school. When you eliminate sugar sweetened beverages (SSB’s) such as soft drinks, fruit juices, chocolate milk and sports drinks in your school, you’re improving the wellbeing of your students, faculty and staff.

In the United States, two-thirds of adults and one-third of children are overweight or obese.

Research has demonstrated a significant link between sugar consumption and weight gain. As our country addresses a growing health, economic and national security crisis caused by obesity, public health officials are seeking to address the most significant source of added sugar in the American diet: sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs).

Sodas, sweet fruit juices, and even chocolate milk add, on average, an additional 347 calories per day to the American Youth’s (between the ages of 12 and 19) diet. Sugary soft drinks account for 7 percent of total caloric intake in the United States and equate to an excess of 15 pounds per year per person, without any nutritional benefit.

Contained in one 20-ounce bottle of soda are 65 grams of sugar. This is equivalent to the sugar content of nearly three two-ounce chocolate candy bars or approximately 22 packets of table sugar.

American children consume over 180 pounds of sugar per year. That’s a half-pound of sugar a day! (Experts agree that consuming over 4-6 teaspoons of added sugars each day will cause serious health complications.)

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Sugar Sweetened Beverages that are high in sugar can cause type II diabetes, hypoglycemia, high blood pressure, weight gain, obesity, tooth decay, a slew of other health problems and for millions of people they can become totally addictive.

According to the American Medical Association (AMA), the nation’s largest organization of physicians, significantly reducing sugar-sweetened beverage consumption is a key component in solving America’s obesity crisis.

Thank you for joining and Choosing to Be Sugar Free in Energy Up!’s SUGAR SHOCKTOBER 2015 Program.

LEARN HOW YOU CAN GET INVOLVED IN SUGAR SHOCKTOBER — CLICK HERE!

Sugar Savvy 5-Day Pledge

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Welcome to Voltage’s annual TAKE THE PLEDGE campaign! This 5-Day nationwide health and wellness campaign raises awareness to the frightening amount of added sugar contained in popular processed foods and drinks consumed on a daily basis.

For the over 35 years Voltage has been educating to the fact that added sugar is driving America’s Obesity and Type 2 Diabetese epidemic. Health experts have stated that moderation is the key to success. This is true, however, people first have to understand what moderation looks like. Our 5-Day Sugar Savvy Pledge defines moderation while assisting participants to maintain a healthier relationship with food in general.

Watch Voltage in action at The Young Women’s Leadership School in New York City!

  

Below you’ll find download links for materials that will help you launch your very own Sugar Savvy Take the Pledge Campaign

 

Donate + Support

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EnergyUp is dedicated to continue spreading the word and working with girls to teach them to be FIT, FAB & FIERCE! Now, with the launching of the interactive website, we can truly communicate with girls (and the parents) worldwide!

The habits our children create today, will carry over into adulthood and can make a difference in reducing/eliminating their risk of developing Type 2 Diabetes, High Blood Pressure/Hypertension and High Cholesterol, Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, Respiratory Problems, Orthopedic Problems, and Skin Problems.

Energy Up! is a unique program and the only one with proven results that have been published in an esteemed Medical Journal. Help EUVA reach out to your community!

We now make giving easier for you, by accepting donations through PayPal. However, if you would prefer to send a check to us directly, please include:

  • Name
  • Address
  • Contact Info (Telephone / Email)

EnergyUp.org (EUVA)
PO Box 1795
New York, NY 10159

Sugar Sleuthing 1

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Flavored Latte’s

When venturing into a coffee shop, most people search for an option that tastes yummy with as few calories and fat as possible. What people really need to be looking for is the option with less sugar. As Voltage and Energy Up! Promotes, sugar is what people have become addicted to and is a major contributing factor to diseases such as Type 2 Diabetes, high blood pressure, and Cancer. What people don’t know is that their hazelnut latte, caramel macchiato, or mocha is not just fattening, but nothing but sugar.

The most often ordered drink at a coffee shop is most likely a vanilla latte or a vanilla coffee. Take the latte for example. If a person were to go into Starbucks and order a grande (medium) vanilla nonfat latte, they think they are doing well cutting out the fat and therefore reducing the calories. A grande vanilla latte at Starbucks has 4 pumps of vanilla in it. The serving size on the vanilla bottle says 2 tablespoons with 19grams of sugar per serving. Keep in mind that the recommended amount of sugar per 24-hour period is 24 grams. About two pumps of Vanilla comes out to 1 tablespoon, so at 4 pumps, that’s already 4 tablespoons and 38 grams of sugar in the latte. That’s the minimum amount of sugar in the latte given that the barista makes the drink to Starbucks standard and does not add any extra pumps of syrup, which often ends up happening.

People also think that they can aid their health by choosing non-dairy milk, which would be true if the substitute has no added sweetener or sugar. At an establishment like Starbucks, they use vanilla soymilk, which has 13grams of sugar per 8 ounce serving…back to the grande vanilla latte scenario. If someone orders a grande soy vanilla latte, they are adding an additional 26 grams of sugar to their order. This is because a grande drink is 16 ounces, and the soy has 13 grams per 8 ounces, so there’s double the sugar from the soy in the drink.

The problem isn’t always the calories and the fat in foods and drinks it’s the sugar. One medium vanilla latte in the morning will on average put the person 10 grams of sugar over the recommended and healthy daily amount, which

is where the problem lies. Most people do not know that the sugar is the problem because people have become addicted to it.

A great alternative to any sugary latte or coffee is a skinny version. If nonfat milk is not preferred, one can still use whole or 2% milk with sugar free syrup to still get the flavor in the latte without all the added sugar. If one wishes to cut out syrups in general, Truvia is an awesome natural sweetener that doesn’t add the grams of sugar but still makes drinks taste sweet. It’s important to stay Sugar Savvy and know where sugar is lurking. You may be surprised where sugar is hiding in your life.

Sugar Sleuthing 2

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Cough Drops

Every now and then people get sick and experience the common sore throat. When people have a cough and sore throat and live a busy life like any New Yorker does, it’s easy to reach for a cough drop to temporarily soothe the pain, and they taste like candy so that makes taking the medicine a bit less harsh. What people don’t commonly know is that a cough drop is a fancy form of candy with some mint or other herbs in it to help relieve a cough or sore throat.

There are brands that have come out with natural/organic/no added sugar/made with real fruit cough drops, but as Voltage often mentions, the more “healthy” stuff written on a package means it’s actually not that healthy for you at all—it’s important to read the ingredients and see what’s really in the cough drop.

Brands like Halls are known for making very sugary flavors like tropical twist and very very berry. They have so much sugar that they taste like noting other than candy, which some people commonly buy instead of candy. What people aren’t realizing is just as people can be addicted to medicines, sugar has the same affect on the brain—it’s addictive.

Other brands that pride themselves on being natural and the healthier option for cough drops, such as Ricola still have a significant amount of sugar in them. Here’s the breakdown: A standard package of Ricola cough drops has 24 drops in it, and each drop contains about 3 grams of sugar. Keeping in mind that Sugar Savvy means 24 grams of sugar in 24 hours, it’s easy to down half a package in a day, which would mean 36grams of sugar in a day just from 12 cough drops. This also means that as a whole, the package of cough drops has 72 grams of sugar in it.

When one is addicted to a substance, such as sugar, they would think nothing of consuming half or more of a package of cough drops to relieve some pain or discomfort while they are suffering from cough or sore throat, but that’s exactly what the problem is. It’s hard for people to stop at just one.

Many companies, including Halls and Ricola have now made sugar free options. Next time that sore throat or cough is bothering you and you’re on the go, reach for the sugar free option, and you’ll easily save yourself anywhere from 3-72grams of sugar in a day just from something designed to help you feel better when you are feeling under the weather.