It’s been an exciting few days here
at Pathfinder Village, but we will ALWAYS be here with the freshest fruits and
vegetables on Thursday afternoons at Pathfinder Produce! We hope you’ll
be able to join us this week at the Village Commons for the tastiest produce
around!
A HUGE THANK YOU goes out to
all our sponsors, volunteers, and participants who made the third annual Splash
Path 5K and Fun Walk such a great success. It really is tremendous to see
such an outpouring of support for Pathfinder Village and our programs … there
was no end to the smiles on everyone’s faces during Splash Path and the
after-run party. What an incredible area we live in!
Also, we’d like to extend our
heartfelt congratulations to our first-ever graduating class for Otsego
Academy, our two-year post-secondary program for adults with intellectual
disabilities. Our students will hold their formal year-end ceremonies
this Friday evening. Some of our students will be moving on to the next
chapter in their lives, others will be returning to continue their studies next
fall -- each person has become a leader here in our community, and has grown
academically, in ability, and become more confident. We’re so proud of
all our students!
***
New Labels
Last week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
and First Lady Michelle Obama unveiled a new update to the current nutrition facts labels that are featured on
all commercially processed foods. The new labels indicate to consumers
how much added sugar is present in the foods they are buying,
which is key to helping fight our national addiction to sugar.
Before now, unless consumers
were well-educated about encrypted names for added sugars, it has been
difficult to determine how much sugar is added in processing. According
to a story by the Washington Post, the new labels include larger type for
the number of calories and servings per container, and a new line lists total
sugars. This tells us how much sugar was added in manufacturing, and how
much that sugar amounts to in comparison to one’s daily recommended intake of
sugar.
This could be a boon to
families who want to eat healthier, but have been scratching their heads over
how much sugar is actually included in foods, even those that have been touted
as being good nutritional choices. Some of these
sneaky foods include sweetened yogurts, breakfast cereals, granola bars, and
fruit snacks.
According to a November 2015
post on Livestrong.com, both the U.S. Department of Agriculture
and the World Health Organization recommend general guidelines that people
should not get more than 10% of their recommended calories per day through sugars.
But that may still result in kids getting too much sugar for healthy
development. The American Pediatric Association and American Heart Association recommend lower limits for everyone:
· Very
young children, newborns through age 3, should not have any added sugars, as
they receive sufficient sugar from the fruits, vegetables and dairy products
they eat.
· Children
ages 4 to 8 should take in no more than 3 to 4 teaspoons of added sugar per
day. Doing the math, 3 to 4 times 16 calories per teaspoon 48 to 64
calories of added sugars. (12 to 16 grams).
· Older
tweens and teens should limit themselves to no more than 5 to 8 teaspoons of
added sugar each day. This amounts to 80 to 128 calories per day.
(20 to 32 grams).
· Adult
women should consume no more than 100 calories per day, or about 6 teaspoons,
of added sugar. (24 grams)
· Adult
men should consume no more than 150 calories per day, or about 9 teaspoons, of
added sugar a day. (36 grams).
Sometimes, it’s hard to know
how much sugar you are eating because sugar content is listed in grams on many
labels. For a rough guideline, one teaspoon of white sugar equals about 4
grams. (The above numbers in teaspoons are shown as grams in
parenthesis).
Until next time, read your
labels, do the math, and focus on the genuinely sweet things in life!
Lori
