I didn't have much time to stop today before and after my interview with UGA family and consumer sciences Extension agent Nancy Bridges. But I have a few places I would love to visit - Ray's Biscuit Barn, the guy selling boiled peanuts next to the nearby gas station, the senior center, The Hut, both downtown Crawford and Lexington. By the way, I'm not sure what The Hut is, but it looks interesting. Oh, lookie here. According to Google, it's a restaurant. And it got a health score of 83, in November. Maybe I won't be visiting. On the encouraging side, the biscuit barn got a 91. And all the schools got 100s. And the county jail got a 94. If you'd like to check out the scores, they're online at http://www.publichealthathens.com/healthscores/Oglethorpe_county_restaurant_scores.html.
Being a family and consumer sciences agent, Nancy also talked a little about food, especially since tomorrow (Tuesday) she's teaching a class to parents about food and nutrition - and sugar. Mmm. Sugar. Her take on it wasn't quite as mouthwatering. Here are a few numbers that may get me to cut back on my intake, maybe.
Year — Average sugar intake per person per year
1800s — 12 pounds of sugar per year
1975 — 118 pounds per year
1990 — 137.5 pounds per year
Today — 156 pounds per year
That 156 pounds is the close equivalent to 31 five-pound bags of sugar per person per year. And I just ate ice cream.
But sugar's not just in the sweet foods we eat. It's in the sweet drinks we, well, drink. A 20-ounce bottle of Sunkist, for instance, has about 21 teaspoons of sugar, or about 1/2 cup's worth. A 24-ounce bottle of cola has 24 teaspoons of sugar.
Suddenly, I don't feel so bad about adding three teaspoons of sugar to my coffee. But maybe I should.
Speaking of sweet, here's a photo of the view from the Oglethorpe County Extension Office.
Nice transition from wide angle view of restaurants to close up on sugar, via Nancy Bridge's extension class. That is a LOT of granular white stuff we're woofing down.
ReplyDeleteThat quaint paint-peeled shack you saw, The Hut, specializes in serving Potato Boats. The name gives a pretty good idea of what these grease-soaked "treats" are. You won't find sugar atop them but I imagine they are a gateway to a few other health problems, like, oh, 100 percent of your daily allowance of fat. The facts you give in your story add much to it and I love getting a historical perspective on things. Think I'll use that one at the next cocktail party. Equivalent of a 31-POUND BAG OF SUGAR??? Yowser.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Pat!
ReplyDeleteI was also surprised by how much sugar we're eating, but I believe it. I just did a quick calculation, and if I add three teaspoons of sugar to my coffee every morning, that adds up to 22.25 cups per year - just for sugar in my coffee. Whoa.
Kathleen, those grease boats sound fabulous - in a grab-your-chest-and-have-a-heart-attack kind of way. But, the key question is, do they have cheese on top?