Logo unveiled/ Health info for diabetics.

Hey everyone-

Well- as you can probably tell- the page looks a little different which means... the new logo for Take Action for Wellness has been unveiled. Thats what you now see at the top of the page! Isn't it great?! Emily Childrey did a fantastic job on the logo! We're so proud of it and excited to be able to share it with everyone! So leave your comments of what you think! We'll be putting it in the paper soon as well as awarding Emily for her hard work! Thanks so much to Mrs. Mason and Emily! :)

Here is some information that my Marcia put up on her facebook page that could come in handy: http://www.prevention.com/health/diabetes/12-ways-never-get-diabetes#.Tz8phSMRIeM.facebook

Also- as you all know- I get diabetes e-mails from Spark people and sometimes I like to post what I get. So all credit for this next bit of the post goes to Spark people:

How Many Calories Are You Drinking?

Sneaky Calories in Beverages Really Add Up!

-- By Sarah Haan, Registered Dietitian

They go down easily and can be found anywhere and everywhere. Water, tea, milk, juice, soda, flavored waters, coffee, energy drinks, smoothies. This list touches just a few of the many categories of beverages but doesn’t evendelve into the different brands, sizes, flavors and varieties. Plus, with the billions of dollars spent to make drinks look, like, way cool, it’s hard to resist them! You probably couldn't avoid them even if you tried; they are everywhere you turn, tempting you at gas stations, schools, doctor's offices, malls, movie theaters, airports, bus stops, street corners, your workplace—even at the gym! For time’s sake, let’s skip counting the dollars spent on marketing these drinks and go straight to the number that matters most if you're watching your weight: 400. 

That's the average number of calories Americans drink on a daily basis, according to a recent study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, which showed that around 37 percent of our total daily liquid calories come from sugar-sweetened drinks. So where are all of these calories coming from? Here is a sampling of the calories hiding in your cup. 

Soda is the most-discussed beverage that sneaks calories into your day. Soda and fruit-flavored drinks can rack up to 250 calories per 12 ounces. Ginger ale and dark cola are the lowest in calorie at about 120 calories per 12 ounces, and cream soda is the highest with about 200 calories per 12 ounces. Portion size does really say it all! When these sugary liquids are sold in 20 ounce, 48 ounce, 1 liter and 2 liter bottles, it would be easy to work up to 800 calories in drinks a day if you're not being conscious of your choices. (Big) gulp! 

"Juice" drinks (flavored, sugar-sweetened juice) can rack up more calories perounce than soda! Orange,grape and cranberry juice drinks have about 216 calories per 12 ounces. But they seem so healthy! Don't let the fact that a portion of the ingredients in those bottles come from fruit fool you. The calories in these beverages should not be overlooked. Thankfully, food labels make it easy to check out the calorie content prior to purchasing a drink. Flip over labels before buying anything, and, of course, check the portion size! 

Even 100% fruit juice, be it orange, apple, grape, pomegranate, cranberry or another flavor, can contribute calories to your diet. It’s great that all the sugar in fruit juice is natural and direct from the fruit, but unlike a whole piece of fruit, fruit juice is very concentrated in sugar, which makes it high in calories. Juice can also count as a serving of fruit if you’re getting about 6 ounces, but if you’re filling a big 24 ounce cup, you could be pouring about 320 calories of OJ with your breakfast. Go for grape juice or pineapple juice and the numbers are even higher. The key here is to stick to a 4 to 6 ounce serving of juice with your breakfast, and enjoy alarge glass of water to hydrate yourself! If you’re worried about getting in your vitamins, grab a whole piece of fruit for a snack or add some berries or sliced fruit to your yogurt or cereal in the morning. Anytime you can eat fruit or vegetables rather than drinking them, you'll be better off.

Milk, including non-dairy milkalternatives, is often overlooked when it comes to calories. Although the beverage tastes great and is great for you, it does still contribute calories. A single serving of milk is 8 ounces, which is probably less than what many people pour at meals or on a big bowl of cereal in the morning. A tall dinner glass is about 12 to 16 ounces, which provides 132-168 calories if you choose skim. Fill your glass with 2% milk and that number jumps to 240 calories. These facts don’t discount the key nutrients found in milk that are healthful, but they hopefully encourage a proper serving size. 

Many of us can’t function before 11 a.m. without our coffee. The brewed beverage is, by itself, calorie free, which makes it seem innocent. But with all the enticing additives offered by java joints, the numbers rise sharply. An 8 ounce latte made with whole milk is about 130 calories, but add flavored syrup, sugar and whipped cream on top and your drink now tops 200 calories. But when was the last time you ordered a latte that small? Once we bring up the tall, grande and venti sizes it’s a whole new ball game. A venti gingerbread latte with whole milk and whipped cream packs 440 calories into the cup. Granted, this is a large size, fully loaded, but it does a fine job of painting the picture of how many calories you could be drinking if you don't look up the facts beforehand. 

Those who don’t drink coffee may turn to energy drinks to put pep in their step. Exercisers may also tend to favor energy drinks and sports drinks pre- or post-workout. These drinks may look tiny and taste light, but they can have up to 112 calories per cup. Sports drinkslike Gatorade and Powerade come in at about half that, around 60 calories per cup. But watch out: the bottles they come in can contain up to 32 ounces—not 8 ounces—which adds up to 240 calories per bottle. 


Considering how cheap, accessible and delicious sweetened and caloric beverages are, it's easy to see how the average person consumes hundreds of calories per day from drinks alone. Those liquid calories add up fast for another reason, too: It's so easy to mindlessly drink beverages. If you’re sitting at your desk, driving your car, or watching a movie, it’s not hard to suck down a supersize beverage in 5 minutes without even feeling full or satisfied. Couple this with free refills, and you’ve completed an equation for calorie over-consumption! 

So often, we focus on what we're eating when we want to lose weight or get healthier, but don't forget about liquid calories. You don't have to swear off soda or your morning latte to reach your goals. Just be aware of how much you're drinking, and follow these beverage guidelines to fit your favorite tasty drinks into your healthy eating plan. 

Sources:
Calorie Comparison Chart, The Beverage Institute for Health and Wellness. 
Know Your Daily Liquid Calorie Intake, WomensHealthMag.com.

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Thanks for reading! If any of you find something that you think should be added to this blog please feel free to comment on one of the entries or e-mail me at tafwinlcky@gmail.com Thanks so much. 

Lunch and Learn/Faith-Based Health Ministry

Last week was a busy but very effective week for the diabetes coalition! We had the Lunch and Learn as well as the Faith-Based Health Ministry!

The Lunch and Learn went great! Fantastic food and wonderful conversation! We discussed a lot this meeting. Next month is when an A1C champion comes to talk! We're excited about that! As always with the lunch and learns there will be food and they are always the 3rd wed of the month at noon! So whether or not you were at this last one- hope to see you at the next one.

Now to the Faith-Based Healthy Ministry- the training on saturday went great! The turn out was pretty good also! We're excited about getting this started in our community. The 3 churches involved are Firebrick Christian Baptist church, Vanceburg Christian Church, and Quincy Church of Christ. This is a great opportunity for a raise in health awareness as well as bringing together the coalition and churches! Our next training is in July so we'll hopefully get more churches involved! :)

The decision about the logo has been made and the winner has been notified. I'll post more information about that soon! We're slowly showing many the logo!

Thats all I have for now. I'll get more useful information up during a later post!

TAfW happenings this week

Hey everyone! Happy Valentines day! Hopefully you are enjoying your day but still monitoring your diabetes! :)

This week- Tomorrow we have a lunch and learn at noon at the extension office! Hope to see you there!

Then on Saturday is the Faith-based health ministry: Registration starts at 8:30! Do you want to represent your church there? We've still got openings and would really like your church to be involved. Contact lewiscountycares@yahoo.com to sign your church up for that and to find out more about it. You only need about 1-3 people from your church to come and represent it. So please contact Anita at the above e-mail and we hope to see you this saturday! Thanks.

Right now that's all I have for you! We'll get some more information up soon!

Take Action for Wellness activities.

Hey everyone-

Take Action for Wellness just had our Coalition meeting for February! We're getting started on some great projects that I'll go into detail about more at a later date. Some things that I can mention now are very important though so here we go.

We're in the process of picking a logo out of some great sketches made by students at the High School- from their art class! We're excited about that...

Then we are doing Grocery Store Tours in Lewis County soon. Here are the dates for that:
March 6th- Foodland in Vanceburg- Tour times: 10 am and 5:30 pm
March 13th- Ron's IGA in Tollesboro- Tour times: 10 am and 5:30 pm
March 20th- Collins Country Market in Garrison- Tour Times: 10 am and 5:30 pm

There are limited spaces each tour and you do not have to have diabetes to participate. These tours are a great opportunity! Register at Lewis County CARES: Email Anita Gilbert at lewiscountycares@yahoo.com

We've got even more great things coming up through our Faith Based Health ministry- more information about that has been sent out to churches in the community. If your church would like involved we are looking for 3 to 5 (or 7) churches in the community to be part of that and we need to hear from you before this Friday. Please contact Anita at lewiscountycares@yahoo.com Thank you!

There are a lot of things going on for Take Action for Wellness right now and we're excited for everyone to be part of it! We'll keep you all updated as to new activities and events as we plan them!
Thanks for reading- will blog again soon!