Last night while I was surfing FaceBook, a story on the evening news caught my attention: "Sugarless Wednesdays." What was that? Sugar free? No sugar? No sugar added? Since I only caught half of the story I looked it up. The American Heart Association is encouraging people to give up sugar one day per week. Some sources indicate that churches are asking their congregations to make Sunday a sugarless day while the Illinois legislature is declaring Wednesday sugarless. (January 4-March 29) Whatever day you choose, choosing to be sugarless is a good thing. You will note that the campaign is not called sugar free. The intent is to concentrate on consuming less sugar in the form of sweetened beverages and desserts. According to the American Heart Association, one 20 oz. soda contains more sugar than six glazed doughnuts or 18 cookies. Recent studies have indicated that added sugar in our diets has contributed to the rise in chronic diseases. "Obesity rates tripled in 30 years, and sugar-sweetened beverage consumption among children more than doubled in the last 2 decades of the twentieth century. Many children drink more sugar-sweetened beverages than milk, and sugar-sweetened beverages represent the largest category of daily caloric intake (7%–12%) for many demographic groups. " http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18519465

Many of us made New Year's Resolutions, some have already failed. Why not try the sugarless Wednesday campaign? Make it your Resolution. It's just one day—one day to say no to the extra empty calories that are wreaking havoc on our health. Let's try it.

For more info go to: http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/General/UCM_489848/One-Small-Change_UCM_489848_SubHomePage.jsp