Adrian Pedraza examined the plastic bags filled with refined sugar, representing how much of the sweet stuff is found in popular sodas and drinks.
“I’m not supposed to drink soda,” the 12-year-old Elgin boy said, standing in front of a display Advocate Sherman Hospital recently had at a community event. He does like a little Mountain Dew sometimes. He was surprised to learn a can of Mountain Dew has 77 grams of sugar. He thought a can of Monster Energy may be better, but the energy drink has 54 grams of sugar.
Advocate Sherman Hospital representatives go to many community events providing information about sugary drinks and nutrition.
Advocate Health Care, the largest health care system in the state, does not sell any regular sodas in its hospital cafeterias or vending machines.
In 2015, Sherman joined all hospitals within the Advocate Health Care system in offering a wider array of healthier beverage choices and replaced highly sugar-sweetened beverages with a variety of no-sugar or low-sugar added options, said Tonya Lucchetti-Hudson, director of public affairs and marketing for Advocate Sherman Hospital.
“We are proud to join more than 20 other U.S. health systems and hospitals that are part of a growing trend to provide a variety of healthier beverages for retail sales,” Lucchetti-Hudson said.
Overall beverage sales have remained about the same, however, Sherman has seen an increase of water-based beverages, she said.
It is the only hospital in the area that has taken the step. Presence Saint Joseph Hospital in Elgin and Presence Mercy Medical Center in Aurora do sell regular soda but both are participating in a grant from the Kane County Health Department to reduce sodium in the food choices offered, said Tim A. Blackmore, regional Manager and marketing and communications suburban region for Presence.
Centegra Health System continues to offer sodas in its hospitals, including its newest one in Huntley, said Michelle Green, Centegra manager, public relations and communications. “Our experts educate patients and community members about healthy choices and provide them information to support their decisions,” she said.
Advocate Health Care studied the idea and consulted with Sherman’s nutrition council about the decision, said Joan Kanute, executive director service excellence and population health.
“I think it’s always great when a health care organization wants to role model health,” Kanute said. “I think we should always lead the way in that area.”
Kanute does community outreach and attends different events to provide the public information about sugary drinks. The visuals — bags filled with sugar representing how much sugar drinks like Coke or juice have — help people understand how much sugar are in drinks and understand how those drinks affect their overall health, from tooth decay to heart disease, she said.
“People don’t even realize how much sugar they are consuming when they drink those drinks,” she said. Sports drinks are also displayed, she said. Those drinks “falsely give the impression they are healthier for you,” she said.
National standards recommend eliminating products that have refined sugar or fructose, Kanute said.
“We recommend you don’t have any,” she said, but the reality is people will make choices that are not always healthy. Drinking sugary drinks should be a rare choice rather than a daily one, she said, adding some people drink three or four sodas a day.
Soda consumption has increased through the years as vending machines became more available and convenient stores became popular along with society “becoming more reliant on convenience foods, fast foods and eating on the run,” she said.
“A lot of time, the option most available is the unhealthy choice,” Kanute said. “I think it’s just a matter of priorities. The healthy choices are not the most economical as a society. We have the opportunity to change that and make healthy foods more available and more affordable, making it easier for people to make a healthy choice.”
Soda and sugary drinks shouldn’t be a stable of your diet, she said. Drinking diet soda is not awful but not necessarily healthy, she said. “I always encourage people drink water, it will hydrate you without artificial colors or ingredients.”
If you are drinking two or three sodas daily, start cutting back gradually, Kanute recommends.
“My philosophy, as a dietitian, is to start with baby steps toward your ultimate goal,” she said. “Do something you can stick with…if someone is drinking that much a day, cutting down to two and go from there then cut it out completely.”
If you are diabetic and the effects of sugary drinks is impacting your overall health, she recommends cutting consumption right away, she said.
Gloria Casas is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.
