Success Story 

Knowing your Limits

The Nutrition Education Program has been helping our communities to learn how unhealthy choices, not knowing how many calories are needed to eat every day, large food portions, and limited physical activities can lead to many chronic diseases.

The adult obesity rate in Gallatin County is 36% in adults according to the Kentucky Health Facts Organization. One main factor that contributes to weight gain and obesity is soda consumption. Recent studies show that people are drinking more sodas; people need to learn that doing this stresses the body’s ability to process sugars. Scientists now believe that the sweet stuff may help explain why the number of Americans with type 2 diabetes has tripled from 6.6 million in 1980 to 20.8 million to today.

When delivering in Gallatin County to the Hispanic Community the nutrition lesson “Know the Limits” as part of the Healthy Choices for Everybody Series, all 15 participants were shocked to learn that unnecessary extra calories usually come from what they drink. The majority of attendees shared that they were drinking one or more cans of soda a day. Drinking a single 330 ml can a day of soda, or sugary drinks translates to more than 2 lbs. of weight gain every month. Many of these soft drinks contain caffeine, which is mildly addictive; this fact can be part of the reason why soda is such a hard habit to break. In addition, sodas are inexpensive when compared with fruit juice and milk, which can be part of the reason low-income people tend to buy it more.  

Three of the participants committed to stopping drinking sodas, the rest said that they would decrease their intake.

After 7 weeks one of the participants said that she learned how to “Know The Limits” with the “Healthy Choices for Everybody Program” and reported that she lost 6 pounds drinking water instead of soda, it gave her confidence and pride.  She has now started an exercise routine.

Mimi Quiroz

Nutrition Education Assistant

Gallatin County