Early studies showed fat was the culprit for high cholesterol and plaque buildup in arteries, but the real villain in this case is sugar. Sugar is responsible for so many health conditions, not to mention lots of fillings and dental work. If you find your child gets unruly after eating sweets, it’s another good reason to get your kids off sugar and find ways to make eating healthy a treat.
Getting your child to eat healthy may not be easy, but it’s worth it.
Check the labels on the food you serve. Often sugar is one of the top ingredients. That doesn’t mean you’re out of danger. Manufacturers got wise to that type of shopping and instead of using one type of sugar, they use several types of sweeteners so all of them are further down on the list and you don’t know just how much sugar there is in the food. What’s the best way to fight this and make sure you control the sugar? Make the food yourself. Some people make a menu and shopping list one night, shop the next and cook the week’s meals, plus a few extra to freeze for later, on the weekend. That way, you don’t have to spend the time shopping or worrying whether sugar is hidden.
What your child drinks is just as important as what he or she eats.
Are you giving your child soft drinks? If so, stop!!! It’s nothing more than sugary flavored bubble water that’s high in calories. Fruit drinks are just as bad, since most only contain a little juice and lots of extra sugar. Even real fruit juice is high in sugar and can cause a spike in blood sugar, since the pulp/fiber in the whole fruit actually slows it. What’s the best option? Plain water is good, but if you want to make it fancy, make it fruit infused water with fruit slices in it. Kids love it.
Snacks without added sugar don’t have to be difficult to create.
Who doesn’t love a slice or two of apple with some chunky natural peanut butter. A bag of homemade trail mix is also good. Get some small snack size bags and put individual servings of mixed nuts in the bag for another healthy snack. Whether it’s young kids or teens, a bowl of fruit that’s already cut up is just an invitation for snacking. Slice up a watermelon or cantaloupe and set out a bowl so it’s ready for snacking.
- Joining your kids in giving up sugar is a great idea. Did you know that too much sugar speeds up the aging process? That can’t make any adult happy!
- Your children will be healthier when you reduce the amount of added sugar in their diet. Sugar negatively affects the immune system and lead to more illness and infections.
- Sugar negatively affects cognitive thinking. One study shows that when sugar was removed from children’s diets at one New York school, the academic ranking went up 15.7%.
- Don’t worry if your child eats some cake and ice cream at a birthday party occasionally, just don’t have it as a constant part of their diet. We have loads of recipes to help cut back on sugar.