3 Ways to Limit the Amount of Sugar Your Child Consumes
Search Out Delicious Healthy Sweets
1. Avoid Introducing Young Children to Sugar in the First Place
Almost all children find sweets appealing. Forestall their exposure to candy, sugar and all sorts of sweets (even fruit juice) for as long as possible. It will happen soon enough. Early exposure to sweets impairs cultivation of other tastes and an appreciation for natural fruits and vegetables. Be a role model for children and keep sweets out of the house.
Offer sweet-tasting herbal teas, such as licorice or fennel. Squeeze a fresh orange into a glass of water. Avoid sweetened beverages and especially soda pop. Resist the temptation to give kids sweets to make them happy or pacify temper tantrums. No good can come of it.
2. Encourage Children's Tastes for Healthy Foods
Toddlers and young children will often eat a little at a time, and little of one particular item or dish. However, children may be hungry often and prefer to snack throughout the day. You may be more successful in cultivating an appreciation for vegetables by trying not to force a child to eat an entire helping of broccoli, for example, but having a wide variety of vegetables available and allowing just one or two bites at a time. This helps young taste buds acquire an appreciation of a wide variety of vegetable flavors. Children will also tend to eat more and appreciate more vegetable flavors and textures when veggies are lightly steamed (even if served chilled); a variety of dipping sauces is available. Allow children to graze on vegetables cut into bite-sized pieces and dip them in a sweet sauce such as Russian dressing, or a cheesy sauce such as ranch dressing. Peanut-butter dressings and honey vinaigrettes are often tolerated, while spicy barbecue and complex blends are not.
Children often favor the sweeter vegetables: carrots, peas and corn. Once you find something a child likes (or at least tolerates), continue serving it while attempting to widen his horizons toward broccoli, beets, brussels sprouts and celery. Initial rejection is no reason to stop serving the food. A child may have to encounter the vegetable on 10 or more occasions before she acquires a taste for it. Keep trying: Serving it with different sauces, cooked a different way and/or with other condiments until the palate can be developed.
3. Search for Natural Sweets with Some Health Benefits
Search out and develop alternatives to candy, ice cream, cookies and store-bought sweets, pastries and donuts. Make smoothies with frozen bananas and soy milk or fresh fruit as an ice cream alternative. Stew whole pears or apples and serve with cinnamon, dried fruit, coconut or any other natural sweet a child might like. Make a whole-grain pancake or waffle and offer it as a dessert with fresh fruit slices, peanut butter and a drizzle of honey or maple syrup. Bake homemade cookies with redeeming nutritional virtues. Bake with honey instead of white or brown sugar. Use dates, raisins, chopped fruit, applesauce or mashed bananas to sweeten recipes, and add nuts, flax seeds, wheat germ, oatmeal, coconuts or other ingredients to reduce the amount of flour and increase the nutrient and fiber content.
Only allow such sweets as a dessert or reward for a good day's vegetable intake. Never allow sweets, even the healthier ones, to crowd out a child's primary meals and nutritious snacks.
Member Comments
by Kallie1 on June 30, 2009 at 11:14 AM
Heres an idea...Dont give your child sugar. That was tough!
by christyevab on June 30, 2009 at 8:24 PM
umm.. that was point number 1. did you read this?
by klomarie on July 1, 2009 at 12:39 PM
I have a 13 year old and I don't completely forbade him to sweets therefore he really doesn't crave them.
Obviously you didn't read the above mentioned article clearly!
Here's an idea for the ridiculous commenter... READ an article before you comment
by arielmoon on June 30, 2009 at 11:40 AM
Great thoughts here but I must point out that most grocery store dressings contain high fructose corn syrup. Reading food content labels can assist with encouraging healthy eating habits for everyone.
by KSarnacki on July 1, 2009 at 9:11 AM
Bolthouse Farms makes a line of dressings that are yogurt based (not mayo). The also do not have high fructose corn syrup, they use pureed apples instead. If you are looking for a dressing to go with veggies or a salad, or even a dressing to make coleslaw they are great!
by Foodyogi on June 30, 2009 at 11:41 AM
This is good advice. I think its critical that parents themselves adopt the healthy practices mentioned in the article. Then it is but natural that kids will also eat healthy.
Foodyogi
by jschlik on June 30, 2009 at 11:48 AM
I second Kallie's comment. Let not let "them" get what they want. Parenting 101!!!
by Sarabiner on June 30, 2009 at 2:38 PM
My sister has a 4 year old daughter who gets to choose her own treats at the grocery. She gets an "allowence' for the treat (usually a dollar or two of pocket change) and always comes out with something different. I've seen her choose 'snacks' like cherries, mushrooms, almonds or an avacado.
Her mum leads by example by eating (and enjoying) her fruits and vegetables, making the occasion indulence by having a small portion of sweets and teaching her kid about the health benifits of what she's eating. Even if she understands 20% of the jargon her mum tells her, its still helping out.
by papinok on June 30, 2009 at 11:51 AM
Actually it is evry tough especially when schools and daycares use it to pacify and reward kids. I made a comment to the pricipal at my daughter's middle school about thier punishment reward system. They make the children run laps when they are bad and give them sweets when they are good. How jacked up is that? I am trying to get through to my kids that sugar is poison and telling them about all the people we know who are diabetic and what diabetes does to you, etc. I guess fear tactics can be affective too. I think the schools should rethink thier approach to health and diet and stress the health related consequences of eating too much sugar and fat. They are the indoctrination system in our society in many different ways.
Thanks for letting me vent. I am grateful to live in a country like the US where we have so much.
by meremom515 on June 30, 2009 at 1:39 PM
Not to mention they are causing possibly permanent aversion toward running and exercise. What they do at that school is very wrong in my book, and I would need to vent too.
by christyevab on June 30, 2009 at 8:25 PM
i might be a bit afraid of making them fear things too much. It is right that sugar is very very bad for us... but to then feel guilty or even scared when deciding to have a reasonable treat kills a lot of joy.
by aramirez626 on June 30, 2009 at 12:01 PM
I am with you all in limiting sugar in children. I have always wondered however, that if you make sugar completely off limits if kids will rebel and eventually start sneaking them. My younger sister did this. My mother would not let us eat many sweets, and my sister started sneaking them into her room when one day my mom found a hidden shoebox full of candy wrappers from who knows how long!
In other words, is it okay to offer in moderation, or one sweet per day, or off limits at all times?
by butterwoman on June 30, 2009 at 12:13 PM
Might it be that we are a nation of sweet-lovers, a nation of diabetics, because we have left behind the foods that provided nutrients and balance to our forebears? Foods like butter and eggs and cheese and whole milk and such? Even foods like liver and steak?!!
My kids enjoy a good sweet now and then, but are not crazy for sweets because they are fully satisfied with the meat, cheese, milk, and broccoli with butter! that they are served at mealtimes. One good way to get kids to eat vegetables? Serve them as is most nourishing with a dollop of butter on top!
I wish good health to us all!
by aramirez626 on June 30, 2009 at 12:35 PM
Butterwoman, I agree with the butter thing. True, whole butter, not that plastic crap, is in my opinion real, good food. Same with quality (not processed) cheese, yum! I get your point though - when we(kids) get a craving for sweets, it might be becasue your body is hungry and a quality piece of food will satisfy you (your child) just as well.
by chattyone09 on June 30, 2009 at 12:44 PM
Monkey see, moneky do! Parents lead by example, your kids, no matter the age, know that you're sneaking chocolate bars, Starbucks and other treats; exercise moderation family wide.
I too had to speak to my daughter's schools about motivating with candy & snacks, all of them, she is now 18. One would think that folks with advanced degrees in teaching would be a bit more creative!
by meremom515 on June 30, 2009 at 1:47 PM
I have to say, this article is about limiting sweets not eliminating, so this should answer any "questions" on whether or not it's "okay" in moderation. You're the parent, you decide the limit.
The problem I have isn't schools or my modelling, it is two things that haven't been mentioned: 1 grandparents not seeming to care about our rules or desires and giving my daughter sweets whenever they want, and 2 societal words, conversations, and the brainwashing we all have that it's ok constantly complain about our weight or how we wish we could indulge in this or that or about how fat Americans are, etc etc. It's so hard to break yourself of a bred-in habit like that, and to encourage others not to talk that way (and hopefully stop thinking that way) too.
Any thoughts on the grandparents issue?
by Jas81 on July 2, 2009 at 6:46 AM
Have had some experience with the grandparent problem. We are limiting our daughter's sugar exposure for as long as we can (she's 1 now). One grandmother is completely on board - she only buys organic and is a complete health nut herself. Her husband however always threatens to load her up on sweets when if she comes over. We've told him repeatedly that if he actually does this, he will lose babysitting time. Period. Another grandmother just doesn't understand that we're shooting for genuine health, not comparative health. She keeps adult yogurt (full of HFCS!) and Honey Nut Cheerios around and says "Hey, look! Healthy food for the baby!" The other day she told me she bought fruit cups for her - drowned in syrup no doubt.
Forgive my rant but this has been a big parenting deal for us - most of my family at least is overweight &/or diabetic, etc. We are not so strict that she has never had sugar, we just don't make it or high-salt foods a daily part of her life.
by valmonson on June 30, 2009 at 1:55 PM
Give me a break. Everything in moderation.!
by valmonson on June 30, 2009 at 1:56 PM
Give me a break. Everything in moderation.!
by papinok on July 1, 2009 at 7:00 AM
What about moderation? LOL!
by mtnlover on June 30, 2009 at 7:34 PM
my mom did this with me and it worked. no sugar for the first 2 yrs of my life and i don't have a sweet tooth!
by gordo09 on July 1, 2009 at 6:55 AM
I have never limited my children's sweets and we have them in the house. They eat broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, carrots ... pretty much anything I put in front of them. And if you put a bowl of grapes in front of them and a chocolate bar, they'll choose the grapes. Educate your children, don't deprive them. You can't shield them from sweets.
by KSarnacki on July 1, 2009 at 9:10 AM
Bolthouse Farms makes a line of dressings that are yogurt based (not mayo). The also do not have high fructose corn syrup, they use pureed apples instead. If you are looking for a dressing to go with veggies or a salad, or even a dressing to make coleslaw they are great!
by mgabiy on July 2, 2009 at 4:54 PM
Everything that was said was very touching but those ideas in practice is very difficult because children have a lot of information and are free to choose what they want to eat, to do during their day and so on. Howevever we should try to follow those advices.
by KandesLee on July 2, 2009 at 5:14 PM
I restricted my son's sugar intake when he was little and always told him why sugar was not good for him. Then when he was older I let him make his own choices andd led by example. He went through some sugar phases, but was far better than most other kids I know. I am pregnant right now and have a relentless chocolate chip cookie craving, and also ice cream. I have to laugh when my son, who is now 14, tells me that he is sick of all the junk food in the house because his step-mom is also pregnant and craving honeey buns. I guess I did a good job. :o)