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\n <\/div>\nThe parenting space is full of differing opinions and approaches, and how to handle sugar with kids is certainly one of those tough topics.<\/p>\n
Everyone approaches sugar and candy differently, and it\u2019s quite the hot button\u00a0issue in parent groups and various online forums. Our followers tell us that they are bombarded with messages about sugar being terrible, and they are made to feel like bad parents if they let their children have any.<\/p>\n
Megan here. A few years ago I posted\u00a0a cookie recipe<\/a>\u00a0on Instagram that has allergy-friendly modifications, something many of our allergy families were asking us to do. We were bombarded with strongly-worded messages from followers about how irresponsible it was to encourage followers to eat a cookie.<\/p>\n A cookie.<\/em><\/p>\n I don\u2019t think they know me well enough yet\u2026<\/p>\n Here’s the thing. We know that sugar in large quantities is likely not amazing for our physical health,\u00a0and yet<\/em>\u00a0heavily restricting sugar backfires. Plus, sweet foods are delicious and enjoyable, and they form many of the flavors – and memories – of childhood. How do we find a balance that works for us and helps our kids grow up with a healthy\u00a0relationship<\/em>\u00a0to food?\u00a0<\/p>\n Remember,\u00a0you get to decide what works for your family. As a good friend said to me lately,\u00a0my job as a practitioner\u00a0is to make the suggestion \u2013 your job is to make the decision. (Thank you to her Peloton for inspiring this quote!)<\/p>\n Perhaps after reading this you want to change how you approach sugar with your kids or wish you had done things differently. You are a good parent no matter what approach you have been taking, and you are allowed to change your mind and actions when you want to. We support you in doing whatever is best for\u00a0your<\/em>\u00a0family.<\/p>\n Note: if your child has a medical condition that prevents them from eating certain foods, please check out the last portion of this post.<\/em><\/p>\n In case you\u2019re short on time,\u00a0here\u2019s where we stand on sugar<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 head below for citations and explanations:\u00a0<\/p>\n Everywhere you look, adults are trying to limit their intake of sugar. Sugar is the current \u201cdemon\u201d that fat used to be. (Remember when we were advised to eat fat-free cookies, which were actually very high in sugar, because fat was \u201cbad\u201d?)\u00a0Diets like Whole30 and the ketogenic diet have further exacerbated the public focus on sugar.<\/p>\n Many parents shun sugar because they fear that their child will become, or already is, fat. Perhaps they don\u2019t want their children to become \u201caddicted to sugar\u201d like they are. Maybe they don\u2019t want their kids to experience teasing or bullying for their size like they did. These are all valid fears \u2013 we are trying to protect our kids from getting hurt.<\/p>\n Given the current public discussion about sugar, it\u2019s not surprising that many parents fear it and its role in their child\u2019s diet. These fears may be deeply rooted in their own food and body image struggles or fat phobia.\u00a0<\/p>\n Note: the discussion of\u00a0“overweight”\u00a0in children is beyond the scope of this article, but we hope you will learn here that restriction in kids \u2013 especially with the intent to make them lose weight \u2013 can backfire. Children are meant to come in all shapes and sizes, and they deserve love, acceptance and tasty, nourishing foods, no matter how big or small they are. We highly recommend the book\u00a0<\/em>Fat<\/em><\/a>\u00a0Talk<\/em><\/a>\u00a0by Virginia Sole-Smith.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n As health practitioners, we absolutely understand that lots of sugar long-term may have\u00a0detrimental health effects<\/a>, including an increased risk of heart disease, fatty liver disease, inflammation and diabetes.\u00a0<\/p>\n Don\u2019t get us wrong \u2013 we understand that eating a diet low in sugar can help us feel great, at least physically. Some of my clients have had dramatic health improvements by\u00a0minimizing\u00a0sugar when managing specific conditions. I have done therapeutic low-sugar diets for my own health issues. I totally understand how reducing how much sugar we eat can change how we feel, from both a professional and a personal level.<\/p>\n However, recommendations from major medical bodies talk about reducing \u2013 but not eliminating \u2013 sugar. It is generally recognized that sugar can have a place in our diet. Interestingly,\u00a0some data<\/a>\u00a0suggests that both a very high intake\u00a0and a very low intake<\/strong>\u00a0of sugar are associated with poor health outcomes.<\/p>\n Recent recommendations from the\u00a0American Heart Association<\/a>\u00a0state that children under the age of 2 should consume no added sugar. We will talk a lot more about this below.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Imagine a life where you could never eat your favorite ice cream or pie again. How does that feeling sit with you? Do you feel deprived? A little sad? Perhaps you\u2019re not a \u201csweets\u201d person yourself but can relate on another favorite food of yours. (I would be downright bummed if someone told me I couldn\u2019t have chocolate or sushi again.)<\/p>\n Most people want to enjoy their favorite foods \u2013 including those that contain sugar \u2013 every so often. There\u2019s nothing shameful or bad about this.\u00a0We deserve to eat food that tastes good.<\/strong><\/p>\n I work with a lot of chronic dieters and people recovering from disordered or restrictive eating, and we work on finding the \u201csatisfaction factor\u201d as described in\u00a0Intuitive Eating<\/em><\/a>.<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0Sometimes people rely so heavily on external rules surrounding food (what to eat, when to eat, don\u2019t eat this, don\u2019t eat after that time) that they miss their own innate signals of hunger, fullness and satisfaction. When they\u2019re not satisfied by their meals they tend to seek out other foods, even if they\u2019re physically full. Perhaps you relate \u2013 you eat a dinner that\u2019s not tasty or filling to you, and thirty minutes later you\u2019re raiding the cupboard for something else. You end up eating more in the long run \u2013 and food your body may not need \u2013 because you didn\u2019t find that satisfaction factor.<\/p>\n Many of my clients have a piece of good-quality chocolate or some sweeter food every night as a way to connect with their taste buds, feel satisfied after dinner and cap off a day of eating. They are listening to not only their body but also their mind and their cravings.\u00a0When they feel satisfied with food, they don\u2019t think about it or worry about the next meal.\u00a0<\/strong>They are satisfied and move along until the next eating time without obsessing over the next meal or what they did or didn\u2019t eat.\u00a0Enjoying sugar keeps them feeling sane, calm and content. It allows them to stop thinking about food so they can move onto living their life.<\/p>\n Remember,\u00a0food is so much more than just the sum of its nutrients<\/strong>. We eat for many reasons besides just nutrition. Food represents culture, connecting with others, feeling cared for and safe. Food brings us back to specific memories or times in our lives. We are gifted with a sense of taste that helps us have enjoyable experiences when we eat. It is OK to love food and enjoy the eating process. Despite what our fitness-obsessed society suggests, there\u2019s nothing wrong with liking to eat \u2013 we are literally hard-wired to do it. (It tastes good and makes us feel good for a reason, friend!)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Here\u2019s the tricky part: in order minimize sugar in their child’s diet or avoid raising\u00a0 a \u201csugar addict,\u201d many parents heavily restrict sugar from their kids. Unfortunately,\u00a0research suggests<\/a>\u00a0that this strategy actually backfires in the long-run. Kids are drawn to what they can\u2019t have, and when they are heavily restricted from \u201cforbidden\u201d foods, they consume those foods in greater quantity as they get older.<\/p>\n As\u00a0another study<\/a>\u00a0states, \u201cRestricting access focuses children\u2019s attention on restricted foods, while increasing their desire to obtain and consume those foods. Restricting children\u2019s access to palatable foods is not an effective means of promoting moderate intake of palatable foods and may encourage the intake of foods that should be limited in the diet.\u201d<\/p>\n Thus, in our efforts to restrict sugar, we drive our kids to eat more sugar.\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n It makes sense, right? We as adults are wired the same way. When we\u2019re craving a cookie and keep telling ourself that we can\u2019t have the cookie, we eat everything else\u2026and then five cookies. Then we feel uncomfortable (physically) and defeated (mentally). Perhaps we would have been better off just having the dang cookie \u2013 and really enjoying it \u2013 in the first place.<\/p>\n Furthermore, when adults eliminate sugar, it\u2019s usually short-lived. Most adults eventually feel deprived if they can\u2019t enjoy at least some of their favorite foods. In many people, restricting turns into binging or extreme disordered food behaviors. I can\u2019t tell you how many clients I\u2019ve worked with who eat an entire carton of ice cream or sleeve of Oreos after being on a \u201cno sugar diet\u201d for a few days.\u00a0Dr. Michelle May<\/a>\u00a0calls this the \u201ceat, repent, repeat\u201d cycle. We feel like we\u2019ve eaten too much sugar so we restrict\u2026which in turn causes us to eat too much sugar\u2026and repeat.<\/p>\n The irony is, we really crave these foods because we enjoy the process of eating them. When we restrict and then eventually go overboard on them, we take away the joy and satisfaction from the experience\u2026which is exactly what we were hoping to get from eating that food in the first place. We\u2019re missing the entire point of eating it.<\/p>\n If we struggle mentally and emotionally with eliminating sugar, how can we expect it to work for our kids?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n The solution? We need to find a balance that works for own families that includes introducing our kids to some sugar at a rate that feels comfortable to us. Keep reading for more on the \u201cwhy,\u201d and head to the last section of this post for the \u201chow.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Many parents who heavily restrict sugar are able to fully control the foods their children have access to. However, as children get older, they can no longer regulate or monitor each bite. (And if you have taken our\u00a0Toddler and Kid Course\u00a0<\/a>you know that stressing about each bite can be unproductive \u2013 a more\u00a0authoritarian or controlling\u00a0<\/a>approach to food with kids causes mealtime strain for everyone.)<\/p>\n Eventually, your child will go to friends\u2019 houses, sports practices, youth groups, trips with grandparents, to the movies, etc. They will be offered food you may not be comfortable with. They may have free access to foods they normally don\u2019t see at home. It\u2019s our job to help them learn to listen to their bodies when eating all types of foods \u2013 not just health-promoting ones \u2013 so that they can handle these scenarios.<\/p>\n Every time we post about sugar, we are bombarded with messages from followers about how they (or their friends) behaved around sweets when they finally had access to them after being heavily restricted at home. They tell us that they would binge on cookies, candy and baked goods when they went to a friend’s house because they finally had access to these foods. A few followers told us that after being sugar-restricted during childhood, they went to college and \u201cwent crazy\u201d on sugar for years to follow.<\/p>\n What concerns Judy and myself even more about heavily restricting sugar or any food is that authoritarian or controlling parenting styles around food are correlated with\u00a0disordered eating behaviors<\/a>.\u00a0<\/a>The more we carefully control what our kids eat, the more likely they are to develop what can be very dangerous eating patterns. Eating disorders have the\u00a0highest mortality rate<\/a>\u00a0of any mental illness. Ever since Feeding Littles started, our goal has been to help you learn practical strategies that can help you potentially prevent disordered eating, and managing sugar and sweets is a key part of these strategies.<\/p>\n In other words,\u00a0by allowing your child to have some sugar now, we hope that you\u2019re setting them up for a positive relationship with food for life<\/strong>. Taking the \u201cspecial-ness\u201d away from sugar allows it to be just another food in your child\u2019s life \u2013 not something they obsess over.\u00a0Food is just food.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n It\u2019s ironic, no?\u00a0To encourage kids to have a health-promoting intake of sugar over their lifetime, we have to let them have some sugar.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n In 2016 the American Heart Association released\u00a0guidelines on sugar consumption<\/a>\u00a0for young children. These recommendations recommend no more than 6 teaspoons of sugar per day for kids ages 2-18 years of age.\u00a0 This is equivalent to 2 tablespoons, 24 grams or 96 calories from sugar. These recommendations are not surprising and are actually pretty realistic for many families, especially if sweetened beverages are not part of your family\u2019s diet.<\/p>\n However, what surprised many of us in the pediatric nutrition world was the recommendation for no added sugar in children under 2. Below are some of our thoughts on why absolutely no added sugar before age 2 is not realistic for many families:<\/p>\n A few fellow dietitians and I have concluded that the \u201cno added sugar until 2\u201d guideline was made as an attempt to set the bar really high. Perhaps the intent is that while most families wouldn\u2019t reach it, the guideline would call attention to excessive sugar in young toddlers\u2019 diets. Some in our field take it very literally, but our stance is that we need to strike a balance with sugar so we don\u2019t make it something \u201cspecial\u201d or \u201coff-limits\u201d while also supporting parents in feeding their families a balanced meal that everyone can eat.<\/p>\n Check out our specific recommendations for managing sugar below to decide when to first offer it to your child.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Just like many things in life, balance is important. When we have been working or playing too hard, we need rest. When our preschoolers have watched too much Paw Patrol, we send them outside for some fresh air. Sometimes our kids will eat more sugar; sometimes they won\u2019t eat much at all. It\u2019s important for us to teach our kids that \u201chealthy\u201d living doesn\u2019t exist in extremes \u2013 it\u2019s all about balancing what your body, your mind and your soul need.<\/p>\n A chocolate bar won\u2019t \u201cruin\u201d your diet, just like a salad won\u2019t make you suddenly \u201chealthy.\u201d (Thank you to an\u00a0Instagram\u00a0follower for this analogy.) There\u2019s room for a variety of foods in our diet. Yes, nourishing foods that fuel our bodies are important to help us feel our best \u2013 and we want to serve those foods to our kids often \u2013 but we have some wiggle room for \u201cplay\u201d foods too.<\/p>\n Plus, isn\u2019t part of childhood enjoying some ice cream on a hot summer day,\u00a0eating a churro at a Disney park or excitedly anticipating\u00a0donuts for breakfast on Saturday morning? I bet you have a lot of great memories surrounding sugary foods from your own childhood.<\/p>\n The more we strike a balance and see food as neutral and not \u201cgood or bad,\u201d the more we can eat by how we feel and what our bodies actually need.\u00a0Evelyn Tribole<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Elyse Resch<\/a>, co-authors of\u00a0Intuitive Eating<\/em><\/a>, describe it as making peace with food and allowing yourself unconditional permission to eat. This sounds scary for people who have been on the diet rollercoaster their whole lives, but when done consistently, Intuitive Eating can provide people with a sense of peace about food. They\u2019re not \u201cin control,\u201d they\u2019re \u201cin charge.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Remember, you will have to find the balance and structure that works best in your family. We\u2019re making the suggestions \u2013 you need to make the decisions.\u00a0<\/p>\n First off, rest easy that while your child may be preoccupied with sugar, we have\u00a0little evidence<\/a>\u00a0to prove that sugar is actually addictive. If you feel like your child is preoccupied with sugar, consider these strategies:\u00a0<\/p>\n Many of us are freaked out about sugar with our kids because we have a complicated relationship with it ourselves. We may project our fears and diet mentality on our children. Given the messages we receive about food, diets and body size, it\u2019s not surprising that we feel this way. You can still be a capable, impactful, positive parent about food if your own feelings about food are difficult or painful. Many, many adults feel this way thanks to diet culture.<\/p>\n If you struggle with insatiable sugar cravings or if you feel out of control around sugar, please consider reading\u00a0Intuitive Eating<\/a>\u00a0and checking out their\u00a0Workbook<\/a>. It can be life changing, especially if you\u2019re ready to be done with restrictive eating and dieting!\u00a0 Sometimes talk therapy is indicated for those who feel like their eating world is out of control.<\/p>\n Keep in mind that you may crave sugar if you\u2019re dehydrated or are not eating enough protein\/fat in your diet. Try to increase your water intake and include more balanced foods in your diet. Protein and fat are macronutrients that can help stabilize your blood sugar and prevent those low blood sugar dips that lead to stronger cravings.<\/p>\n Note: I have noticed that many breastfeeding individuals have very strong sugar cravings that may be tied to dehydration. Make sure you\u2019re drinking enough water if you\u2019re breastfeeding!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Sometimes kids can\u2019t have sugar foods (or other ingredients in the sweet food offered). Parents of kids with type 1 diabetes, allergies or other medical needs that require a special diet can find it hard to maneuver off-limit foods.<\/p>\n Try your best at keeping language positive around food and emphasizing that while some people\u2019s bodies do OK with cake, their body is allergic to one of the ingredients so they will feel really yucky if they eat it. (Most kids with special diets figure out pretty quickly that they don\u2019t do well when they eat offending foods.) Emphasize that you will always have safe and yummy alternatives available for your child and that they will always get enough to eat.<\/p>\n If possible, try to bring a safe alternative that your child can enjoy. Check out\u00a0these cookies<\/a>\u00a0that we modified for common allergies, or head to Pinterest for some fun, tasty alternatives \u2013 search \u201callergen-friendly desserts.\u201d If your child has diabetes or needs a very low carbohydrate diet, work with a pediatric dietitian on finding sweet-tasting alternatives that can help your child feel included in the experience of enjoying desserts but also fit their dietary needs.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n You made it to the end! Thank you for sticking with us. We wish you joyous eating experiences with all foods \u2013 including sugary ones \u2013 and hope that this article has helped you find some peace in how you feed your kids.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
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