How to Manage your Kids’ Sugar Intake

My child likes her sweets so much! Help!

Many parents have to deal with a sugar-loving kid. But being a sweet tooth is not the problem, excessive sugar intake is. It is so easy to indulge a child with sweets. We use it as a treat or as a bargaining tool. However, health issues and other consequences related to over-indulgence in sweets and sugary foods could pose life-long health problems to your child.  

Child obesity is a major paediatric health problem, and the most common reason is excessive sugar intake. While it is totally preventable, many parents are at a loss as to how to effectively manage their kids’ overindulgence of sugary foods. The recommended sugar intake for children 2-18 years old is 6-9 teaspoons a day. That is about 25-37 grams.

Sneaky Ways Sugar Creeps into your Child’s Diet

Sugar is present in almost all of the common food items we eat today. To keep within the recommended daily allowance for sugar, parents should be careful in selecting and preparing meals for their kids. Here are some of the sneaky ways sugar creeps into our diet:

1. Fast food – Fast food burgers, sundaes, and pancakes are all packed in calories and are high in sugar content. The mandatory sweet drinks that come with every meal also jack up the sugary intake. Avoid this major sugar menace by limiting fast food visits to a minimum.
2. Sugary Drinks – An 8-ounce soda contains around 26 grams of sugar. A regular orange juice contains about 21 grams of sugar, and your kid’s favourite milkshake can bring in as much as 150 grams of sugar. That is already six times the recommended daily allowance! Instead of commercially prepared sweet beverages, opt for milk, natural fruit juices, and lots of water.
3. Snacks and Treats – Thanks to effective marketing campaigns, most of today’s popular kiddie snacks and treats are high in sugar. Fun adverts, colourful packaging, and market positioning make it hard for kids to miss and resist candies, chocolate treats, ice cream, and other sugary goodies.
4. Processed Food – Many of kids’ favourite foods are processed and contain shockingly high sugar content including hotdogs, sweet pastries, breakfast cereal, and chocolate drinks. Processing and packing food calls for a lot of preservatives, flavourings, and enhancers. As sugar is both a sweetener and a preservative, it is one of the most preferred additives to processed foods.
5. Disguised Health Foods – There are a lot of sugary foods disguised as ‘healthy’, a parent should be wary of this pitfall. Chocolate drinks, yoghurt snacks, breakfast cereals, and packaged fruit juices aren’t as healthy as they are promoted.

Easy Ways to Manage your Child Sugar Intake

• Read the labels – Sugar comes in many ways and names. Make sure to scan the product’s nutritional components on its labels and packaging, even if it has ‘healthy’ on the front. Processed foods like biscuits, cereals, processed meat, and preserved fruits contain a high amount of sugars.
• Switch to natural sweets – Everyone loves sweets, and its no fun constantly getting denied of our favourite sweets. However, we can always substitute kiddie snacks and desserts with naturally sweet food items like fruits and sweeteners with the naturally sweet honey.
• Encourage a variety of tastes – Let your child discover other tastes and flavours. Introduce them early to the art of enjoying food. Point out the fun in crunchy nuts, the hearty soups, the textures of different cheeses, or the delicate aspects of vegetables.
• Keep sweet treats to a minimum – Everyone has a favourite treat that we can’t get enough of. For children, it is usually a sweet snack – ice cream, chocolate bar, a candy, or a pastry. Let your kids have their favourite sweet treat but reserve it for very special occasions or very commendable behaviour or achievements.
• Banish sugary offenders from your home – If they can’t see it, they won’t ask for it. Clean up your pantry with sugary staples like candy bars, ready-to-drink chocolate, soda, and ice cream. Instead, make fruits and other healthy alternatives readily available.

• Cook from home – Cooking and preparing family meals from home will help you save money and ensure the good quality of the food you serve your family. No hidden ingredients like added sugars and preservatives. You can also ensure that you use only the freshest and best ingredients. Let your kids help and make cooking a fun family activity.
• It’s all in the family – Be an example to your kids. Show them how you enjoy eating healthy food. Children are more likely to follow your example than what you tell them. Family meals are also important in reinforcing healthy eating habits. By eating with your family, meals become a happy bonding event, not just an activity to eat food and satisfy hunger.