Sugar has been a source of debate for quite some time. It has a bizarre history from the sugar cane fields of Hawaii, to the sugar beet fields on the Caribbean, and it continues to raise questions about our health, our metabolism, and our diets.
What is sugar?
The word “sugar” means a lot of different things. It can mean the granular white substance you put in your coffee and on your cereal, or it can mean the simple carbohydrate that your body digests to make energy. In terms of this blog post, we’re referring to sugar as that tasty sweetener we use to “make stuff taste better”.
When it comes to “making stuff taste better”, we have many options, most of the derived from sugar cane or sugar beets.
Health Concerns
As a kid, we mostly all love sugar because it tastes great and made us all hyper. But because sugar is full of energy, if we don’t use it up, it turns to fat. Furthermore, the balance of sugar in our bloodstream helps other foods get digested, and if that balance is out of whack, it can make us feel very tired, or worse, many people believe that an inappropriate amount of sugar intake can lead to diabetes.
What Can We Do?
Starting from a young age, we need to introduce our babies and toddlers to diets low in sugar. Hopefully, it creates a palette that is less inclined to crave it. I am not suggesting no cookies, no treats, just use moderation and be mindful in your choices. Be a label reader- it is clear from the research that we need to stay away from products that use highly refined sugars like high fructose corn syrup. It is lurking in places you might never assume- bread, pasta sauce, ketchup, etc. Buy applesauce without added sugar, trying making your own Oatmeal Raisin cookies and using date sugar, serve fresh fruits and fresh vegetable for snacks. Look for products that use sugars like brown rice syrup, maple syrup and unrefined cane juice.
Artificial Sweeteners
At this point, you might be wondering about the artificial variety of sweeteners, suralose (aka Splenda), aspartame and saccharin- well we could write a book here. There is tons of conflicting information out there about its safety or lack thereof. Plainly, it seems unless your child has diabetes or the like, you just shouldn’t give it to your kids.
It can be a hard habit to modify, but it will be worthwhile. Here are a few additional resources you can access for more information:
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