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January/February 2008 Alternative Health
No Sweets for the Sweet: Limiting Sugar in Your Child's Diet

by Erik Fisher, Ph.D.

Some joke that sugar is more difficult to quit than many illegal drugs. From early ages, parents and other adults offer kids candy, ice cream, cakes, artificially sweetened cereals, fruit snacks and many other items that are saturated with sugar.

When it comes to your child's sugar consumption, a parent should consider that early eating options often develop into later eating preferences. If you provide certain types of foods or flavors in your children's food when they're younger, they are more likely to develop a taste for those foods in their adulthood. Just like our behaviors and language skills, our food preferences are fostered from birth.

Sugar tastes "mmm-mmm" good to most of us. We often accept that the flavors of foods are natural, but if you look at the ingredients in everything from tomato sauce to dried fruit, you'll find added sugar. Sugar quickly jump starts our metabolism and can add a burst of energy for about 30 minutes, then comes the crash. Often to get more energy, we consume more sugar. Our body can become dependent on these ups, and crave more sugar to avoid the downs.

Research has found a negative impact of sugar on the body, especially in large quantities. Kids don't need refined sugar to survive, and there are other healthy alternatives for pleasurable treats.

As a psychologist, I see a number of kids and adults with different dietary issues. I have seen children with allergies to sugar who crave it and hoard it. The impact of the allergy is often an increase in aggressive and impulsive behavior. Even very small amounts can result in significant changes in behavior.

It can take roughly 30 days for the body to remove sugar from the system even though sugar has a short direct impact of only 30 minutes. I have also seen the seeming dependence on sugar that kids and adults develop. Whether it is weight concerns, diabetes or even issues with artificial sweeteners and their effect on the brain, sweeteners impact us all.

Rather than controlling what your kids eat, you can take steps to manage it healthfully.

1. Read labels. Even baby foods can have added sugar.

2. Offer water instead of juice. You can flavor water with a little lemon if you like. If you do give your child juice, dilute it by 50 percent with water. It still tastes good, and your kids will become accustomed to it.

3. Try frozen fruit. There are lots of yummy options, such as blueberries, raspberries and peaches. These frozen fruits often do not have any added sugar. Our daughter loves them, and often requests them with breakfast.

4. Make smoothies with your kids using frozen fruit, milk and unsweetened yogurt.

5. Feed your kids raisins, craisins, "blaisins" (dried blueberries) or other dried fruits, but check for sugar content when buying them. My wife and I bought dried mangoes for our daughter only to find that they were covered with sugar. We simply wash the dried mangoes before we give them to her.

6. For candy-laden holidays, go au naturel. Try making homemade dried fruit roll ups with no added sugar instead of Valentine's cookies, and use cookie cutters to make it fun. For Easter, fill plastic eggs with dried fruits or other healthy items. Kids love to find the eggs, which is often the more fun than the treat inside. If you can't say no to chocolate, a fantastic substitute is carob, which has a rich malt flavor not found in most chocolates.

7. Have healthy snacks on-the-ready.  Instead of candies or even fruit, bring vegetables or nuts along with you to feed your kids in the car. Carrots, celery and other portable vegetables, as well as peanuts, sunflower seeds and almonds are easy to bring along. When our daughter was teething, she enjoyed eating a carrot even if it took her 30 minutes.

8. Rethink PB and J. Use organic or natural peanut butters, or those made from other nuts such as almonds. Avoid introducing them early on to sugar-packed jelly.

9. Ditch the syrup. Don't add syrup to pancakes. Leave them plain. You may be surprised when they don't know the difference. If you like, add fresh fruit or heated fruit instead. We heat up strawberries, blackberries, blueberries and raspberries and mash them up while they're heating. This makes a healthy syrup-like sauce that tastes great on pancakes and many other desserts.

10. Talk the talk. Most importantly, monitor what you eat and drink, and be a strong, healthy model to your kids.

Help children begin good habits early on, and they'll likely last for a lifetime.

Erik Fisher, Ph.D., a public speaker and family therapist for 13 years, is the author of The Art of Empowered Parenting: The Manual You Wish Your Kids Came With. Visit www.erikfisher.com.