How NOT to Raise a Sugar-Monster

70% of Americans are overweight or obese, and now our children are starting to take the strain, with children as young as two-years-old experiencing walking difficulties due to being as much as 50lbs overweight. Every year, the worldwide obesity epidemic increases. Excess intake of sugar is believed to be partly responsible for this.

Should we not blame the individual?

How can we, when from childhood they were given a sneaky little chocolate bar on the way to school in the morning, or given a double-portion of dessert as a reward for getting good grades. Each hit of sugar activates our reward system, much in the same way as cocaine or heroin. In time, the positive sensation we get from eating sugar drives us to go seeking more.

So, what should we do?

Should we ban all sugar from our homes, teaching our children to enjoy sucking on frozen carrot-pops, and dragging them out of birthday parties as soon as you get the whiff of a lit candle?

We could.

But that would neither prepare children from an adult world, full of sugary temptations, nor give them the chance at a rounded childhood.

Also, sugar is not the white powdered Devil.

But you said...

Currently, we eat far too much. 70% of adults and 40% of children are overweight or obese, and we eat far too much sugar.

It's recommended that men consume 9 teaspoons of sugar a day (around 150 calories), women consume 6 teaspoons a day (about 100 calories a day), and children consume three teaspoons a day.

This over-consumption of sugar is contributing to obesity, but it's not the only cause.

Sugar, in moderation, is important for health, being the most readily accessible source of glucose, energy we need for our daily life. Low blood glucose levels make us feel groggy, irritable and cause intense food cravings.

This is not a license to start cramming your diet with sugar. The little amount recommended, as part of a healthy and balanced diet, is enough.

The problem is that many of us eat too much.

The Way Forward

The best way to prevent sugar addiction into the future, reducing intake and improving health, is to start developing good habits from childhood. If you want to prevent your children being sugar-monsters - eager addicts who cram themselves with any- and everything sweet - there are some steps you can take.

READ Artificial Sweeteners Guilty For Child Diabetes?

Step One: Never Declare a Sugar-Free Zone

When anything is denied completely, you want it more. This is more potent in children, who are predisposed to enjoy the taste of sweet things. Perhaps, when your children are small and at home all the time, you can control their dietary choices. But what do you think will happen when they go to school?

Their friend will offer them a taste of super-sweet strawberry yoghurt. They'll prefer it to their natural yoghurt. They'll realise they enjoy sweet things. The cravings will begin. They'll begin bingeing at school, spending the emergency money you give them on the way home from school on chocolate bars and ice-cream lolly-pops.

Instead: have small sweet treats at prearranged times.

READ Just Say No To Sugar

Step Two: Say "Not Yet", not "No"

"Mummy, can I have some cake?"

"Cake's a treat food. You'll have some for Grandpa's birthday on Sunday."

"Can I have ice-cream?"

"What a good idea. Let's have some for dessert tonight."

Rather than saying "No", get into the habit of saying "not yet". That reassures the child that they'll be getting the sweets they are naturally predisposed to crave again soon, and ensures they'll be less likely to eat until overstuffed when they do get them.

A 2002 study in the journal Abnormal Psychology found that people who were informed they were soon to be placed on a diet ate more than those who were not. Children are similarly likely to overindulge if they don't know where their next sweeties are coming from.

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Step Three: Try Homemade Sweets

Children who consume mostly shop-bought candies and cakes develop little discernment. Any cake, any candy...if they've got that sweet craving, it doesn't matter that much, so long as the food is sweet. However, children who eat mostly homemade cakes and candies made with natural ingredients will have low-tolerance for processed food that doesn't taste really good.

Another added bonus of making your own food is that it's easier to regulate the amount of sugar you use. You can make some very easy, low-sugar fudge quite quickly and cheaply in your own home.

Step Four: Reduce Sugary Drinks

Sugary drinks add quite a calorific load, and we hardly notice we're consuming them. Also, when your children drink sugared drinks, they began to crave more sweet food.

At mealtimes, offer pure fruit juice (not fruit-flavoured juice) or milk, and offer plain fresh water between meals.

READ Shocking Levels Of Sugar In Popular Summer Beverages

Step Five: Neither Use Sweets as a Reward or Punishment

Studies have shown that using a sweet as a reward increases the desire for the sweet. So, don't say "if you finish all your peas, you can have ice-cream" or "if you get at least a B, I'll get you a cake".

Offer the ice-cream dessert anyway, and if it's a special occasion, get the child a cake (no strings!).

By making sweets just another food, you avoid raising them above other foods as something particularly desirable to aim for.

Dr. Katja Rowell, feeding expert, says:

“It really...puts all the food on a level playing field.”

Step Six: Don't Talk About Food Being "Good" and "Bad"

One way to make children crave sugar is to demonise it, and make it the "bad boy" of the cupboard. Think about it, when was the last time your kids jumped up-and-down in the morning, shouting "Mummy, Mummy! Ple-ee-ease steam some broccoli!"?

Instead, try talking about sugary food as "sometimes" or "fun" foods. Explain that there are foods that are superhero-foods, that are full of nutrients we need to eat all the time (apples, broccoli, kale, etc), so we can grow-up healthy and able to play football/dance ballet/sing in the choir/paint (whatever they love to do most), and then there are fun-foods, which taste good, but won't help them *insert hobby*.

Step Seven: Put Healthy Snacks on View

Hide away the cookie jar, and put a range of healthy snacks on view between meals.

Leave bowls of colourful fruits on accessible surfaces, or try trays of vegetable crudités around cream cheese dip (carrots, peppers and cucumber are all good choices - don't forget to give some healthy carbs, like pitta bread or oatcakes, partway between meals, to keep blood glucose levels stable for play).

READ Make your snacking healthy

Step Eight: Try the 90/10 Rule

Paediatric Nutritionist, Jill Castle, recommends that we teach children the 90/10 rule of nutrition. She teaches families that 90% of the foods they eat in one day should be healthy, while 10% (between 100 and 200 calories) should be "Fun" foods (potato chips, ice-cream, or cookies).

Castle says:

“The great thing is that the child can understand this concept, and I always make sure to tell them...that they are in charge of choosing WHICH food will be their fun food...Then we role play different scenarios...this helps the child get ready to make decisions in the real world.”

And Finally: Allow the child to choose how much they eat, sometimes

This does not mean that you allow your child to have sweets whenever they want. However, if your child asks for seconds, you should not always deny them.

Dictating portions throughout your child's childhood has two flaws:

Limiting portions leads to a food-fixation, making it more likely the child will grow up to overindulge, and become overweight or obese. As expert on body image, Kathy Kater says:

"If you limit the food needed to satiate hunger completely, it will backfire, triggering preoccupation with food and, ultimately, an overeating or compulsive eating response."

It has another flaw, creating children who cannot manage their own appetites when they're outside the secure environment of the home.

The solution is to have times when the child can choose to eat as much sugar as they choose, until they feel wholly satiated, such as a birthday party, or when baking cookies in the kitchen with a parent or grandparent. At those times, if your child says, "Can I have another slice of cake?", let them.

READ Controlling Appetite Naturally

That way, they will learn that there's no world shortage of sugar and that they don't have to eat all they can while they can, which will prevent future incidences of overindulgence. They will also learn how to regulate, for themselves, how much sugar they want. This will help prevent bingeing when they're in the world, without your guiding hand.

They might eat until their tummies ache once or twice, but they will learn where there limits are much more effectively than they would if you tried to tell them their limits.

And that way, they'll be ready for the real world.

A world full of sugary temptations that they'll now be more able to resist.