Hello all!
A and I have always been in favour of making the food naturally sweet maybe with the fruits, natural sweetners etc, specially when it comes to kids.
We have always heard about not giving too much sugar to kids and we have been trying to implement that in our kids’ diet too but off late, when my little one is growing up and has started showing signs of a sweet tooth, some questions started to pop up in my mind like, “how much sugar is enough?“, “What effects does sugar really have on the kids?“, “Am I being a bad mother when I try to reduce the sugar intake of my lo?” and hence the post!
I did my research and was shocked to see the effects of excessive sugar intake on kids.
While tooth decay and obesity came as no surprise, I did not know that sugar somehow effects the immunity as well.
Weakened Immunity: how??
When kids consume too much sugar, the balance between good and bad bacteria is altered which weakens their immunity system which in turn results in frequent colds, cough and allergies.
When you reduce the amount of sugar, your children may still get the colds and cough but the symptoms may be reduced over time.
How much sugar is enough?
The real question: How to cut down?
- Try to cut down slowly. I started adding a teaspoon of sugar to my lo’s milk which was reduced to 3/4th spoon in a week, 1/2 in the consecutive week and subsequently, to no sugar today.
- Try and go for whole fruits rather than juice as whole fruit has fibre which helps in toning down the effect of sugar hit on the body.
- Look for ingredients on the pack, food items with high sugar content: concentrated fruit juice, fructose, golden syrup, inverted sugar syrup, molasses, and sucrose
- Try and go for savoury snacks like veg sticks, beetroot hummus, homemade idlis whole fruits etc.
Please note that no change is going to show instantly, it takes time when you try and be consistent about it; it’s worth it!
Eat healthy, stay healthy!
V|XOXO
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