The Great Sugar Debate

THE GREAT SUGAR DEBATE

I’ve decided to weigh in on the great sugar debate.  From a parent’s perspective.  I hope this doesn’t come across as too ranty mcranterson, but sometimes I feel exasperated by the sugar situation …

I am a parent.  First and foremost.  I’m a bit of an idiot, but that’s beside the point.  I’m not a nutritionalist.  Or a doctor.

I do my best to feed my children good, wholesome foods.  However, sometimes that’s just not possible.  Sometimes I forget to buy all of the things. Sometimes I get lazy. Sometimes I have a bad day and can’t be bothered thinking about anything.

But I do my best.

I know sugar is bad.  I’ve read the research.  I’ve seen the horrible photos of kids’ teeth.  I get it.

So to try and get around the incredibly processed foods out there, I bake.  Not as much as I should, but I try.  My kids don’t drink juice, they drink water.  We don’t have takeaways often.  Maybe twice a month.

Honestly, I do my best.

However, reality is, I still buy my kids muesli bars.  They will have the occasional treat.  They sometimes eat Coco Pops for breakfast. We eat dessert sometimes.  I buy them Kinder Surprises.

Fruit.  They eat lots of fruit.

When my kids ask for something to eat, my go to sentence is “have an apple” … my kids will probably grow up and tell me when I’m old and senile that “have an apple” is one of those things etched into their minds.

I would say that their diet is balanced.

Yet I still see comments on Mum forums criticising every product out there for having too much sugar.  Driving the hammer down on the fact that as a parent you can’t win.  YES, some products are HORRIFIC.  Especially drinks that aren’t water.

But some of the products out there I could make myself and they’d still be full of sugar.  I’ve read now that even natural sugar is bad – you know, the stuff that’s in fruit.

So what am I supposed to do?

How as a parent am I supposed to win?  I feed my child fruits and vegetables, and still get hounded about the sugar content.

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