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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