3 Tips For Raising Kids Without Sugar

At Functional Health and Acupuncture Institute in Cherry Hill, NJ we strive to help you and your family live healthier lives. Getting rid of sugar is one of the most important things you can do for you and your family, yet parents often think it is impossible to raise kids without relying on sugary comfort foods and other refined foods like pizza.  What most don’t realize is that a child’s metabolism and taste preferences are set by around age 3-4 and this can have a lifelong impact on their health and well-being.

Watch this powerful 1 1/2 minute video to see what happens when we celebrate birthdays, holidays, sports victories, and every other family event with ‘comfort food’.  It will powerfully change the way you think about how we feed our children:

https://youtu.be/xUmp67YDlHY

So what can you do to avoid this fate for your children?  When they are very young (0-3 years), sugar, refined grains and dairy products (0-12 months) should NEVER be fed to a child.  At this age your child will not feel deprived if s/he does not have a birthday cake, and you could celebrate with a fancy fruit arrangement or anything else, just make it ‘real food’.  And you will be helping avoid the development of a sugar addiction.  Baby foods should really just be fruits, vegetables and mother’s milk for the first year.  There is no nutritional need for farina or rice cereals and they could create food sensitivities if given too early.

Here are 3 simple things I have found are healthy ways to transition out of sugar.  And although what you feed a child in the first 3-4 years has a lasting impact on their food preferences and their health, it is never too late to make positive changes.

1. Make frozen fruit desserts with your children instead of ice cream.  You will need a powerful machine like a Vitamix or perhaps a Ninja to do this.  When you want a cold treat on a hot day, just add ice, a banana and some frozen berries or mango into the Vitamix, and in 30 seconds you have delicious all natural sorbet without any additives that your body does not need.  More ice will make this thicker.  You could also try adding a spoon of coconut oil. Let the kids help.

2.  Get your young children involved in making smoothies as part of breakfast. Banana, kale, coconut or almond milk, flax seeds and blueberries is a favorite for kids and they’ll love the thrill of helping to make their own breakfast.  Again, a strong blender like a Vitamix is best, especially with tougher greens like kale.

3.  You can make a ‘healthy’ chocolate by melting cacao butter, adding in cacao powder and a bit of raw honey, pouring it into a mold and refrigerating it.  All of the good and none of the bad!  In a future post I will share a video and more recipes on how to do this.