Any such thing as a balanced diet with sweets?

[sammymama]

Hi Mamas,

DH and I have been having a lot of conversation about this lately but with no real game plan: we have an 18mo DD who is currently being fed uber-healthy foods - a good selection of fruits/veggies (organic), lots of grains, not much meat (only organic or grassfed), etc, and up until now, no sweets whatsoever.  DH and I have both had struggles maintaining our weight in years past but about 5 years ago started to get things on track.  When we were trying for DD we upped it, so to speak, and are pretty happy now with our current eating habits.  The thing is, when he and I want something sweet, it's like we're cheating or sneaking around, and we feel like we're "bad", and then have to "diet" until the effect of whatever sweet we ate is gone.  That attitude - much magnified - is what led me to years of being overweight or yo-yo-ing, something I desperately want my daughter to be able to avoid. 

All of that said... food is part of our culture.  Getting ice cream in the summer once in awhile should be fine - and fun, no?  (not that I want to make all treats related to junk food!)  And my pop is Italian - shouldn't it be ok to sample his amazing cannolis?

So I wonder: how do you and your families balance out sweets in your diet?  And how do you make it so that your kids don't feel deprived (don't want DD to feel like she can't have anything "fun" and then as soon as she's away from us she goes crazy on sweets, you know)?

Not sure if I'm being clear - sorry!, so just to clarify: for example, we never drink soda.  Ever.  It's just not part of our world and we don't have it around or miss it.  So I'm fine with just black-lining some things that I know are just bad for us.  It's just that when I crave something, it's something uber-sweet, like flippin Ben and Jerry's or brownies.  But I grew up hossing down all of that stuff, pretty much all the time.  Dr. Sears has a theory that the longer you wait to expose kids to refined sugar the more their pallette (sp?) will adjust to healthy foods and then when they do eat something refined they realize it doesn't make them feel good and they eat less.  That is what we're currently operating under but I wonder how it works in real life with older babes/kids...

Thanks in advance!
Sammy

[ammiga]

We just make them healthy sweets. There is a difference between a treat and "poison". My 3 year old dd does not eat normal ice cream or popsicles in the summer. But I have no problem with her eating some organic ice cream or frozen fruit bars or frozen yogurt bars (all organic).

I make brownies with whole wheat flour, to at least combat some of the emptiness of them. I make oatmeal chocolate chip cookie bars and other things that are at least not "all bad". And we usually keep some organic ice cream in the freezer.

They are a treat and do not need to be countered with a diet, because the rest of what we eat is healthy. I'd say dd gets a small portion of these things 1-2x/week. She is VERY happy eating a bowl of strawberries or pears or whatever fruit we have on hand, and usually asks to eat those. Dd had no refined sugar until she was 18 months, and even then had maybe one thing a month, until more recently. We never give her artificial colors or flavors or HFCS. To us, those are not treats, but "poison", for lack of a better word.

Food is a part of our culture. Sure, ice cream is a part of summer, but so are fresh strawberries and watermelon and grilled meats and vegetables. Your father's homemade cannolis sound like a fabulous treat! Part of Italian culture is also fresh mozzarella, tomatoes, olive oil, etc., and those are all amazing and healthy. I think as long as you embrace all of the culture of food, and not just the unhealthy parts, you'll find that you have a total appreciation for the treats and the healthy parts, and that all of it is delicious!

So, yes, treats are treats. Not nourishment, but fun things to have once in a while. Dh and I have them more often than dd, but we don't binge on them. And we don't diet to make up for them. They are just a part of our overall healthy lifestyle.