How do you manage your kids' sugar intake? Inspiration needed please.

[P.J.]

My son is only 11 months and has thus far had no sugar at all....well, besides that occurring naturally in fruit. I haven't even given him anything sweetened with rice syrup or agave or anything like that.

Our idea as a family, and what we try to practice already, is to have sugar be a treat and keep it to once a week or so, probably on weekends and/or special occasions. I don't know at what age I'll allow him to first try sweets, but certainly not yet, and maybe even for another year or so.

Thing is I now realize sugar is EVERY-frickin-WHERE!!!!!

Now, we are in Germany and I am not sure but I think sugar is even more prevalent here than in the US. Whenever you go to someone's house they roll out a cake or cookies. Whenever someone comes over they bring some cake. We see in-laws every couple weeks or so, and there are always a variety of cakes. Cake is a German institution. It is at every occasion seemingly all the time. And ice cream parlors are on nearly every block~ during the warm months you can't go two minutes without seeing someone eating ice cream.

I do not want to be always sitting there while everyone eats cake and ice cream and say "No, you can't have any" to my son. I know I can request people not to bring it to our house, and sure we could bring our own healthy treats when we go anywhere, but I know him and his curiosity will make him want what everyone else is having. It's already started. I don't want this to become an issue and him to throw fits over it. Yet I do not want him to have sweets every time someone else is.

How do you keep sugar to a minimum when people are eating it all the time all around you? At least with my family, not eating cake is absolutely not an option for them, unfortunately. And out there on the streets people will go on eating ice cream all the time.

What to do?

Edited by P.J. - 4/24/11 at 2:00pm

[cristeen]

You need options you're okay with him eating. I didnt think i was being all that restrictive w my DS' sugar intake (in trying to maintain moderation), but apparently i'm far more restrictive than "average". But our options that i tend to carry with us include a cheesestick, an apple/banana, and a granola bar (the infant kind are the only ones i can find w/o nuts or chocolate - they have a fair bit of sugar but no corn syrup). Yesterday at the mkt i even fed him popcorn rather than have him flip out.

When we're home there are other options. I'll feed him muffins, homemade ice cream, homemade pudding, etc, while we're eating stuff id rather he not have. But i also choose my battles... Like the takeout Chinese food isnt the greatest, but a broccoli spear covered in garlic sauce isnt the end of the world and keeps him from freaking. My DS also has a few fave foods that he doesnt get all the time that if i know i can plan to have on hand... Like pineapple, strawberries or sweet potato fries. When he has those options, nothing else matters to him.

This will of course change as he gets older. He's 19 mos and so far this is what we've been doing. It also helps that i can confine him to his high chair while we eat. Another few months im sure will see a change in what we can get away with, but for now this is working.

[skreader]

This is how we mostly kept sugar at a minimum

We did not (and do  not)  regualrly serve sugary treats at home - mostly at birthdays and major holidays. If a friend brings something sweet over for a party, we will have some - but that is usually less than once a month. So, that immediately eliminates it from being a regular part of our diet.

Maybe a few times a year I might make corn muffins or pancakes (like when the kids have sleep-overs). My son will have his pancakes w/ maple syrup - my daughter with jam.

As for eating when you go out  (not at people's houses)- either bring your own stuff or get stuff which isn't sugary. For example, at a bakery get him a roll or a piece of bread instead of a cake or cookie.

If granny or auntie offers some cake or cookie, tell him it's a *treat* and let him have  a bit.

My kids do like some sweets, but are not fiends. I remember the first time they tried a "Dunkin' Donut" honey-glaze - it was at the coffee hour at my mom's church. They said "Ooh - too sweet!".

They (now 13 & 15)  are weird and picky about their sweets, especially my son. He will only eat vanilla ice-cream. Offer him chocolate or some other flavor & he'll say "No thanks". They don't eat most pastries or cakes either.

[velochic]

I don't think people in the US can understand the cultural differences you are describing.  We used to live in Germany (Munich), and you're right... sweets are everywhere.  I really do think that is was much harder to control the sugar when we lived there as opposed to here.  People don't seem to visit or get together as much, and when they do, there isn't the cultural expectation of sitting down and getting fed.  You can't walk into someone's door to even say hello without being sat down and offered a cookie or something in Germany.  I know every German hostess is eager to make people feel welcome in the home and offering food is just part of that.

I guess the main way we reduced the sugar intake when we lived there was to control our portion size.  A very small piece, enough to satisfy wanting the item, and making sure that when we went places, dd was not hungry.  Otherwise, we indulged a little bit and tried to have people come to us to visit, instead.  When out and about, we would share a pretzel with dd instead of having a pastry and save them for special treats at home.  I think she was fine with that because we made sure we did have treats every week or so.

Good luck... I do actually know what you're saying, and I don't think the things we do in the US are going to help because of the cultural difference.

[P.J.]

Originally Posted by velochic 

I don't think people in the US can understand the cultural differences you are describing.  We used to live in Germany (Munich), and you're right... sweets are everywhere.  I really do think that is was much harder to control the sugar when we lived there as opposed to here.  People don't seem to visit or get together as much, and when they do, there isn't the cultural expectation of sitting down and getting fed.  You can't walk into someone's door to even say hello without being sat down and offered a cookie or something in Germany.  I know every German hostess is eager to make people feel welcome in the home and offering food is just part of that.

I guess the main way we reduced the sugar intake when we lived there was to control our portion size.  A very small piece, enough to satisfy wanting the item, and making sure that when we went places, dd was not hungry.  Otherwise, we indulged a little bit and tried to have people come to us to visit, instead.  When out and about, we would share a pretzel with dd instead of having a pastry and save them for special treats at home.  I think she was fine with that because we made sure we did have treats every week or so.

Good luck... I do actually know what you're saying, and I don't think the things we do in the US are going to help because of the cultural difference.

Thanks for all the replies, but thank you especially for this! Since I have only had a child in Germany and not the US, I really can't say if it is worse here but it feels like it. I'm glad to get your perspective and confirm my suspicions. And yes it's true, people don't go visiting as much in the US, it's just not the way socializing is done so much.

Thanks for all the tips, more are always welcome