Cutting down Your Child’s Sugar Intake Is a Challenge You Must Overcome
As a parent, you confront many challenges in teaching your child good habits for their overall health. Excessive sugar intake is a common habit among children who tend to gorge on sugary treats. Children accustomed to having sugary treats are unlikely to give up the pattern throughout their lives.
You may think some sugary treats will not harm your child, forgetting they could be indulging themselves several times during the day. Your thinking would be justified because these problems do not impact your child’s health immediately. However, the children will undoubtedly experience problems later in life when they become prone to tooth decay, heart disease, obesity, diabetes, and many other issues. This is a challenge you must confront head-on to help your child overcome the habit.
How can you control your child’s diet by cutting down their super intake? This article provides some suggestions you can use to succeed in your goal. Continue reading for more information on how to cut down your child’s sugar intake.
Pay Attention to Labels on Packed Foods
Prepacked food consumed by children is a culprit you wouldn’t think is harmful. Most foods have artificial sweeteners or sugar and their variations in the processed foods available on supermarket shelves. You must pay attention to the labels of prepacked foods trying to choose low sugar or non-sweetened varieties. Do not fall for low-fat or fat-free stuff because these products have excessive sugar in them.
Work out a Plan to Reduce Sugar Gradually
Trying to make your child quit sugar overnight is practically impossible and will make the child-resistant and resentful. The sudden leaving will encourage the child to indulge excessively whenever possible. On the contrary, if you decide to take it in steps, you may successfully produce long-term results. Giving your child half the quantity of sweet stuff instead of none may not make them realize the difference. However, it reduces their sugar intake substantially.
Encourage Children to Drink Water
Bottled beverages are generally high in sugar or corn syrup. You can encourage your child to drink water instead of soda or juices because it is a natural way to reduce their sugar intake. You can add some natural flavoring, making water more appealing to them. The habit of remaining hydrated provides children significant health benefits over time.
Natural Foods Help in Reducing Sugar Intake
When you replace sugary treats with natural foods as substitutes to meet your child’s sugar-related needs, you are succeeding in your attempt to cut sugar intake and ensure your child receives the nutrition they need. Many foods, like fruits and honey, are more beneficial than varieties containing processed sugars. The appropriate nutrition your child receives leaves them with a healthy tooth and prevents the need to undergo intensive treatments under sedation dentistry. You can think about adding honey or fruits to your oatmeal, making their breakfast healthier than breakfast cereals.
Do Not Waver in Your Attempt
Convincing children to have less sugar is challenging. However, if you intend to succeed, you mustn’t waver from the process because it is essential for the long-term success of your goal. When you are not consistent in your approach, children in every likelihood will relapse and begin consuming sugar. However, their taste buds will adapt to their new diet if you are persistent with your approach. Your insistence may even encourage children to move away from having processed foods because they find the taste too sweet for their taste buds.
Remove Sugar from the House
Removing sugar from the entire house may be the biggest challenge you confront. Thankfully, when sugar isn’t available in the place, your child is likely to stay away from it or try convincing you to waver from your approach. Walking down to the store to purchase unhealthy and sugary foods is often a task children detest. Not having sugar in the house gives you sufficient time to reconsider and make healthier choices.
Make Access to Sugar Challenging
Children tend to gorge on sugary stuff when it is easy for them to access it. Storing sugary foods in a locked cabinet or using any other tricks, you can imagine, prove successful, and prevent children from eating sugar even when you are not present. You may think of this suggestion as going tough on your children, but it is recommended even by reputed dental facilities like Phoenix pediatric dentistry.
Sugar is a prime culprit for tooth decay, cavities, and a host of other problems. The earlier you begin attempts to cut down your child’s sugar intake, the better oral and overall health you give them.