As parents, I think my wife and I have done a good job with our son's diet. He eats pretty much all organic food, drinks organic drinks, and generally has a low-sugar diet (at least low added sugar and low refined sugar as opposed to eliminating all natural sugar). While he gets treats from time to time, they're definitely not a daily thing, if even a weekly thing. He reminds us that these are 'sometimes foods' (thanks, Elmo!) when he does eat treats, and he's good about not finishing everything when he does get them if he's not hungry. Basically, he's everything I wish I was when I was his age (he's four).
The other day, my wife and I went to this home concert series (we saw Tall Heights, who are incredibly talented), and it was recommended that you bring some finger food to the concert. My wife loves to bake. She's damn good at it, so I love her to bake (though it's a gift and a curse, too, since the stuff is both tasty and not really Slow Carb Diet compliant). She made these amazing little toffee bar things. No, that's not their official name. Anyway, the ingredients were all organic except for the toffee bars. They could have been I guess, but I got Heath Bars.
So, after making them, we had a lot of mini Heath Bars left over. My son asked if he could have one. First, while he can read, he misread the name, so the way he asked was hilarious. He said, "Oh, Health Bars. I'd love to have a Health Bar." Second, we let him choose one mini one or one of my wife's fresh toffee treats. He chose the Heath Bar, to both of our chagrin. He was really good about asking for just one, and not asking for more, and before biting in, he told us that candy is a sometimes food.
Well, let me just say, I don't ever want him having it again. Processed sugar (and whatever other processed crap is in that stuff) did quite a number on him. We expected some off-the-wall type behavior, but that wasn't even it. He basically couldn't focus at all. He's four, and is into lots of different things, and doesn't necessarily hold is attention on one thing for long anyway, but you could tell this was totally different. It really drove the point home that this tiny amount of commercialized, refined, chemically engineered junk has a massive effect on us all.
It reminded me of two videos (or series) everyone should look into. The first is a piece Dr. Sanjay Gupta did called "Is Sugar Toxic?" It's free. Watch it. Learn from it. Change your choices. The second is the fantastic series called "The Weight of the Nation" that HBO ran. Apple and HBO have made several episodes free on iTunes, so at least watch those, but please consider buying the others or seeing them on OnDemand or something (if you have it). Of particular value is the episode "The Quest to Understand the Biology of Weight Loss".
We need to loosen the grip refined sugar has on our lives, and make sure our kids can live free of all the maladies associated with it. After all, the best way to expect your kids to do right is to set the right example for them. You really must enlighten.your.body.
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