Welcome to parenting with the pros and cons. I'm Cinzia, Filipovski. And I'm Dr. Molly OShea.

Today we'll be discussing sugar feeding children to your children and all the pros and cons. But first a little bit about I'm Dr. Molly. I'm a pediatrician who's been in practice for about 30 years. And I've seen it all. I've been a speaker for the American Academy of Pediatrics and a journal editor, and I raised four kids to adulthood. I've talked to parents my whole life and been a parent myself and I know all the pros and cons.

And I'm Cinzia, Filipovski. I'm a full time working mother of five year old twin boys. I'm the executive director of two medical offices and owner of a medical practice management company. I'm a certified positive parenting educator. And so as you can imagine, I am pretty busy. I am balancing life and like you, I am trying to raise my family with all of the pros and cons. So let's dive in. Let's start off Dr. Molly, why don't you give us the medical side of what's the big deal about sugar? Well, sugar has.

First of all, let's talk about sugar in general, right. So they're sugar of all types, right? There's there's sugar that you get in a package on the bake aisle, and that's granulated sugar, brown sugar, that kind of sugar. And that's the kind of sugar that is most concerning from a medical standpoint. So sugar that you find in fruit or sugar that comes naturally encased in a bunch of fiber, like like fruit does, or sugar that is a result of, you know, being grown in a vegetable, that sugar is less worrisome. But sugar that is refined sugar is the sugar that is most concerning. And sugar is concerning for a couple of reasons. I mean, obviously, it doesn't really have any nutritional value. And in the long run, it can ironically lead to high cholesterol, it can lead to lipid problems, it not only obesity. I know people think it leads to diabetes, it doesn't actually lead to diabetes, it leads to obesity, which can be a problem for causing diabetes. But having a lot of sugar doesn't actually lead to diabetes. I know a lot of people think sugar leads to being hyperactive or having a DD and it doesn't do that either. But it definitely leads to cardiovascular disease, it does lead to obesity. And generally Actually, there are links to having a lot of sugar and high fat foods in your diet and being depressed. So those are some of the medical issues around sugar. So it's it's not a fantastic player in our diet. And I know that parents today, especially are aware of some of that and are choosing to make sugar, you know, a limited player in their kids diets. So just to kind of wrap that up, it's added sugar that were added the sugar , they added you might not be directly adding it right. But you're buying things where we're where granulated sugar, white sugar, brown sugar was added to it right? Or we'll talk about it later.

But we're not adding sugar to fruits and vegetables.

Oh, that's correct. But things like smoothies, which I do want to talk about may be a problem, too. So I'll talk about that, you know, as we move along.

So I saw something that I just wanted to mention, you know, when we talk in terms of sugar, something that I learned, you know, was I'd like to see what the recommendations are from, you know, you talked about cardiovascular health because sugar can cause high blood pressure or inflammation in the body. That's a lot that I've learned about in doctors, you know, from what I'm reading and understanding because I'm not a doctor are finding more and more that the idea behind high food, high fat foods aren't as harming as high carbohydrate or refined sugar foods, that they're the problem. They're the ones they're the foods that are causing inflammation in our bodies and therefore causing a lot of the diseases. So as we're looking at a lot of these diseases in life, we're finding that if we were just to alter our diet, especially here in the United States of America, we would become healthier in general. So one of the

Yeah, go ahead. I just wanted to refine low carbs, okay, because carbs kind of has it's a big category of food. And, you know, I certainly don't want kids on a ketogenic diet. You know, one of these keto diets, certainly, and carbs are, that's a big category of foods. So the kinds of carbs that are problematic in our diets are what I call white carbs. So white bread, white potatoes, you know, white banana, you know, white carbs. And usually white carbs are simple carbs. And so I tell parents often, you know, if you can eliminate white carbs from your diet, you'll be a long way ahead of the game.

Yes. And listen, this has been a battle of mine My whole life. As you can see, I am, you know, const, I have constantly battled my weights, and this issue has come up constantly. So I am here with the rest of all of you trying to just work it out each day. But now that I'm a mother, I've really tried to really take a look at this. And so the guideline that I work off of is less than four children under 18. And Dr. Molly, definitely correct me if I'm wrong here, but I have under 25 grams of sugar a day is the recommendation from the American Health Association, who the World Health Organization, etc. So that's kind of the guideline that I used and under age to really zero added sugar would be ideal, if possible. So as we talk about this, you know, let's talk about the difficulties of that, and and what does that really mean, in terms of living your life, because we know that we can't, we can only keep our children in a bubble for so long. So other than this past year that we've been in living in this pandemic, and we've truly kind of been in more of a bubble, our children cannot be in a bubble, whether you have to take them to daycare or to other people's homes, or whatever it might happen. And we have more control over them, obviously, the younger they are, but as they start to become toddlers, and realize what's happening, you can take them to a party, for example, and you can't really not give them something as they watch the rest of the children eating cake and ice cream. So let's I want to talk about that a little bit and how you know how we handle that. So, Dr. Molly, how did you handle that with your own children?

Well, I think that there was there was less information at the time I was raising my kids, my kids are in their 20s now, but I was and I loved to cook. So it made things easier for me. But I was definitely kind of very natural in the way I approached feeding my kids, I wanted them to have a kind of that whole food diet, where it was fruits and vegetables and lean proteins. And very Actually, we just didn't eat a ton of meat when my kids were little. But and so as a result, sweetened foods that were kind of the cakes, the cookies, the white breads, you know, those kinds of foods were really treats and infrequent treats. So they so they were they were truly special occasion, kinds of things, people's birthdays, or Christmas or Easter or Halloween, you know, those kinds of holiday sorts of events, which had its pros and cons, to be honest with you, in some ways by holding out in those ways. I mean, certainly when they were two went under, they didn't know the difference. But as they got older, because it was something that was so infrequent, at least my kids really went bananas, you know, when they had the opportunity to have have that freedom to to have that stuff. And, and you know, looking back, I wonder if having had a little bit more opportunity without so much rigidity, it may have created less kind of that salacious interest, you know, like, Ooh, this is you know, not, this is off limits. And so I'm right, the forbidden sugar. So I do think you know, there are there, there needs to be some, you know, sort of normalcy around it, you know, because all foods can be fine for I believe, all foods can be fine. And the more rigid, we create the structure around it, the more some foods become really exciting and other foods become taboo and other you know, so it creates problems. That was that was kind of my experience with certain foods with my kids. Now, but what's your experience? That's a personal experience. Growing up, I think that's a personal experience. You know, I've talked to a lot of friends as well that have either struggled with this in their own lives personally, that, you know, growing up in a home without anything present, made us all wanted more, you know, so we would go to school and see what the other kids had in their lunchbox. And it was very different from what we had. And I think that that's, you know, I think that's both realistic, you know, understanding that, that that's what goes on, but also, it's also an issue that we have here in the United States. You know, what kids bring to lunch, for example, is not a healthy lunch overall. So we have to set our kids up the best we can for those scenarios.

The approach that I'm using right now, and I, you know, I try not to be so rigid, but for the first couple years of their life, it was almost a zero added sugar. And if there was added sugar, that doesn't mean we didn't have cakes, or it doesn't mean we didn't have cookies, or any of those types of things. But the added sugar I used was honey, if I needed to, or maple sugar, or maple syrup, which is added sugar, but you have to use, you can use less of it, because it's sweeter. So the net effect, a fuel of the amount of sugar was lost. And I was okay with that. So I would do that. And we did a lot of fruits and vegetables in our home. So our kids loved fruit and still love fruit now. And if we went to special places a party or around other people, I let them have what they wanted. And I still do that. And oftentimes their eyes are bigger than their stomachs, and especially my one son, he loves, or he thinks he loves all these treats, and he wants it all. And then when it really comes down to it, he has a couple bites, and he's done. And I'm okay with that, you know, I want him to not feel that he is being limited. So I let them do that it's the every day where we have more control. So we talk about things in terms of treats. And we have a bin in our house where I put what you know, quote unquote treats. And the treats, though that I have chosen are the best that I can find available. So I try to find things with less sugar in them or things that are made with, you know, like, as I talked about honey sweetened with honey or maple syrup or organic things versus just, you know, your typical processed foods. And so I have a little bin and when it's treat time, they can choose. And I like to follow kind of, I've done kind of like an 8020 or 9010 approach, which basically if we can do 90% of their, their diet without the sugar, then 10% of it with it. That's kind of my goal. So I you know, I have found one brand of ice cream at the grocery store that doesn't have all the added what I'll call gunk, and really just uses cream and sugar. And so that's what I give them or we make ice cream. And we kind of control the sugar that way. And we use a lot of fruit to kind of, you know, allow that extra flavor. And so that so far that has worked our biggest challenges, honestly have been family family that don't eat the same way that we do or that want to give them more treats than really they need to have on a regular basis. And so that's really the struggle that we have mostly otherwise, I feel like my kids, they're not deprived, you know, and oftentimes, they'll choose something that I'll consider healthier over something that's not because they actually prefer the taste now. And so that kind of makes me happy with Yeah, because they I think they're starting to see

my kids were young. And before they were really, really ingrained in school, you know, kind of even through kindergarten, maybe first grade, they were very much like that they've kind of preferred the stuff that was less white, and more whole whole grain or whole hardy or whatever you want to call it. But as as my opportunity to be the the only person are practically the only person feeding them diminished. So as there was snack time at school, and it was a rotated snack. And, you know, as they started to do group activities after school, and there was a snack parent, which, frankly, these kids don't even need snacks, I get that but it's part of the culture. And so if somebody is bringing a snack, you know, it does feel odd to, you know, say no snack for you, or to send a separate snack the kids do feel very sort of awkward, whereas being the kid who has to have the separate snack when there isn't some, you know, allergy reason to do that. So as a as my opportunity to be the primary person giving them their stuff declined. I got to tell you, their palate shifted and it's it's bound to happen I think, you know, you as a and then their desire for, you know, whether it was Doritos or whether it was, you know, cookies increased and so in to try to combat that or try to at least answer it. You know, we then because I like to cook, you know, we would then try to create kind of our homemade versions of those things in order to, to do that. But, but frankly, it's hard and I don't Don't think you have to love to cook to want to do that. And there are tons of parents who don't really that's not their thing. They don't like to cook, you know, they might be. And they don't. Exactly, exactly. So for parents who really don't like to cook or don't have the time for it, I think having convenience foods are easy, and they're convenient for a reason. And convenience foods tend to be foods that are going to have more of these, these things in them, they're going to have more added sugars, or they're going to have the kinds of carbs that are less valuable. And so, you know, how then when you are doing convenience foods? Well, how do you? How do you vet things? What do you look at? How do you decide that something is wholesome?

Well, aside from the sugar, I tried to look at, you know, I check your labels, right? So I tried to look at the foods and quite honestly, I look at how many ingredients. You know, if something like if something like applesauce has 10 ingredients in it, I have to ask why apple sauce is just apples in my book. So yes, there's going to be added sugar. But then when there's all these difficult words that you can't pronounce, let alone try to understand what they are, then why? Why are we going to feed that to our children. So we are in a day and age that we have other options, thankfully, and affordable options, there are a lot of options. Now, it just takes a little bit of digging. And I think that, you know, and I understand time, trust me, I understand the lack of time. But I do think that if we can just spend a little bit of time looking at the labels, especially in the grocery store, and identifying a couple of the main staple foods that our kids like, if you don't have the time to cook at home, I to try to do a lot of cooking at home. But I also try to bring a few things in again so that my kids can see them. And know that that's okay. And that, you know, they can start to hopefully self regulate as time goes on. But it's important to look at the labels and to try to find the hidden sugar. Because sugar is not always going to be stated as sugar. You know, if you see something that says high fructose corn syrup, the, you know, molasses or raw sugar, you know, that's my favorite when you see raw sugar. And that kind of makes us think, Oh, that must be better for you. It's raw sugar. And really, it's just sugar. So looking for those types of words. And again, just trying to find foods that have minimal amount of ingredients. So once you start to identify them, like I said, I found an ice cream at the store that literally has three ingredients I remember on the flavor. And honestly, I don't want to say the raw Okay, and now I believe it's, you know, I don't want to I believe it's turkey Hill, all natural. I believe that's what it is. And I think that there's five or six flavors, obviously, they're limited. But I do choose some of the flavors that the kit like I do believe they have a cookies and cream option with the way that they've done it in a Carmel option. So that they they're exposed those ice creams. And then that way they if they're going to have it in my opinion, I'd rather hat and it's going to have sugar in it, I'd rather they have the most pure and best ingredients in them along with that sugar versus having just all you know, all just what I'll call fake things. And this brand is on sale at the local grocery store. It's just it's the same price comparison as all the other ice creams. So there's that and you know, I try to do those types of things because I know it's difficult cereals is another one right cereals has so much sugar, but you can't have like my kids have now seen their cousins have all these colorful and fruity looking cereals. So they're not going to forget that they asked for it, they want it so I tried to find a different version and you know, which I did find that does have some sugar in it so we don't have cereal every day. And so they can have that cereal once in a while as well. So that's kind of what we've tried to do. The other thing that we've done is basically except for recently and even recently in very limited quantities that that are homemade. We've given our children zero juice we've given them nothing but water growing you know other than their formula and what they needed as infants but we don't drink our sugar. And so that's another thing that we've done in our house because I think that that's a very hidden source of sugar that people think is good when really it's not good for you. I agree with you i sugar you

know juices for kids are like pop For adults, you know, it has really No, no real value. And it really does change the child's palate. So I totally agree with you. And it gets me also onto the topic of smoothies, which I want to talk a little bit about parents really think smoothies are fantastic, because they provide an opportunity to get fruits and vegetables in, especially in children who might be less eager to eat a variety of fruits and vegetables. But if you think about how many, you know, you put in, let's say, six strawberries, half a banana, you know, a mango, you know, you're putting in a lot of fruit, and then whatever vegetable you might put in there to, you know, to get a vegetable in there, and you blend it up or whatever, and then you give it to the kid, that is way more than they would eat sitting there if they were the whole fruit. And so as a result, you're giving them a very concentrated amount of fruit sugar. And even though it's fruit, sugar, fructose, not sucrose, which is, you know, the kind of sugar you sprinkle on things, it's still sugar in a different form, and less healthy than eating the fruit in its natural fiber casing. So, smoothies, smoothies are very tricky. I only recommend them as a meal replacement, not as a snack, and not as a dessert. And not as a way to sort of get hidden fruits and vegetables. I do it strictly as a meal replacement. So let's say you know, that mornings are really hard for your kid and getting them to sit down and have a meal is tricky. That's when you would add protein powder to it. And you would add some fruits if you want to add vegetables and vegetables. And that's instead of a meal. And it's six ounces. It's a small volume, it's not some giant glass of a smoothie as a way to provide a meal for your child. And because the smoothie thing it's kind of a trap that kids love, because they're so dang sweet. And that's so dang sweet. is problematic. Even though it's natural sugar,

people add sugar to that. as well. It's just the right notes. Yeah. And I want to bring to, you know, everyone's attention to is we have these places now that are smoothie places that kind of sell themselves as being very healthy. But one smoothie can have anywhere that they have at these places can have anywhere from 29 to over 110 grams of sugar in one certain one smoothie. That is crazy when we're talking about 25 grams a day. Yeah, total for children, two to 18. So you're talking about one smoothie gives you like a week's worth of sugar almost. So just be very cautious. And also, again, looking at those labels. You know, if you're going to do a smoothie at all, as Dr. Molly mentioned, I would do it at home if possible, and try to make it more green than anything. I think the smoothie smoothie craze that has happened can be beneficial and healthy. But I think it was really based on green smoothies, making it mostly vegetables and we have as a society, as we often do changed it to be something that just like,

grass, let's face it. You know, our dogs? I don't know, you know, but what what I get it. I've looked so many places, I have one last mom hack, and then we'll wrap up I think unless you've got one, I forgot when I've been baking for my kids, you know that you could picture you know, the image of baking cookies after school with your kids. I never add the amount of sugar that the recipe calls for ever. I easily cut it in half, sometimes more and the kids don't know the difference. So whatever you're making cake cookies, bread, like a like a quick bread, whatever. Do not doubt yourself. And I would say cut that sugar in half. And you will you will not know the difference Honest to God and it'll taste great. And you will really really reduce the sugar that you have in that recipe. Yeah, absolutely.

The other thing I want to mention two things. The other thing that I think has a lot of hidden sugar that people think is very healthy is storebought Oh gosh, good one. There's a lot of children yogurts that and adults you know think that they're really benefiting their children. Yes. fruit on the bottoms. Because there's so much added sugar. It's not just the fruit. So look at those very carefully or the the you know, what are they called the the ones that are in the package. Right, exactly. All those you know those pouches, that the yogurt pouches, they're not they have so much added sugar. So one, making yogurt at home is much easier than you might think it is. But if you're not able to do that, that's okay. There are unsweetened or lower sugar, options of yogurt. And I know that everyone, not everyone, but most people are used to a much higher sweetened version. So it'll take some adjusting, which leads me to my last thing I know that children model our behaviors. So we have to set that example for our kids. So if we're parents that are drinking six cokes a day, and eating, you know, we won't eat any fruits and vegetables will, you know, will, will only eat out or eat processed, they're going to mimic that. And if that's your decision, that's your choice. But if you're trying to live a healthier life, or at least, you know, set up a healthier life for your child, or your children, remember that you mimic, they mimic you. So you know, if you're gonna if you want them to eat lower sugar products, then you need to do

I think that's great, you know, and on the yogurt front, what you what we did was we would take plain yogurt and use an used a sugar free jam from the grocery store and blend that together. And that made it easier for us to do we didn't have to make the yogurt at home, nor did we have to make whatever the fruit flavor was going to be. It was simple. And it worked pretty darn well because the it was just fruit sweetener. Without added sugar and the yogurt and the kids, the kids ate it up and still do. That's how they do it as adults now so it's uh,

yeah, absolutely. We even like again, sometimes it's just plain yogurt, with nothing added to it, we might add just a little bit of honey. And again, it's it's just a little bit and it tastes awesome. So you know, something to consider. Alright, so Yeah, go ahead. That's it I you know, sugar. One thing we didn't talk about that is also a con for sugar, just to wrap it up is your team sugar can cause a lot of destruction in your tooth enamel. So that's one thing to mention real quickly that I know we haven't talked about. So to wrap up, there are a lot of negatives to just added sugars, white, processed, or added sugars. And our goal is to try to give you some alternatives. And some of the alternatives that we've talked about today are adding honey or maple syrup instead of just adding sugar, or finding foods that are already prepared with lower sugar content at your grocery store by reading labels. And by offering you know offering those choices to your children. We've also discussed how you can't necessarily 100% shield your child from every bad food out there. So trying to give them a little but not too much. So that they can be exposed and have some control over their own urges, as well as be part of the party when they're there. But at home limit it and keep it down to a minimum and keep the treats down. Think about your smoothies before you try to have those too often. And bottom line try to model the behavior or try to show your for everybody to eat more healthy in your home. Because that's very important for your children to see. So Dr. Molly, why don't you tell everyone how they can see more of us if they have any questions or concerns or just want to see more of what we are saying

Thanks for listening to this episode of parenting with the pros and cons and we come out with new episodes frequently. So be checking our website parenting with the pros and cons for that and then you can also follow me on Dr. Molly OShea on Instagram, or you can reach out to me on my website Dr. Molly OShea. We love connecting with parents with all of your pros and cons we have lived at all. So I'm Dr. Molly.

And, I'm Cinzia Filipovski

and we look forward to talking with you about all the joys and all the pros and cons of parenting next time.