Are you confused about how much sugar your vegan kids should be having?
With all the conflicting information out there, it can be challenging to know what's best for your family.
The truth is, there's no one-size-fits-all answer, but there are some key things to keep in mind.
In this episode, I'll guide you through the sugar spectrum, from the foods you should definitely limit to the ones that can be enjoyed in moderation.
I'll also share some practical tips for reducing your vegan children’s sugar intake gradually and creating a balanced approach to sweets.
Join me as I break down the government recommendations, discuss the role of fiber in sugar absorption, and debunk some common myths about unrefined and artificial sweeteners.
By the end of this episode, you'll have a clearer understanding of how to navigate the sugar maze and make informed choices for your family's health and happiness.
WithExtraVeg,
Gen
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IG: @withextraveg
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Hi there, it's Gen and welcome to this week's podcast. So this week, I'm going to be talking about one of the topics that I get asked about really often. And that is, how much sugar should your kids actually be having. Now, before I get started, I wanted to remind you about my brand new recipe book that is coming out in the next couple of weeks. It's called Super Boosted Snacks and it's going to be full of really high nutrient snacks that are recipes that your kids are going to be loved. They've been tested on lots of kids who have loved them all. And the recipes have been developed to be really high in iron in zinc in protein, high calcium recipes, as well as other recipes, which have got added beans in them and veggies and lots of really great ingredients like that.
So they've been developed specifically to make sure that your kids are getting all the nutrients that they need from foods that they actually love to eat. So keep an eye out for that. I have a waitlist form down below in the show notes. So make sure you sign up so you get all the updates. And that's going to be out in the next couple of weeks. So yeah, keep an eye out on that. It's going to be lots of fun. Lots of really great recipes in there. All right, so let's talk about sugar. Should your kids be having sugar, I get a lot of questions about sugar. There's a lot of people who believe in zero sugar for kids. Most of my recipes, the sweet ones all do have sugar in them.
So, I will often get people asking me whether their kids should actually be having the recipes that I have given that they have sugar in them. And so yeah, I really want to talk about sugar today. Now, I have to say that there is no hard and fast rule when it comes to sugar. It's very dependent on your family and what your kids are already eating. So I'm going to talk through some things that you need to be aware of when it comes to sugar. And to talk about sugar itself. What's good sugar, what's less good sugar, which sugars you should be avoiding, and then give you some tips on how to lower your child sugar intake as well.
So there is a lot of media campaigns around sugar. And there's a lot of information out there. And a lot of the media campaigns I know use a lot of shock terminology and shock campaigning and stuff to get us to stop having our kids have sugar. But it's really important that when it comes to sugar, you remember that the government's when these campaigns are being done. They're really being aimed at people whose kids are having a lot of soft drinks, and a lot of lollies, and things like that, which are sugar things that you should be reducing for your kids and that kids shouldn't be having too much of versus sort of people who are giving their kids quite healthy snacks that do have some sugar in them, like the recipes that I have, or even fruit and things some people can think that these ads apply to fruit as well, which they certainly don't.
So yeah, it's really important to remember that these shock tactics are often in relation to confectionery and soft drinks and things, not sugar across the board sort of thing. Now, having said that, if your kids don't have sugar at the moment, and you don't want them to have sugar in the future, then I would definitely recommend continuing that if you want to. The only thing to remember is that if your kids are having absolutely zero sugar, it means that they're missing out on food. So if the other kids say they're at school, and there's a school birthday party, and one of the kids is brought in some ice blocks, or they've brought in some cupcakes or something, and your kids actually end up missing out, or they go somewhere else and they're missing out a lot that can be really hard for kids.
And it can actually mean that they develop secretive sort of compulsive behaviors where they end up hiding sugar from you and stuff or things like that. Also, when you have really strict rules around food, it can also develop into eating disorders and other things like that as well. Now, I'm not going to talk too much about eating disorders because I'm not qualified to talk about eating disorder. Because that's not my area of expertise. But I do know that when you have really strict rules around eating, then that's where eating disorders can develop, especially for children as they get a bit older, and they've got all kinds of other things happening like puberty and stuff like that, it can get really complicated.
So if you're being a completely no sugar family, then you do need to be really aware of what that's doing with your kids. And I think you need to make sure that your kids aren't missing out. So make sure that you have things for them so that they're not missing out. So the reason why there isn't a straight answer to this whole sugar thing is that even going completely zero sugar, while sugar isn't the best thing for our kids to be eating, going completely, no sugar can actually have other sort of unintended effects on more psychological side of things, as well. So that is just something to think about. And something to be aware of when it comes to sugar. And that is actually one of the reasons why I don't do no sugar with my kids.
Now, the other thing to remember, is that when it comes to sugar, there's a really broad sort of spectrum of what sugar actually is sort of thing or more sort of what sort of sugar foods we have. So on one end of the spectrum, you have things like soft drinks and lollies and confectionery and thing, which, depending on which country you're in might be sweets as well. Yeah. So things like that, which are basically pure sugar. So those are at one end of the spectrum, then you tend to have other foods like cakes, and pastries and things like that, which have sugar within a bit more structure, more ingredients in with them, but still quite refined ingredients as well.
And then you kind of move up because then you've got things like breakfast cereals, which can be all sorts of things. Some of them are basically pure sugar. And some of them have got a lot of fiber and things in them as well. And then going up the spectrum to things like fruit as well. So all of those foods actually contain sugar, and it's actually the same sugar. So it's either glucose or it's fructose, which is basically what all sugars end up breaking down into. And all sugars when they enter our body, that's what they all get broken down into. So the really defining thing with each of these foods is actually how much extra nutrition and in particular fiber the sugars contain.
So fiber is really important, because fiber actually slows down the absorption of the sugar into the bloodstream. And so it means that the more fiber a sweet food has, the less of a spike you're gonna get, because the fiber slows down the absorption and keeps it going through the digestive track for longer, and so measures out the dosage of sugar going into the bloodstream. So when you look at things like soft drinks and lollies, they have no fiber at all. So when we eat bows, the sugars going to go directly into the bloodstream. Whereas when you look at fruit, which is at the other end of the spectrum of sweet foods, the sugar in fruit comes with fiber as well, which slows down all the absorption of the sugar and so it's fruit is very healthy for us.
And our body knows how to deal with the sugar that comes from fruit. That's the first thing to remember. And to know that when we're talking about avoiding sugar, the really important thing is that we're avoiding the sugars that come with no fiber at all, or even in pastries and things where you've got a lot of white flour in with them as well. So those have very little fiber to slow the sugar absorption down. So they're the ones that you really want to be avoiding with your kids. So if your kids do eat a lot of those, then I would be looking at reducing them slowly over time to make sure that your kids aren't having too many of those things like in our house, we just don't have soft drink at all. It's just not a thing.
And it's actually really funny because my parents sometimes like to treat my kids, but when may try to give them soft drinks. My kids actually don't like them at all. So that is one thing that if Your kids don't have a lot of really sugary things, then quite often you'll find that they don't actually enjoy them that much anyway. Yeah, I mean, my kids love cake. So it only works with the soft drink, unfortunately. So yeah, when we're talking about sugar, whenever I'm working with anyone, that's the first thing is that we really want to look at completely reducing down soft drink, and lollies and things as much as possible. Obviously, you can have treats and stuff every now and then. But they do definitely need to come out of every day foods.
So when it comes to other sweet sort of foods, it's really important to look at the fiber content of foods to give you an idea of how the body is going to actually absorb the sugar and stuff. So you're looking at things like adding in extra nuts and seeds and stuff using whole grains, because they've got a lot more fiber. And so basically, you want to have recipes, where yes, you'd probably have sweetness because kids do like sweet foods, but you want to have that sort of low. And making sure that the foods actually are giving them a lot of extra fiber and nutrition and everything, along with the sweetness, my recipes that I have, based on, as I said whole grains, they have lots and lots of nuts and seeds.
So the recipes that I have, when my kids are having snacks and everything, they might be having a blueberry muffin. But the muffin is going to be made with wholemeal flour, it's going to be have some extra pumpkin seeds in it so that they're getting a really good dose of zinc and iron, maybe even add some extra legumes in as well. And then they're also quite low in sugar as well. So that if you compare that sort of thing with maybe one of the white flour, blueberry muffins that you might get from the supermarket, it's going to have a lot less nutrition in it, and a lot less fiber to slow down the sugar absorption.
So yeah, so when you're thinking about snacks and things for kids, you really want to look at fiber, that's an important thing. That helps slow down absorption of sugar. Now, the other thing also is that the government recommendations for sugar that kids have less than six teaspoons of added sugar a day. So this is talking about actual added sugar, not the sugar in fruit, because as I said before the sugar and fruit has got the fiber as well. And so there's no limit on the amount of fruit that kids can have. As long as they're getting all the other nutrition that they need. It's actually added sugar into recipes. That is the thing that you need to watch.
So the recipes that I have in my recipe book, they tend to be two teaspoons of sugar or less per serve. So yeah, they fall well below the six teaspoons of added sugar. Now something else that often people ask is whether they need to look at unrefined sugars versus refined sugar. This is kind of a big buzz thing that's been around a lot lately. Now what unrefined sugar is it tends to be things like maple syrup, coconut sugar, date, sugar as well. Oh, there's a few others as well that sugar companies have kind of brought out to try to get people to buy them. Now the thing is that the sugars, the sugar itself is still just molecules made up of glucose and fructose.
So they actually break down exactly the same in our bodies, the same way that refined sugar like cane sugar does so white sugar. So from a sugar perspective, they're exactly the same. They don't have any actual fiber in them, although date sugar, may depending on the sugar, but the other ones, they don't have any extra fiber, so there's no slowing down of the absorption of the sugar into the bloodstream. Now, the difference with unrefined sugars is that because they've had a bit less processing, they often still have some of the nutrients left in them from the soil or things from how they were grown. Now, so this does mean that they do contain really small amounts of things like iron and magnesium and stuff like that. And that's often a selling point for them.
And so yes, it's true that say brown sugar does have more iron than white sugar, but it's actually a really small amount. And so you're definitely Are you not going to be making a significant difference in your child's nutrition by switching from white sugar to coconut sugar, and certainly not for the cost that the coconut sugar is. For me, I use just plain white or brown sugar depending on the recipe. I do use maple syrup for flavor, but I don't use it for nutrition. And it's also very expensive. So I use those. And then I add other things like pumpkin seeds, whole grains, other nuts into the recipes to actually increase the iron and zinc and other mineral content, rather than actually relying on the sugar because the sweetener is not going to have a significant amount of extra nutrition that makes it worth the cost really.
Now the exception to this is date, because dates do have extra nutrition and data fruits. So dates are a really good way of sweetening a recipe if it works for the recipe. But I do find that it doesn't always work for recipes. So yeah. Also other fruits, things like bananas and apple puree are also really good ways of sweetening recipes, especially for young kids who, well, you're first starting out with recipes, and they might not be used to the super sweet other foods. And so yeah, they can be a really great way of sweetening recipes as well. Now, the other one that comes up is artificial sweeteners, whether you should use those. And that's a really big no, some of the artificial sweeteners have been found to cause cancer and things.
But the other problem with artificial sweeteners is that our body doesn't actually understand how they work. So when we have something with artificial sweeteners in it, or even stevia and zero calorie sweeteners, our body expects it to have sugar, so it actually acts the same way as if it had sugar in it. And so it our blood sugar, and everything does all the same thing that it would have done if we had sugar. But our body is also expecting the calories that it would have got if the sugar had been in there. And so we end up over the day eating more to compensate for the calories that we've missed out on from the sweetener. So they really don't work. And they certainly don't reduce our body sugar response. And they don't lower the calories over the whole day.
So you're much better off just sticking with ordinary sugar. And so going the other sweeteners because they don't really work. So my general rule when it comes to sugar with my kids, is rather than going no sugar at all, I will give my kids recipes that have got quite a low amount of sugar in them. As I said, the recipes that I have tend to be around two teaspoons per served of sugar. And then I do also reduce the amount of sugar down a little bit because you can do that in a lot of recipes, especially mine because my recipes aren't really precise baking recipes. Mine are very quick and easy. Once you can just throw together, they're very flexible. And what I tend to teach
also is if your kids really liked sweet food, start by adding extra sugar into the recipes when you're making them. And then slowly reduce down the sugar over time to a lower amount. And then that way your kids their taste buds will adapt and they will be able to have the same sort of recipes, the same snacks just with less sugar in them. That's another reason why I really recommend making your own snacks because it makes it so easy to play around with the ingredients and stuff too. The other thing also is if you're worried about your kids sugar intake, then look at adding in savory foods to so that they're not just having all sweet snacks.
So things like you can do crackers with dips or or cheeses or things like that. Or then even savory scrolls savory muffins and stuff like that as well. So that your kids learn that they don't need to have sugar and sweet stuff all the time. So yeah, when it comes to sugar, my general recommendation is to aim to keep below that six teaspoons of added sugar a day. So remember that doesn't include fruit and I will tend to do one to two sweet low sugar snacks a day for my kids. And then I also I try to bring in savory snacks for them as well so that they're not relying on sugar as much. And then I tend to have in our other meals I look at, I certainly don't add sugar into our savory meals and stuff either. And so that tends to keep them below the six teaspoons.
Now if your kids do have a lot more sugar than that, then the easiest way to lower their sugar is really a gradual way. So the first one I would take out are things like soft drinks and lollies replace them with even cordial is a really great way of reducing down their sugar intake because you can adjust how much cordial you add in each time. So you can start with a quite strong and then slowly reduce it over time, rather than just trying to get them to switch to water or something directly. And then the best way to reduce sugary foods and stuff is just adding other foods. It's much easier to crowd out a food than it is to just tell kids that they can't have it at all, there are heaps of really great snacks in my recipe book. Things like double chocolate muffins are a really popular one. My kids love a lot of the protein balls and things as well. So try to use recipes like that to crowd out sweeter foods rather than just trying to get your kids to stop eating sugar full stop. Alright, I hope that helps and I will talk to you again next week.
