worried about sugar...

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MamaBear
Posts: 574
Joined: Mon Jul 15, 2013 6:17 pm

worried about sugar...

Post by MamaBear »

Has anyone seen the Jamie Oliver programme on channel 4 called sugar rush.

Its quite graphic, we saw a child who had 6 teeth pulled out (lots of blood!) and people who have legs amputated due to type 2 diabetes.

I am a chocoholic but this has totally put me off sugar...

I watched it with my boys and they were put off junky foods too. Anyone else following a sugar free or trying to consume less sugar in their households?
Yamin151
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Joined: Fri Aug 30, 2013 8:30 am

Re: worried about sugar...

Post by Yamin151 »

I haven't watched it yet but will do, I worry too about sugar. We eat FAR too much and my two are little sugar addicts, as is their dad!

I feel bound to point out, having worked in a market where statistics is all, that this programme as well as many others, is homing in on sugar as the 'latest' health scare. Before this we have had fat, salt, alcohol etc etc. All of these are dangerous substances when take TO EXCESS, but all are also perfectly acceptable as part of a diet practising 'moderation in all things'

I would also say that this sort of programme always looks at extremes. In a population of 65 million, you can have 100 children under ten having 6 teeth removed or (golly!) legs removed for Type 2 and its still an infinatissamally small proportion of the sugar eating population. This is not to say sugar in excess is not harmful and does not cause teeth to rot and consequent pain etc, BUT, the cases they show are very rare extremes to make a point.

All that said, tooth decay is a big problem, huge, on a lower scale and probably represents the possibility of a step back to the state of teeth before flouridation of water and top class toothpastes came along (many of our parents have false teeth, yes?).
Type 2 diabetes is also a huge worry and we are seeing younger and younger cases. Still extremes of course, and any parent who has a morbidly obese child is goign to be doing a lot more wrong with thier childrens diet than just giving them too much sugar. That kind of wrong feeding will also include habitual snacks, poor food and lack of exercise, all of which make type two diabetes a real and scary possibility.

I was watching footage of teenagers in the 70s and 80s the other day and it struck me how much thinner they all were. We all had an overweight teenager or two that we knew, but nowadays there are several in every class group, right from early primary, and what scares me is how it is becoming the 'new normal' and it is un-PC to talk about it. These 70s and 80s teenagers were wiry, stretched, gawky and pretty thin, but healthy. And not only was it less sugar, less fats (not consciously 'healthy' choices but just what was available) but it was also more exercise. Today?

-Less exercise (SCREENS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) - I have a constant guilt trip because I restrict screens so much, sometimes my life feels like one long round of fun-sucking
-More sweets (when did your ds/dd last go on a sleepover where at least one of the participants DIDN'T turn up with sweets? The fact I neither send mine with them or let others bring them puts me yet again, in the fun-sucking category, see above
- A loss of the ability to be hungry. Now, if you are hungry, you eat. You don't wait until a meal comes around, you must eat. We indulge that - even i do it. I try not to, and I make it healthy stuff, but even so, we let them snack all the time.
- Fizzy drinks - in the 70s they were a sunday treat when dad put (God knows what) dye in the bottle of lemonade. Other than that, nothing, not even breakfast juice.

I am not being smug here. I am falling at every fence and give in to FAR MORE than I ever wanted to. It makes me miserable quite frankly (bad day), but I feel if I say no to all I want to (and frankly, should) I am constantly saying no, constantly. At least one of my children takes full advantage of that. Its exhausting.

But it aint just sugar (sure you aren't saying it it) and whilst I think these programmes are important, they do tend to devilise one element of diet as if curing that would be to cure all ills. The illness is permissive parenting, constant and non-stop availability of crap, peer pressure and a screen to remove all boredom.

Miserable of Warwickshire. :roll:
Yamin151
Posts: 2405
Joined: Fri Aug 30, 2013 8:30 am

Re: worried about sugar...

Post by Yamin151 »

On amore positive note (sorry for big vent!) - here is what I aspire to practise

1. Nothing wrong with a bit of sugar. I am happy for my boys to have a pudding each day, no problem whatsoever, in the context of a diet that doesn't include sweets more than once a week and no sugary fizz drinks

2. I am happy for my boys to play computer games, amounting to no more than a few hours a week, as part of a varied group of 'things to do'

3. I am happy for my boys to have A snack between breakfast and lunch, and lunch and dinner, but it has to be sensible and non sugar - protein for growing boys

4. I am happy for my boys to sit around and LOLL, so long as they are also averaging an hour of exercise per day. They are skinny and fit, so I hope I am getting that right!!!!!!
MamaBear
Posts: 574
Joined: Mon Jul 15, 2013 6:17 pm

Re: worried about sugar...

Post by MamaBear »

i agree yamin, but the stats were scary type 2 diabetes is on the rise, the doctors and dentists he spoke too were extremely concerned and it puts a huge strain on the nhs. 7000 amputations every year due to type 2 diabetes and each year 26 000 primary school children go to hospital because of rotten teeth. that is shocking and scary. pulling their teeth out costs the nhs 30 million a year.

there was a girl who said she made poor choices and spent all her pocket money on sweets and fizzy.

i dont want to ban it completely i just want my kids to make better choices and look after their health. but its very hard when there is sugar and junk everywhere.
Yamin151
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Joined: Fri Aug 30, 2013 8:30 am

Re: worried about sugar...

Post by Yamin151 »

Yup, totally agree.
salsa
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Joined: Tue Sep 03, 2013 10:59 am

Re: worried about sugar...

Post by salsa »

At last! Thank you Jamie! I haven't watched it yet, but I read the interview on The Times. Both dentists and a child nutritionist went to our playgroups several times and would explain about sugar content and recommend maximum amounts. 6 teaspoons or 30 grams for a child. My children, however are not that concerned about their teeth, but they are terrified of getting "moobs" and would like to keep their six packs! The eldest also would like to avoid spots.

The alternative? Xylitol and Stevia. Expensive, but natural and kinder to teeth. I bake with it, add it to smoothies and home made lemonade. There is also chocolate which you can find at health shops, on line or at Waitrose. Sainsbury's has a sugar free chocolate too, but some people do not approve of aspartame. Enjoy!
Last edited by salsa on Sun Sep 06, 2015 6:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.
MedievalBabe
Posts: 1191
Joined: Wed Oct 16, 2013 9:56 pm

Re: worried about sugar...

Post by MedievalBabe »

There is another issue with regards to teeth. Since there are less NHS dentists not all children go every 6 months for a check up, as they are not registered and so only go when their teeth are in a bad way. This came up on another programme looking a dental health in the UK and the pressure put upon dental hospitals and emergency dental clinics.

It showed that it wasn't just sugar in the diet causing problems as several parents with children who thought they were doing the best had children with rotten teeth. Some of it was milk at bedtime after teeth cleaning or too much fruit juice or using a bottle.
Yamin151
Posts: 2405
Joined: Fri Aug 30, 2013 8:30 am

Re: worried about sugar...

Post by Yamin151 »

I thought that ignorance had been tackled years ago! The milk or juice thing in a bottle? Not convinced that some of these parents didn't already know that - bit like saying they didn't realise nightly McDonalds was bad!

As for sweeteners, very useful - Stevia etc natural too yes (proviso, natural not always good of course!!) but there is also the issue that even when usinmg sweeteners we are still pandering to a sweet tooth, and what needs to be tackled is our insatiable appetite for sweet food, not make an alternative, although i totally appreciate thats better in the short term.
Eccentric
Posts: 738
Joined: Fri Dec 19, 2014 8:58 pm

Re: worried about sugar...

Post by Eccentric »

You might want to look at a paleo diet. There are a number of good books and web sites to there to get you going. You don't need to do without chocolate, you can buy raw chocolate bars made with Xylitol in health food shops, or even better make your own. Very dark chocolate has very little sugar in, it certainly won't rot teeth or cause diabetes - you simply cannot eat enough 90% choc You can get 100% too.

There is a company called Ugg foods that does lots of Paleo goodies that have no sugar in. They come in packs so you add eggs and light olive oil and then just shove them in the oven. You can make a multitude of things using their packs (they have lots of recipes on their site http://www.uggfoods.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

There is no point in ditching the sugar if you don't ditch the white stuff too because they convert immediately into sugar anyway (so even if you do eat grain still you would need to be a wholefoody. Too much fruit can actually be worse than eating Glucose. It is fructose that really causes the problems, so too much fruit juice is really not good, especially for teeth. A glass of orange juice has as much sugar in as a Coke. Rice Syrup is supposed to be the best sugar replacement because it doesn't have any fructose in it. You might as well be eating sugar if you have things like sweet freedom or Agave Syrup.

If you use my fitness pal https://www.myfitnesspal.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; you can log the amount of sugars that you eat, which is useful to get you started. It is amazing how much sugar is in carrots! The recommended daily amount of sugar is a meagre 25g and I can tell you it is nigh on impossible to reach this even without grains.

In regards to stopping sugar this book is a really good one. Lots of explanation as to why and also lots of help in replacing foods and lots of really great recipes.

On the subject of Paleo these are helpful sites .
http://www.amazingpaleo.com/about-me/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://tinyurl.com/84ud6y3" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.paleofood.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
This site gives you an idea of how much sugar there is in some common foods
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/262978.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Oh and one last thing if you do decide to give up sugar you will feel awful for a couple of weeks but afterwards you are likely to feel amazing, more energy, clear headed, better memory and and and...
MamaBear
Posts: 574
Joined: Mon Jul 15, 2013 6:17 pm

Re: worried about sugar...

Post by MamaBear »

moobs oh no! my boys too are happy to eat healthily for their physique rather than good health but at least its something.
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