Trying to get kids on board with reducing their sugar intake is exhausting because in all honesty, they just don't care. Good thing I care enough for all of us! I am always striving to find ways to get them to eat right without stripping away their favorites completely. I was particularly proud of my latest scheme: mixing their cereals.
The bad habits of buying sugar cereal starts with tiny beautiful people staring up at me with cherub like faces and tears in their eyes- holding a big box of shiny colorful cereal with fun cartoons on them. Their voices are small and sad and they say *please?* Ugh, it's like my kryptonite! That is how it began, but I know now that I am not helping them by giving them everything their hearts desire, and I was enabling their sugar addiction.
I was looking at the sugar content in their favorite Fruity Pebbles knock off and was stunned to see that each serving contained 11 grams of sugar, compared to the generic Rice Krispies cereal which has only 3 grams. So lets do the math. Add and divide- if mixed in equal proportions it brings their sugar intake down from 11 grams to 7. That saves them 4 grams. That is 28 grams of sugar a week- 1,456 grams a year! It all adds up and it's one of many ways to trim the sugar, and if I just keep trimming a little more sugar here and there I will have achieved something measurably great!
The bad habits of buying sugar cereal starts with tiny beautiful people staring up at me with cherub like faces and tears in their eyes- holding a big box of shiny colorful cereal with fun cartoons on them. Their voices are small and sad and they say *please?* Ugh, it's like my kryptonite! That is how it began, but I know now that I am not helping them by giving them everything their hearts desire, and I was enabling their sugar addiction.
I was looking at the sugar content in their favorite Fruity Pebbles knock off and was stunned to see that each serving contained 11 grams of sugar, compared to the generic Rice Krispies cereal which has only 3 grams. So lets do the math. Add and divide- if mixed in equal proportions it brings their sugar intake down from 11 grams to 7. That saves them 4 grams. That is 28 grams of sugar a week- 1,456 grams a year! It all adds up and it's one of many ways to trim the sugar, and if I just keep trimming a little more sugar here and there I will have achieved something measurably great!
I was a little nervous of the backlash I would get, but the kids tell me they can't really tell. The flavor from the fruity pebbles is so strong that the rice krispies don't make that much of a difference. Yay!
I've also tried the cocoa pebbles too. Next I want to branch out to mixing other favorites like Reese's Puffs or Cocoa Puffs with Kix, and Smores Crunch with Chex. As their tastes evolve I plan to thin them out by adding more of the low sugar cereal with less of the high sugar cereal. As a bonus: I noticed the Aldi brand of Crispy Rice is gluten free!
I hope that although they will essentially resist the changes, they will see that I am trying to push them in the right direction for a lifetime of healthier choices, and life it's self is sweet enough!
I've also tried the cocoa pebbles too. Next I want to branch out to mixing other favorites like Reese's Puffs or Cocoa Puffs with Kix, and Smores Crunch with Chex. As their tastes evolve I plan to thin them out by adding more of the low sugar cereal with less of the high sugar cereal. As a bonus: I noticed the Aldi brand of Crispy Rice is gluten free!
I hope that although they will essentially resist the changes, they will see that I am trying to push them in the right direction for a lifetime of healthier choices, and life it's self is sweet enough!