BellaOnline Forums Family Adolescence Sugar Swops

Here in the UK there is a push to change the eating habits of children. One of the recommendations is to half the daily amount of sugar intake we consume.
Usually I take the view that as long as we eat in moderation we should eat without fear of low fat or lower sugar.
However I recognise that hidden sugars contribute to the diets of many of us.
I will be exploring sugar swops- certainly our teens need to be focusing on good healthy food, not using diets or food exclusions as a method of controlling food intake.
So certainly I will be encouraging the children and teens in my family to drink sugar free drinks. As an alternative to fizzy sugar laden drinks, I try to jazz up sparkling water with lemon, limes and oranges.
Food messages we give children from a young age are complex.
Boys and girls are so concerned about body image, my heart aches when I hear teens say they do not eat their lunch or are hiding the amount of food they actually eat from parents.
Food is one of life's pleasures. I will post some sugar swop recipes. Lets teach teens food is good, everything in moderation and if we are aware of what we are eating we can make good choices.

Milk is a really good alternative to sugary drinks, ice cold from the fridge, milk can be thirst quenching on hot days and warmed with cinnamon will warm teens on cold days.

One of the life skills we as parents can teach our teens is to read food labels.
In educating teens to know how to interpret the ingredients on packaging we are ensuring they are knowledgeable about the food they are eating.

Sugar comes in many forms teens need to know the different ways that sugar is presented to us.

So true. I have pretty much changed over to stevia. It comes from a plant and there's no chemical additives.