Taming a sweet tooth can be hard, but it is an important health choice – especially for your kids. Sweet treats and sugary drinks have a lot of calories but little nutritional value. Most added sugars come from sodas, sports drinks, energy drinks, juice drinks, cakes, cookies, ice cream, candy, and other desserts.
- Make sweets a special treat, not everyday foods. Treats are great once in a while; just don’t make them an everyday thing. Limit sweet treats to special times.
- Resist the shopping impulse! If you don’t buy sweets, your family won’t eat them as much. Tip: Most grocery stores have a candy-free checkout lane to help moms out.
- You don’t need to get rid of all sweets and desserts. Show kids that a small amount can go a long way by splitting sweets like candy bars or cupcakes.
- Sip smarter. Soda and other sugar-sweetened drinks contain a lot of sugar and are high in calories. Offer water when kids are thirsty.
- Play detective in the cereal aisle. Show kids how to find the amount of total sugars on the Nutrition Facts label in various cereals. Challenge them to compare cereals they like and select the one with the lowest amount of sugar.