No Sugar Added

It’s official. I am the crazy no-sugar-added lady at my 3 year old’s school. One teacher actually stopped me in the hallway today and asked “Is it true you don’t give your child sugar? What is your reasoning?” Perhaps I should see it as her search for truth and meaning, but I continually see such ignorance or lack of understanding in our society. Also, I am rather sure that it was more akin to “What are you crazy?” To me she might as well have asked, “Is it true you don’t smoke cigarettes? Why not?”

Our society is in denial – I mean, who wouldn’t want chocolate cake for breakfast (I had my leftover birthday cake with my tea just this morning, hypocrite that I am!), but come on, really, are we truly ignorant enough to think that our love affair with sugar is not going to affect our health? It is highly documented that sugar consumption is dangerous to our health given its effect to suppres our immune system; impede cellular function; stimulate overgrowth of candida (yeast); lead to obesity and tooth decay; wildly fluctuate insulin and sugar levels in our blood (and thus lead to major meltdowns in kids!); interfere with the body’s absorption of minerals; raise cholesterol levels; cause allergies, kidney damage, high blood pressure; and increase our risk of cancer, heart disease and osteoporosis.

What more information do we need? Yet we plan our school events around desserts; sweeten our children’s foods and even their medicines and then wonder why they won’t eat their fruits and vegetables. My daughter loves fruits and vegetables, but after an overindulgence of cake and ice-cream at a birthday party, she is less likely to indulge in carrot sticks or peas – which on most occasions she will eat with pleasure. We are not only risking our child’s health now by exposing them to excessive sweets, we are ruining their taste buds and their potential to choose healthier options when they are choosing for themselves later. So I am quite taken aback when people just don’t get it and wish that the understanding was much more prevalent so I wouldn’t have to be the crazy lady who just wants the options presented to my child at school to be truly healthy ones.