6 simple tricks to shift the sugar

What happens at your dinner table after the meal is done? Do your kids shout for pudding? (Or dessert for my American followers). Do they expect a sweet food after eating their savoury meal?

Many families serve pudding after dinner. It's an expected part of the day. Kids often learn about it at school, arriving home with the dreaded question: "What's for pudding?"

I am a big believer in 'never say never.' Kids need to feel equal to their peers. Food shouldn't be categorised as 'good' and 'bad', and kids need to be taught the enjoy sugar in moderation so it doesn't become what they crave the most as teenagers.

But the daily sugar-laden pudding adds up. If your child eats a sugary breakfast cereal, followed by a sweet snack during the day, some sweets shared by a friend, then pudding after dinner, they are receiving too much sugar for one day. It's easy for it to creep in isn't it? So many snacks contain added sugar, and it's what our kids ask for. Often it's easier just to give up and buy it for them. So let's look at simple tricks to shift the sugar.

1. Forget the breakfasts we are supposed to eat

I don't think the 'supposed to's' do us any good. We are supposed to eat cereal or toast for breakfast because these are breakfast foods. Who says? A simple way to shift the sugar from the breakfast table is to serve lunch or dinner foods for breakfast. Often these foods are more nutritious, containing vegetables and protein. Children are more likely to find foods they enjoy in the 'dinner' category. Plus the bonus.... use leftovers and you don't have to cook.

2. Don't buy what you don't want them to eat

Sounds simple, but how many of us regularly buy foods that we don't want our kids to eat? How many of us have a snack drawer that is for 'a treat'? The fact is, if you don't want your child to eat sugar, or if you realise that your child is getting lots of sugar throughout the day, don't buy the sugary snacks.

Instead, add in some no sugar or lower sugar alternatives and make these what is normal in your house. Try lightly salted popcorn, energy balls, apple slices dipped in nut butter, a hard boiled egg, tortilla chips, carrot sticks dipped in hummus, a hummus wrap, a chicken salad wrap, some cubes of cheese, nori strips, a bowl of frozen peas or roasted chickpeas. If showing up to school collection time with a hard boiled egg isn't going to go down well, make this adjustment more slowly. Start with trail mix... a small bag of nuts and seeds. To these, add chocolate chips. Start with milk chocolate chips and add enough that it feels like a sweet snack then gradually shift to dark chocolate and reduce the amount you include. For some delicious trail mix, try a dried banana - cashew nut - dried coconut combination. Or a pecan - almond - dried raspberry combination. Use any mix of nuts, seeds and dried fruit, then add the chocolate chips. Even better.... get your kids involved and let them choose the combination.

3. Go homemade

A sneaky source of sugar is packaged food. It's added as, let's be honest, it tastes good. Companies want us to buy more of their product and a simple way to do this is to add sugar. We keep coming back for more!

While many of us would struggle to cook a from scratch meal every night, we can make the time to batch cook on the weekend. Try making a big pot of homemade pasta sauce, then freezing it in portions. You can use it for a quick pasta during the week or homemade pizzas. Or try a simple chilli. It doesn't have to be spicy and it's a lovely way to add in beans. You can then add it to rice, a jacket potato or even use it as a dip.

4. Flavour your water

We may be aware that a chocolate bar or a slice of cake is going to add sugar to our kid's day, but it's easy to forget the drinks. Hot chocolate, chocolate milk, energy drinks, fizzy drinks and flavoured waters often contain sugar, and it's hard to spot. Once kids are used to their liquids being sweet, it can be tricky to switch them to plain water.

Try adding fruit to water, leaving it to infuse through the day, or overnight in the fridge. This is a nice activity for the whole family, so let your kids choose the flavours. Try a strawberry and lemon mix, watermelon and lime, or even a melon, cucumber and mint. Herbs are fantastic in water too, and rosemary has been found to support memory and concentration... so throw some in!

4. Go slow

If your goal is to remove sugar from your evening meal, I recommend you shift the puddings slowly. Kids like routine with their food, and they like to know what to expect. If they expect a slice of cake or an ice lolly, they are very likely to reject a bowl of fruit with yogurt. So make the shift slowly. Use those chocolate chips again and start by offering both options. Add chopped fruit to the table after dinner and allow the family to help themselves. Your kids will most likely stick to their sweet pudding, and that's fine. Add some toppings to the table, keeping each ingredient in a separate bowl. You may add sliced strawberries in one bowl, some sliced kiwi in another, then a small bowl of chocolate chips and another of chopped nuts. You could even add some crumbled biscuits and a sweet yogurt to help with the transition.

Then the day comes.... you don't buy the cake. You don't restock the lollies. The option isn't there. The fruit and toppings continue to be offered on the table, and your kids can choose whether they have any or not. It's up to them. If they eat only chocolate chips, that's ok too. This is a gradual shift. As you continue, be mindful of offering fruit that your children like best, giving them choices that they will enjoy. And continue to gradually shift.... the milk chocolate chips become dark chocolate chips and the amount is reduced, and the yogurt becomes unsweetened yogurt with live cultures. Your kids have choices and they have control of what they choose, but there is no added sugar on the table.

5. Add cinnamon

Cinnamon is a lovely spice with a secret. While the evidence is mixed, cinnamon has been found to reduce blood glucose. This means that it reduces the sugar in the blood, either by mimicking insulin, the chemical that packs the sugar away into our cells, or by increasing the insulin's effectiveness.

Given this superstar action, cinnamon is a lovely addition when you are shifting out the sugar. Try sprinkling a teaspoon on slices of apple then bake for 10 minutes, or leave longer for apple crisps. Try adding cinnamon to some berries with yogurt or on top of porridge. The cinnamon gives a sweetness without added sugar, and introduces a new flavour to your kids.

6. Add cacao

Who else find cacao vs cocoa confusing? While both are made from cacao beans and both are chocolate, they are processed differently. Cocoa, the ingredient we find in most hot chocolate drinks and used in baking recipes, is processed at high temperatures, and often contains added sugar and powdered milk. Cacao, especially raw cacao, is minimally processed and contains no additives. The benefit? Your kids eat chocolate with no added sugar and receive the wonderful benefits of the cacao plant. It's a good source of iron, magnesium and fibre.

As you may expect, cacao is much more bitter than cocoa. There's a reason all that sugar is added! So adjust from cocoa to cacao slowly. Try sprinkling powdered cacao onto porridge, into warm milk with a touch of cinnamon, or onto berries. Cacao nibs, the larger pieces of the seed, can be added to smoothies, mixed in to nut butters, or mixed into nuts and seeds for a snack. Ready for some help? Book a complimentary chat to talk about what's going on for your child and how I can help.