As parents, we try so hard to set our children up for a lifetime of good health. But there are plenty of factors sabotaging our efforts. Natalie Muth, MD, has dubbed the biggies the “Six S’s.” In Season 2, Episode 9 of the Kiddos in the Kitchen podcast, she delved into the topic of sugar. Here are all six, along with Dr. Muth’s advice on how to avoid them as best you can.
1. Snacks
These mini meals have become a cultural mainstay. Everywhere we go, snacks. And while a healthy snack can help reenergize a busy kiddo and stave off hunger, constant snacking is detrimental to the bigger picture.
“[Kids today] are snacking all day long,” Dr. Muth says. “And when kids are snacking all day long, they often are going to come to dinner not being hungry, meaning they’re less likely to eat the food that we want them to eat.”
Dr. Muth suggests planning when snacks will be served, say, at 10:30 a.m. and 3 p.m., and making them healthy. She likes to offer her kids a banana or apple slices with peanut butter.
2. Sweets
We know the prospect of dessert shouldn’t be used to entice kids into eating their vegetables (or anything for that matter), but that doesn’t mean you need to take it off the proverbial table altogether. After all, dessert is delicious! And there is room for it in a healthy lifestyle. Just not every day, Dr. Muth says. Again, she recommends planning ahead.
“In my house, desserts are [served] Tuesdays and Fridays,” she says. “So the kids know, and they don't ask for it the other days. Sometimes we have to be flexible when things come up, like parties, and we talk about what we can adjust [in our diets that week]. But by having the structure and the routine, it helps to take away a lot of the negotiations and the battles and the constant asking about desserts.”
3. Sugary drinks
Most dietitians preach moderation, but this is one area Dr. Muth is steadfast in.
“I actually recommend not ever having sugary drinks, if you can swing that,” she says. “We know that sugary drinks are detrimental to health in a lot of ways, and they also don’t cause us to feel full in the same way that a food would.”
If that’s not realistic for your household, Dr. Muth advises limiting sugar-sweetened beverages to once a week at most and putting some parameters in place.
“If you are going to allow sugary drinks,” Dr. Muth says, “have a structure in place so kids know that, ‘OK, sugary drinks are only allowed when we go out to eat,’ or, ‘I only get to have a sugary drink once a week.’”
4. Screen time
This is tricky because screen time is a problem among children and adults alike. The keys here are to stick to a screen time schedule and to lead by example.
“If the kids know that there’s a certain time of day that they’re allowed to have the screen, and it’s a finite amount of time, it can help to decrease the fighting and the bickering that goes back and forth when they’re begging to be on their iPad for longer,” Dr. Muth says. “This was a challenge in my house, so we actually ended up saying no screen time on weekdays, but I know that won’t work for a lot of families.”
5. Sleep disruptors
Screens, of course, are big sleep disruptors, so be sure to put the screens away at least an hour before bed, Dr. Muth says, and don’t let children have TVs or screens of any kind in their rooms. Beyond that, routine is the best thing you can do for helping your kids sleep better.
“We know that children, as well as adults, sleep much better and have much better quality sleep if they follow a routine of going to bed at the same time each night and waking up for the most part at the same time each morning,” she says. “When we practice that, the quality of the sleep is better, and kids are more likely to get the number of hours of sleep that they need to be able to function the next day.”
6. Slick sales
Marketers spend beaucoup bucks each year selling junk food, sugary drinks, video games and more to kids. Shielding younger kids from such advertising is ideal. For older kids and teens, focusing on media literacy becomes important.
“There was a study that showed that teenagers who learned how to recognize these ads, and in their typical teenage defiance, became defiant against the marketers,” Dr. Muth says. “They were like, ‘Yeah, I’m not going to let you influence me. I’m not going to fall for your stuff,’ and they were less likely to buy the products that were being marketed to them than teens who had not had that training.”
More Advice
Dr. Muth is full of excellent advice. Give the Kiddos in the Kitchen podcast Season 2, Episode 1 a listen to learn how to create better family mealtimes. And check out the American Academy of Pediatrics’ book, which Dr. Muth authored, called Family Fit Plan: A 30-day Wellness Transformation.