How Much Sugar is Too Much for Your Child?

Both adults and children love sweets, but it is well recognized that a diet heavy in sugar is bad for both general health and dental health. When it comes to children, most parents worry that they are feeding their kids too much sugar. While your child should have some sugar intake, overloading can lead to health problems, cavities, and hyperactivity. Instead of providing your child with an unhealthy diet, the best thing to do is to make sure you are giving your child the right serving of sugar.

A Healthy Amount

It is well-known that sugar lacks any nutritional value. If anything, sugar is useful for its ability to provide your child with a bit of energy. In general, doctors and nutritionists recommend that the average preschooler have only three teaspoons of sugar per day. If your child is a tween or teen, then you can increase your child’s sugar intake to a maximum of eight teaspoons per day. By ensuring that your child is consuming the right amount of sugar, you can keep your child’s energy levels at bay and also promote a healthier and happier lifestyle.

Avoiding a High Sugar Diet

For most parents, the main issue is figuring out what types of food are ok to consume and which are chalk-full of sugar. It certainly doesn’t help that many of today’s foods contain sugar levels that are far beyond the recommended servings for children. Therefore, the best thing that you can do is to reduce the amount of processed and sweet foods that you give your child. Instead, you may want to provide your child with a diet that is rich in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.

Fruits, Vegetables, and Whole Grains

By feeding your child a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, you can encourage a healthy diet and avoid causing your child to become sugar-dependent. When your child consumes the right foods, they are getting a minimal amount of sugar and foods that are full of the necessary vitamins and minerals for positive growth and a healthy lifestyle. Since children can be quite picky, you may want to opt for easy fruits and vegetables such as avocado, strawberries, blue berries, bananas, spinach, carrots, and potatoes. By getting them accustomed to simple fruits and vegetables early on, your child will learn to love these foods and eventually grow to like trickier foods.

A Treat Once in a While

Giving your child a treat once in a while is also a good idea. If you’re going to be strict about your child’s sugar intake though, you may want to give them treats that still have nutritional value. The good news is that you can make your own deserts at home from fruits and grains and swap out real sugar for natural sweetener such as agave nectar or real maple syrup. Overall, by helping your child make the right choices, you’re encouraging a positive lifestyle for the future.