Added Sugars in Your Child’s Lunchbox By Whitney Vaughan
Did you know that one Little Debbie Cosmic Brownie has the entire amount of added sugar your child should consume in one day? One of those snack cakes, which often times is included in lunch as a dessert, has 24g of added sugar.
What’s the difference between types of sugar?
When “added sugars” are mentioned, we’re talking about additional sugar that’s been added to foods; not naturally-occurring sugars found in foods such as fruit, vegetables, and dairy. The sugar in fruit can be sky high, but because they are naturally made in the foods, I would never limit how much I give my children due to the natural vitamins and minerals they also provide. Natural sugars may be listed as glucose, lactose, fructose & sucrose.
Added sugar comes in many different forms. You can see additional sugars on the nutrition labels of foods listed as “added sugar”. Check the ingredients list found below the “nutritional facts” box to see what form of sugar is being used in the foods you buy. Ingredients could be high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, maltose, agave, honey, evaporated cane juice, molasses…just to name a few. It’s important to limit even the “healthy” sugars such as honey, agave or stevia leaf extract, as well. Moderation is key!
Recommended Brands
Have you considered checking the brands in your pantry to see if they include added sugars before packing your child’s lunchbox? It’s recommended that children over the age of 2 consume less than 25g of added sugar per day. (Children under the age of 2 shouldn’t have any added sugars.)
To help get you started, I’ve put together some healthier brands that are comparable to the foods our kids enjoy. Try natural peanut butters like Smucker’s Natural Peanut Butter for the infamous & easy peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Their peanut butter is made with two simple ingredients…peanuts and salt whereas most other brands of peanut butter include sugar (listed as the second ingredient on most labels) in their spreads.
The #1 source of added sugars is sugar-sweetened drinks like sodas and even juices. Honest Kids juice contains zero added sugar, but still offers the sweet taste of juice by using organic fruit juice. (There’s that naturally occurring sugar that was mentioned earlier in this article.) Other common brands of juice use sugar to sweeten their drinks which adds at least 3 grams of sugar per pouch.
Maybe your child is like mine and enjoys a hot lunch occasionally. Annie’s makes a can of “spaghetti o’s” called Bernie O’s that includes only 4g of added sugar whereas other leading brands contain 6g of added sugar per serving. Also, the added sugar found in Annie’s is cane sugar, but the other brand is using high fructose corn syrup.
Every little bit adds up especially when we think about our kids are typically eating 3 meals a day plus a snack or two. It may seem tedious to look at every little thing, but over time as you begin to change even things like the brands you buy, it just becomes habit.
We Love Our Kids
As parents, we’re helping our children build habits. We want to make those habits as healthy as possible so that they can live a happy, healthy life. Besides the health side effects of over consuming added sugars, what we feed our children at a young age will grow with them. Let’s help them make good choices that will last a lifetime.
I’m not saying to avoid all added sugars every single day of the year. Enjoy homemade cookies with your kids, holiday parties and gatherings, and a trip for ice cream as a special reward. I do! However, is it really necessary to have added sugars in foods like ketchup, fruit juices, and peanut butter?
AGAIN…moderation is key!
By Whitney Vaughan, founder of FitWhit
