Children ‘exceed recommended sugar limit by age 10’

Home » Children ‘exceed recommended sugar limit by age 10’ Published: 2nd January 2019 This Article was Written by: Nik - Weight Loss Ninja

It’s early new year 2019 and the wonderful BBC News website has published an interesting article about how we can protect our children from creating lifelong habits associated with sugar-consumption.

One of the challenges in modern life is just how much sugar is hidden in our food. It takes time and effort to check every label and we’re all busy people after all.

So what’s the solution?

As the article suggests, it’s how we can assist our children as their parents and either proactively swap out certain foods or, alternatively, how we can help them make better choices for themselves, (especially if they are at an age where they are becoming more independent).

One of the things I’ve found successful with my own children, if I ever get worried about how much sugar they have been eating, is to just let them know how many teaspoons of sugar is in something they are consuming. I use the technique sparingly otherwise it can feel like I am lecturing them. But the key point is to then see how it goes on to affect their decision-making processes thereafter, especially the next time they are confronted with that food item at the checkout till for example.

One of the big things that lies at the heart of coaching is the concept of simply raising awareness within the head of the coaching client. By raising awareness it then triggers the internal voice of the person with whom you are working. This often leads to them taking a different path by analysing their own historical choices that they have made and what new options exist; and that process applies to children of a certain age as well.

Once we start to see our children reach a certain age and start having their own opinions (perhaps even starting to kick back at some of our comments), this is often a good sign that they’re no longer as receptive to being told what to do and ready, instead, to have their own inner voice influenced through having their awareness raised about the potential pitfalls of making certain decisions. If we can get them to willingly cut down on their own sugar consumption, this can set them up with life-long habits that will serve them as they go into the future.