Author Topic: cheerios and sugar...  (Read 11351 times)

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Offline Mashi

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Re: cheerios and sugar...
« Reply #60 on: February 14, 2012, 14:18:00 pm »
Yes, that is what I mean when I say you have to know what other things are just different forms of sugar. Syrup is sugar!

Offline Lemonthyme

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Re: cheerios and sugar...
« Reply #61 on: February 14, 2012, 17:53:54 pm »
I suppose it never occurred to me that people would be confused by it but then I work in food and have to look at ingredient declarations all the blooming time. 

I suppose sugars are sugars, naturally occurring or not.  I mean, is it genuinely any better to use concentrated apple juice in a biscuit rather than fructose syrup?  Genuinely the two substances are probably not far apart nutritionally.  That said, when I'm baking I try to use natural sources of sugar in their natural form, e.g. fruit, whole not from concentrate juice and dried fruit (ok, almost in their natural form).  I think you can drive yourself mad if you're not careful.  Some pragmatism is important.  I got recently ticked off by someone on twitter for never feeding my child high sugar items too.  They had a point.  He's surely going to go nuts right when he does have it?  So now once a fortnight or so, we go out for tea and cake where he has a couple of mouthfuls of my (full on sugar) cake.  At 21 months I don't think that's too bad and he has plenty of low sugar baking at other times and sugar in shreddies, rice krispies, dried fruit, fresh fruit etc.

Personally although I do restrict sugar, I don't ban it entirely now.  I stay away from artificial sweeteners though.
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Offline amayzie

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Re: cheerios and sugar...
« Reply #62 on: February 14, 2012, 21:05:26 pm »
I always find it funny that if i said to people that i was having no added sugar in my diet they'd say 'good on you- great choice for a better life!', but if you do that with even a baby under 1 people think you are an extremist!!

And LT- I definitely feel when they are older the lesson of 'sweet treats are for sometimes' is a great one to have. They will eventually have a more sugary diet, but learning when and how to have it is valuable i feel. 
Katy, Mummy to Hamish!


Offline Lemonthyme

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Re: cheerios and sugar...
« Reply #63 on: February 14, 2012, 22:24:36 pm »
Yeah I wasn't meaning anyone here was extremist, after all, I'm only now giving tiny amounts of sugar at nearly 2 years old!  I also get fed up with my parents saying I'm depriving him. His favourite foods are carrots, vintage cheddar, pate and pears. They aren't diet foods but they offer a mix of nutrients and a more sophisticated palate. I'm sure that staying away from sugary foods must help with that. Although he is slightly nuts about cheese, he even eats Parmesan on it's own.
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Offline amayzie

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Re: cheerios and sugar...
« Reply #64 on: February 14, 2012, 22:47:11 pm »
Yeah I wasn't meaning anyone here was extremist,

No no no- i mean friends and family- who just have kids eating cupcakes at 7 months old 'because it's just easier...' .. Dunno- i guess there's things i can't be bothered with that they probably think i'm neglectful (she casts her mind to the over full nappy bin in baby's bedroom)

ANd I gave hamish a bit of brie (my very favourite food!) the other day- loved it!! I figure the fact that there are cheaper ways to keep a baby happy i'll go with that!
Katy, Mummy to Hamish!


Offline becj86

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Re: cheerios and sugar...
« Reply #65 on: February 15, 2012, 00:35:54 am »
I'm not so worried about the fructose he's getting from all the fruit he eats, it is sugar, but from my limited knowledge (chemistry/biochem at uni but certainly not food science) I like to try to avoid added sugar - glucose, sucrose, etc. I was asked at christmas why I wasn't giving him icecream and christmas pudding! ummm... he's a BABY!

The best we can do is try to be as knowledgeable as possible and make educated choices with health in mind. I do think that he gets a better variety of tastes and textures staying away from added sugars and processed foods.

Offline deb

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Re: cheerios and sugar...
« Reply #66 on: February 15, 2012, 01:00:03 am »
It is actually somewhat important to keep an eye on fructose consumption; some kids can't handle it well, and you don't realize it till you give a kid a juice box and she falls apart and has allergy shiners 20 minutes later. :-\ (Welcome to our world.) Also, fructose is not metabolized the same by the body as glucose. Processed or not, there's such a thing as too much sugar, natural or not, added or not. The processing can add other stuff - HFCS uses mercury in some of its processing, for example (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/26/AR2009012601831.html) - that people don't want but often don't know about, but on its own, sugar is sugar.

Offline becj86

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Re: cheerios and sugar...
« Reply #67 on: February 15, 2012, 01:26:05 am »
Fair enough, Deb. So how do I work out how much fructose is in a piece of fruit he's eating and whether its too much? We don't really do juice in our house... DH has one glass of OJ in the morning at breakfast, I don't drink juice at all unless out for lunch/dinner which is once every months or two, DS hasn't ever had it and I would dilute heavily with water if/when I do introduce it.

Offline deb

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Re: cheerios and sugar...
« Reply #68 on: February 15, 2012, 01:56:36 am »
I like this site for seeing what's in food: http://nutritiondata.self.com/

Here's their analysis of a basic apple: http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/fruits-and-fruit-juices/1809/2

Offline Lemonthyme

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Re: cheerios and sugar...
« Reply #69 on: February 15, 2012, 07:49:25 am »
I think eating an apple is very different to drinking juice; the apple has lots of fibre too which is largely removed in the juice.  Also the juice will be made from 4-5 apples which no-one would ever eat in one sitting.  Yes, I agree too much juice is a bad thing too but too many apples would be tricky IMO.
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Offline becj86

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Re: cheerios and sugar...
« Reply #70 on: February 15, 2012, 08:10:22 am »
True - I don't know anyone who'd eat that many apples in one go. Munchkin grabbed two bananas from the fruit lady today and ate them both this afternoon... one he even ate some of the skin because he took a bite before I even got to peel it. BANANA BANDIT ALERT!

Offline amayzie

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Re: cheerios and sugar...
« Reply #71 on: February 15, 2012, 08:15:11 am »
Katy, Mummy to Hamish!


Offline Papaya

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Re: cheerios and sugar...
« Reply #72 on: February 15, 2012, 08:18:13 am »
one he even ate some of the skin because he took a bite before I even got to peel it.

F has done this at the market too! She's in a front pack and I still haven't learnt not to stand too close to the fruit and vege stands as I can't always see what the little hands are grabbing....it was a cucumber yesterday. Chewed to pieces before I even noticed  ::)  Luckily the day she went for the super hot thai chillies, the lady at the stall alerted me!
*Nuala*










Offline amayzie

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Re: cheerios and sugar...
« Reply #73 on: February 15, 2012, 08:22:45 am »
super hot thai chillies

Ah= the hazards of bringing up children thailand!
Katy, Mummy to Hamish!