My daughter had an appointment at the specialist clinic at Melbourne’s Royal Children’s Hospital yesterday, and we got there early to figure out where to go, and have some lunch. Walking through the lower level I was so dismayed though at the amount of junk food being consumed in a place that should be about healing. Workers eating large amounts of fried foods on their short breaks, families enjoying huge smoothies. One table had five teenagers celebrating something with a supermarket cake, a bag of lollies, some chocolate finger biscuits, a bag of flavoured corn chips, and soft drink. How is this still a thing? When we know the damage that these foods can do to our bodies, let alone eaten all together as lunch. The busiest eatery was McDonalds – and whilst they provide the amazing Ronald McDonald House service which many families couldn’t do without, it saddens me their nutrient depleted food is being eaten by potentially ill kids. Nutrition plays such a big part in determining our health, our recovery, and our longevity – so how are we still getting it so wrong. When the food we eat literally makes up the cells in our body, why would we want them to be made with trans fats, and chemicals?

In 2016 some hospitals in New Zealand removed diet soft drinks, juices, flavoured water and smoothies from the shelves and hospital menus at Nelson and Wairau Hospital, and another region has been implementing similar policies over the last 11 years. Their reason? “As a hospital we don’t believe we should be selling sickness”. If you would like to read the article click here. It has some great info on why these foods are harmful.

I think it is time for Australian Hospitals to follow suit. We went to almost every cafe on the first floor looking for something to eat and didn’t find many healthy options at all.

Yesterday on Channel 9’s Today, they were talking about sugar, and how many teaspoons are in certain foods. But they weren’t sure what that mean – so I’ll explain below.

According to the World Health Organisation adults should not consume more than 6 teaspoons, and children should not have more than 3 teaspoons daily. That gives a good visual – but how does that translate to what is on food packaging? One teaspoon of sugar is equivalent to 4.2 grams, which we normally round down to 4 grams for easier mental arithmetic. So when you read that a product contains 16gm of sugar – divide this by 4, and you get 4 teaspoons. Would you eat 4 teaspoons of sugar straight from the packet? No!! (ok maybe when I was a child and didn’t know any better! – but that it is why it is our duty to help educate kids on healthy options, and avoid even letting them become aware of junk food). It is not just sweet foods that contain sugar.. anything carbohydrate rich will add to the daily tally so ensure you are reading your nutrient panels – and if you’d like help with that, let me know 🙂

I don’t want to write a whole article about the effects of sugar – others have said it better so I will provide some resources below. What I do want to say is – treats don’t have to be unhealthy. Kids don’t crave lollies – unless they know they exist. Our children are almost entirely guided about food choices by their family, so what we choose to give them, is what nourishes, or damages their body.

My mother took my nephew to the supermarket with her when he was 3. She asked if he wanted a treat for being well behaved and he said yes! he would love some strawberries (bless him..) She was so heartened to see that he had taken on her, and her daughters love of healthy nutritious food, rather than asking for a chocolate or lolly. To him, a treat was something tasty and delicious, not something processed.

My 2 year old daughter has plenty of treats each week – raspberries, blueberries, Tamar Valley kids yoghurt (don’t even get me started on most other kids squeezie yoghurts and their sugar content!!), chia pods, cheese, brocollini heads – we call them trees.. she thinks everything is a treat if you put it in a nice bowl! So why do we perpetuate the junk food mindset when it comes to showing our children love, and appreciation? Why do we feel the need to make a ‘treat’ something unhealthy?

Does this mean we can’t ever eat lollies? Personally I haven’t for so many years. Lollies make me feel sick so quickly as they affect my blood sugar levels. Chocolate the other hand?? I can be a bit more persuaded to have some if it is in front of me (and I regularly eat dark chocolate), but as chocolate has a higher fat content, the sugar doesn’t affect me as much. Why? When we eat carbohydrates/sugar it causes a large amount of insulin to be released into our blood stream to help guide the glucose into our cells. However – the amount of insulin released is often more than we needed, and it over corrects. We therefore end up with a lower amount of sugar in our bloodstream than we started with, and have a ‘hypo’ – or low blood sugar moment. This makes us very hungry, sometimes weak, and clammy, and we crave more sugar to bring our levels back up. If we continue on this cycle it can be hard to get off…

If however, we eat sugar (carbohydrates) at the same time as protein, or good fat, the glucose is released into our bloodstream much slower, and we have a more balanced insulin response.

So how does sugar lead to Type II Diabetes? Basically – the high amounts of insulin being pumped out to tackle the large amounts of glucose in the blood, stop being as effective. The cells, that should open to allow the glucose in, stop listening, and therefore the level in the blood is too high. This is known as insulin resistance, and is why diabetics need to measure their blood glucose levels daily. On Today they spoke about how Type II Diabetes has no cure – however we would not have high blood sugar levels if we weren’t eating high carbohydrate foods requiring insulin, so do with that what you will.

How is this relevant in a post about Kids treats?? Did you know kids are now getting Type II Diabetes?!?! How terrifying is that. That a very harmful disease, caused almost entirely by dietary choices, is affecting children. An Australian study found the prevalence of Type II Diabetes in 10-24 years olds has more than doubled from 1996 to 2006 where the number of children diagnosed rose from 7 per 100000 to 18 per 100000. Studies also found that when diagnosed in childhood the disease is much more damaging and harmful as there is an increased period of exposure to high sugar. If you would like to read the research click here.  

So…. knowing this, and knowing that kids love healthy treats almost as much as junk food. How about we make a conscious decision to stop buying packaged, processed, nutrient devoid treats, and give our amazing kids the best chance at a healthy and happy future with lots of nutritious but still delicious healthy snacks.

Tell me your favourite places to find healthy recipes, or your kids favourite ‘treats’ below! I’d love to hear them..

 

Resources:

That Sugar Film. Well worth watching – Damon Gameau consumes the Australian RDI for sugar – and becomes very unwell in the process. Available on SBS on Demand.

The Magic Pill – A look at how diet affects mood, diabetes, and illness. Free on Netflix

I Quit Sugar – cook books, and recipes – although the website is no longer active. Sarah Wilson chose to close down the company last month.

Healthy Recipe ideas:

My Kids Lick the Bowl – we love this site as it also has a lot of allergy friendly recipes.

This blog!! I will be putting up an amazing, easy, super allergy friendly cake/muffin recipe soon, along with plenty more.