It’s hard to resist the pull of sugar, especially for children. Here’s a strategy that has worked well to help kids consider their sugar consumption.
When a child asks for a soft drink, I tell them that they can have one but I ask that they first tell me how much sugar it contains. Then we have a little lesson in Nutrition Labels.
We use my smartphone and find that 4 grams of sugar is a teaspoon. A 12-ounce soft drink generally has 40 or so grams of sugars. That’s 10 teaspoons of sugar! If their attention is still strong, we continue the research and learn that juice is no better and that 10 teaspoons of sugar is 160 calories. Most fruit juices are about the same.
From then on, they know they may have a soft drink or juice but they have to recall the sugar facts for me. It’s surprised me that most of the time, a child who knows the facts makes a different choice (at least when they're with me!).
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