FeedMe

Sugar strategy

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!).

Spice blends for big flavor

Lately, I have been adopting different blends as my go-to's. I have four.

The newest is tajin, a Mexican blend that has become popular. Lime, chili peppers, salt. Simple. Spicy, tangy. 

The blend I use the most is also simple. Put cumin, coriander, and black peppercorns (all as whole seeds) in a pepper grinder. Works on everything.

I am also enjoying Ras El Hanout. Arabic for "top of shelf," it's a wonderful blend. Available from all spice merchants but I use the one from Spice House.

Finally, there are various Persian herb blends I get at an international market. Floral and huge, most have parsley, dill, and similar green herbs and somehow they capture tons of flavor that the jars in the supermarkets lack. Sabzikoko is my current fave. It comes in a big bag so you can use a lot. In mideast cooking, they use herbs by the handful, not by the teaspoon the way western recipes do. Using hard-to-overdose herbs like these lets me go big and really learn how that herb is best used.