October 9, 2023 • 33 mins
Are you feeling spooked by the avalanche of Halloween treats your child is about to encounter? As a dietitian and a mom, I understand your apprehensions. However, it's time to unmask the myths and fears around sweets. This week, we're starting a mini-series that's going to help parents like you build a healthy, guilt-free relationship between your child and sweets. We'll start by examining the fears around sugar and why it's crucial not to create a hierarchy of food. We'll also delve into the science behind sugar metabolism and the harmful pressures you may be under about your kids' consumption of sweets.
What if you - and your children - could enjoy Halloween without the guilt or worry about sugar? It's possible, and I'm going to show you how. We'll be pulling apart the simplistic and false messaging around sugar that only serves to fuel fear. We'll question why we often allow our children to have multiple serves of vegetables, but not sweets, and why such invisible hierarchies can disrupt your child's intuitive eating abilities. We'll also discuss the biochemistry of sugar and how our bodies metabolize it from various sources, including fruits, grains, dairy, and sweets.
Lastly, we're going to confront the larger health picture and the fear-mongering tactics often used to sell products. We'll debunk the myth that eating sweets directly causes diseases like diabetes and look at the real dangers of restricting sugar for our children. I want you to feel empowered to guide your children in cultivating a healthy, positive, and guilt-free relationship with sweets. Let's embark on this journey together and create a Halloween season that's both fun and free from food stress. Don't miss out on this enlightening exploration.
Show Links:
- [FREE WORKSHOP]: "Rewrite the Script on Halloween Sweets to Help Your Kids Self-Regulate Sugar!"
- [FREE GUIDE]: "5 Reasons Your Child's Obsessed With Sugar and How to Resolve It"
- [Blog Post]: "5 Myths About Sugar and Kids: Sugar and Diabetes Myth Vs Fact"
- [Blog Post]: "Sugar Addiction Myth: Is My Child Addicted to Sugar?"
Questions about today's episode or do you have topic requests for future episodes? Please send your feedback via email to hello@crystalkarges.com or connect with Crystal on Instagram.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hey there, mama, you're listening to the Lift the
Shame podcast.
I'm your host, crystal, mama ofFive and your family's
intuitive eating dietitian, hereto help you cut through the
diet culture clutter so you canenjoy freedom with food as a
family.
I'm on a mission to help youend the generational legacy of
diet culture in your home so youcan experience motherhood free
(00:22):
from food guilt and body shame.
Listen in weekly for guidanceon how you can ditch diet
culture, heal your relationshipwith food in your body and
confidently raise intuitiveeaters.
Let's dive in and lift theshame together.
Hey, mama, welcome back to theshow.
I'm so glad that you're hereand we are embarking on a new
(00:43):
little mini-series here on theshow, and that is because
Halloween is on the horizon,which means a higher influx of
sweets and treats and all thethings, and I know for many
parents, this can bring up a lotof angst and stress, and so I
am hoping to just give you somemore resources and support
during this month so that youfeel more empowered and
(01:06):
confident in how you're helpingyour children learn how to have
a healthy relationship withsweets, because this is an
important part of raising anintuitive eater.
And you might be wondering whysweets?
Why talk about sweets?
A big issue that I see is thatthere is so much fear mongering
around sweets and sugar and kids, and it can really make for a
(01:27):
lot of confusion when it comesto how to approach this or
navigate this with our children,and I think that conflicting
information combined with maybeyour own history around food or
your own experiences with sweetsand sugar, can make for
sometimes a challengingcombination in terms of
understanding.
How do I talk to my kids, howdo I support them?
(01:49):
And I know, at the end of theday, that you just want your
children to be able toself-regulate all foods and to
enjoy things and move on and notfeel like sweets are something
that they're preoccupied with orthat they're hyper-focused on
or obsessed with, and so I amhopeful that, just through the
different conversations that wehave around sweets, that you can
(02:11):
feel empowered with some ofthose strategies that you can
implement in your own home, nomatter what your relationship
with sweets has looked like.
And, just on a more personalnote, I am super passionate
about helping parents likeyourself diffuse any of the
tension or stress that you mightbe feeling when it comes to
sweets or watching your childreneat sweets or feeling confused
(02:33):
about how do I approach this.
Do I keep them in the home?
Do I not keep them in the home?
I know it can be really toughand it can be difficult to focus
on connecting and building atrusting feeding relationship
with our children when we'reconstantly under the stress of
the lies and confusion aboutsweets.
And I know for myself from myown personal experience and my
(02:56):
history with my eating disorderthat sweets were a big part of
that or not having access tosweets definitely was a trigger
for a more chaotic relationshipwith sweets.
And growing up I remember Ihave distinct memories of
sneaking sweets that were hiddenin different parts of the house
or feeling out of control orobsessive around sweets at
(03:17):
birthday parties or holidayslike Halloween, when sweets were
in abundance, and that chaoticcycle of almost learning to
binge on sweets when they wereavailable became a big part of
my eating disorder.
And on the other side of that,learning how to allow myself
permission and access to thefoods that I actually loved and
enjoyed was such an importantexperience to shape how I
(03:40):
approach this today with my ownkids and with families that I
work with that diffusing thefear mongering around it and
being able to incorporate itinto your home in a more
seamless way can really helpprevent the chaos from
developing, but, moreimportantly, to help your
children have a long-termhealthy relationship with food
and I know that is your goal andthat does need to include
(04:04):
sweets as part of that picture,and this idea is so counter
cultural from everything thatwe're hearing today and all the
messages that are being promotedto us as parents about what it
means to raise a healthy kid.
Essentially, what we're beingtold is that we shouldn't be
giving our kids sweets no sweetsbefore two or three.
(04:24):
I mean all these differentrules, or so many different
rules out there when it comes toapproaching sweets, and it can
be easy to think that we aredoing right by our kids by not
letting them have access tothese foods, but in reality, we
live in a world where all thesefoods exist and we want our
children to be able to learn howto regulate what feels best in
(04:45):
their bodies, and in order to dothat, we need to be including
sweets as part of this equation,and we're going to be talking
more in the upcoming weeks justin terms of strategies, and
especially for Halloween, ifthis is traditionally a holiday
that just brings a lot of inksto you.
I will be definitely giving yousome strategies and scripts and
(05:05):
things that can hopefully helpyou make this a little bit
easier, but I just want you toexamine and just step back and
look at the big picture and justto ask yourself why does this
feel stressful to you?
If it does, if you are worriedabout your child's sugar intake,
if you are feeling stressedabout it, if watching your child
eat sweets brings up thingswithin your own self, these are
(05:27):
important clues to examine andyou know, here on the show we're
all about examining our ownreactions and our own triggers
and understanding the thingsthat are coming up for us,
because these are big clues interms of the things that we may
have needed ourselves or didn'thave growing up, and so it can
be hard or challenging to beable to emulate or model some of
(05:48):
these things to our childrenwhen we never experienced it for
ourselves.
Sometimes we have a strongreaction to our children around
certain foods, like sweets,because it is an alarm in our
brain from trauma we may haveexperienced ourselves growing up
, especially around food.
So if sweets were restricted orused as stipulation or as a
means of control.
(06:08):
This can be challenging tonavigate with your own child
because of your own history withit, and certainly there is just
the backdrop of misinformationthat can be very
anxiety-provoking andoverwhelming Like we are
saturated with so muchmisinformation when it comes to
approaching sweets and sugarwith our kids, and I'm hoping
that today we can clear up someof that, just to help clear up
(06:30):
that clutter for you so that youcan focus on these
candy-settered holidays assomething that is a means of
connecting with your child andmaking meaningful memories, not
something that is hindered bystress or power struggles or
these types of things that canmake it harder for your child to
build a positive relationshipwith food.
(06:51):
So today I wanted to start justby talking about some of the
common myths that I hearfrequently being circulated
about kids and sugar, and as Iwas just preparing for today's
show, I had such a long list ofmyths I mean, there's so much
misinformation out there it wasreally hard to narrow it down
for today's episode.
So if there are certain thingsthat you hear and you're
(07:13):
wondering like, hey, is thistrue or are there some facts
behind this that can help clearthis up for me?
Or is there some science-basedevidence that can help me feel a
little more confident in howwe're approaching this?
Feel free to reach out and letme know.
Unfortunately, I won't be ableto cover the many different
myths that are out therecirculating around kids and
sugar.
I'm only going to be able tocover three today, but I'd love
(07:35):
to just open that door andextend that invitation to you.
What's on your mind?
Feel free to connect with meand let me know so I can help
you understand the truth behindsome of these myths.
So let's jump in and getstarted.
One of the first myths that Iwanted to address is just this
idea that sugar is toxic, andthis is something that creates
so much confusion for parents.
(07:56):
And when we hear these messages, I mean, what parent wants to
give their child something thatis portrayed as toxic?
Of course not right.
You want the best for yourchild.
You have your child's bestinterest in mind.
So when we hear these ideas orwe hear sugar being portrayed in
the sense of it's toxic, it'spoison, it's hurting your
(08:16):
child's body and their brainfunction, that can make it very
challenging to feel okay aboutallowing your child to have
these foods or buying them orincorporating them in your home,
and for good reason.
Again, it's our job as parentsto keep our kids alive and well
and thriving, and we would neverwant to present something to
(08:37):
our children that we're hearingportrayed as poison to their
bodies.
So this is the first one that Iwanted to start with, because I
think it can be such a root ofso much fear mongering, and when
we are approaching how we feedour children from a place of
fear or anxiety, we have tounderstand that that is having
an impact on how they feel aboutfood and how they feel about
(08:59):
their own bodies, and this issomething that I see come up a
lot with parents and theirinteractions with children.
When it comes to feeding orallowing sweets, it's like, okay
, I'm not going to say anything,I'm going to let my child eat
this or that or have that cookieor eat that cupcake.
But maybe when your child getson the second or third or fourth
cookie or is unwrapping thatfifth piece of candy from their
(09:21):
Halloween stash, you might findyourself feel uneasy or feeling
uncomfortable or starting toproject some of that distress
onto your child.
And we want to be aware of thatbecause our children are so
attuned to our emotional stateand that is affecting how they
feel about those foods and theirbodies and also forming a
narrative in their minds aboutthose foods, whether it be
(09:42):
sweets, or their ability to eatthose foods or how we feel about
them eating those foods.
So it's a big picture thing ofwhat's happening here and it
really comes back to you again,this idea of what do we believe
about sweets.
Why are we okay with ourchildren having several helpings
of vegetables, let's say, butnot with having multiple
(10:05):
servings of sweets?
This is an important questionto ask and reflect on, because
it shows how we treat differentfoods differently and how we may
have ingrained rules aroundcertain foods over others.
And this hierarchy it may beinvisible, it may not be
something that you're verballystating to your child, but a
(10:25):
hierarchy in terms of differentways that we approach food does
create dissonance in our child'sminds, where they may start to
pick up on this idea that somefoods are permitted more than
others and that can start tocreate confusing messages for
them.
So, before we even get intothis myth about sugar being
toxic, I just want to presentsome of those reflection
(10:48):
questions to you and, of course,always from a place of love and
compassion, especially foryourself, as you're reflecting
on some of these things, becausewhen we have awareness about
how we're coming into thefeeding relationship that we
have with our children, it canbe very eye-opening as to what
we want to work on or how wewant to approach things
differently in order to bettersupport our children in learning
(11:11):
to trust their bodies and notdevelop these embedded rules
about food that are dictatinghow they eat or what they should
eat, because, remember, foodrules are external things that
can potentially disconnect themfrom their internal, intuitive
eating abilities.
So, with all that said, let'sgo back to this idea that sugar
(11:31):
is toxic.
One thing that I think can besuper helpful in this particular
situation is to go back to thevery basics about our body and
the biochemical nature of thenutrients that our body needs in
order to function and liveoptimally.
So sugar is a very interestingword because I think sometimes
(11:54):
people are using that word torefer to certain types of foods,
but we have to remember thatour body's basic unit of energy
is actually glucose, which issugar, and our bodies are well
equipped to metabolize andutilize sugar from various
different forms, and we want toremember that our body is
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utilizing sugar from manydifferent types of foods too.
So things like fruit and grainsand dairy and sweets, or things
like cookies or ice cream candy.
Our body is able to utilize thesugar molecules ingested in
these foods and break it down tothe simplest component that our
body uses, the preferred sourceof energy, which is glucose.
(12:41):
The interesting thing here thatI always think is so easily
forgotten when we're hearingthese messages like sugar is
poison, sugar is toxic is thatwhen glucose hits our
bloodstream after the wholedigestive process I know we're
kind of going into a littlebiology lesson here, but once
that glucose is hitting ourbloodstream, our body doesn't
(13:04):
know if these glucose moleculesare coming from, let's say, an
apple versus, let's say, acookie.
And no, I am not saying thatthose two foods are
nutritionally equal, butessentially they are breaking
down into the same macronutrient, the carbohydrates that are in
both of those foods.
(13:24):
The apple and the cookie areessentially going to break down
into the simplest unit of energy, which is glucose, and once it
goes through the digestiveprocess, it's going to be
carried through the bloodstreamand delivered to the various
parts of our body so that we canfunction.
This is important to rememberbecause there are not superior
forms of glucose Because, again,once the glucose is hitting our
(13:49):
bloodstream, it's all the sameand wherever it came from and
again, it's not to say that anapple is nutritionally equal to
a cookie there's going to bedifferent things in both of
those foods.
However, our body is fullycapable of utilizing the
nutrients from both of thosefoods, including the
carbohydrates that break downinto glucose, which is
(14:11):
essentially sugar.
Our bodies need glucose as ourprimary source of energy and
fuel.
When we go back to the basicsof biology and how our bodies
function, it can really helpnormalize these foods and really
validate this idea that allfoods are good and that all
foods can help our body in someshape or form and really the
(14:34):
best guide of what we need asourselves or our children.
And this is such a beautifulthing to witness in our kids
when they're able to regularlyand eat a variety of different
things.
And going back to my examplewith the apple and the cookie
some of the basic foundations ofnutrition and how our body
utilizes nutrients from food thesugar that comes from an apple
(14:55):
is not superior to sugar thatcomes from cookies or any other
sweets.
Biochemically they are the same.
Glucose is the same.
It's the same molecule whenit's broken down into its
simplest form.
There's not a difference in thechemical composition of this
basic unit of energy, no matterwhere it comes from.
Your body is capable ofbreaking it down.
(15:16):
Your children's bodies arecapable of breaking them down
and using the differentnutrients that it needs from the
foods that you provide.
The danger is when we start tocategorize food and create
polarizing ideas about food,where we elevate some foods over
others, and this now willcreate emotional imbalance for a
(15:37):
child in particular, where, ifwe elevate sweets on a pedestal
by limiting them or onlyoffering them at certain times
or under certain stipulations,that is going to make it harder
for them to listen to theirbodies and eat in a manner that
feels conducive to what theirbodies need, especially if they
feel deprived or restricted inany way with sweets.
(16:00):
And that is where it makes itharder for a child to learn how
to eat these things intuitively,whereas if we create an
emotionally equal playing fieldfor all foods and just present
them as emotionally equal, we'renot giving power to one over
the other.
It creates an environment thatbetter supports our children's
ability to self-regulate whatthey need, and sometimes that
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looks like more carbs or sweetsor fruit, whatever it might be,
and we will see variances ofthat over time, and that is
normal.
And again, I just want tostress here that I'm not somehow
trying to say that all foodsare nutritionally equal, because
all foods offer differentthings and there's not one
particular food that offerseverything that our body needs.
(16:44):
We get what we need throughmany different foods.
What I think is important tounderstand here is that our
bodies are capable of utilizingsugar.
Not only are they capable, butwe need sugar.
It's a basic unit of energythat our body needs to function,
and our body gets sugar frommany different foods, and the
key thing here to remember isthat there's not superior forms
(17:07):
of glucose.
So whether your child has anapple or a cookie, your child is
fully capable of utilizing thenutrients that come from both of
those foods.
Those are just the ones I usefor sake of an example, but I
hope you understand what I meanhere.
Another thing that can behelpful to remember is just what
is a baby's first food?
It's milk, whether breast milkor formula, the primary nutrient
(17:32):
is carbohydrates, which breaksdown into glucose, and that is
what our babies primarily needto grow and thrive and function,
and they're not incapable ofutilizing those nutrients.
And if you think about it too,breast milk and formula are
naturally sweeter because wehave that predisposition towards
(17:52):
sweeter foods.
It's what keeps us alive,especially starting out as an
infant, and it's so interestinghow twisted diet culture has
turned these basic foundationsof biology and how our bodies
work to mean something that'stotally not what it is.
And the fear-mongering aroundsugar and this idea that eating
(18:13):
sugar is equivalent to eatingrat poison I mean, those ideas
are so far from the truth and itcan be helpful to remember some
of these basic things in orderto diffuse some of the fear that
you might be holding onto whenit comes to sweets in your home.
I know this can be a hot topicand there's definitely a lot of
(18:33):
nuance, so if you're interestedin reading more, I will include
in the show notes a couple linksfor you to blog posts that I've
written on this topic,including the topic of is sugar
addictive?
That's a big topic ofdiscussion as well, so I will
include those links for you ifyou're interested in going
through that and reading in moredepth and I have a lot of
(18:55):
different studies that arelinked in the blog post if
you're interested in seeing whatour scientific literature and
data says about this topic too,ok, so the second myth I've
wanted to address on today'sshow is this idea that if you
give your kids sweets or allowthem to have sweets, then you
don't care about their health.
This can be such a tough onebecause it feels like a personal
(19:17):
attack and sometimes we justcan't help but internalize what
other people say or think aboutthe way that we parent our
children, and it's very clearthat many of these approaches to
feeding kids and supportingthem and having a good
relationship with food andraising intuitive eaters is a
very counter cultural.
I know I've already alluded tothat, but this can be really
(19:40):
hard because often the way thatwe feed our kids or how our
children eats often feels like adirect reflection of us as
parents.
And I know this to be truebecause I've often heard it from
so many moms that I've workedwith or parents that I've worked
with who tell me I just feellike such a failure because all
my kid wants to eat our sweets,or they're only eating the
(20:01):
cookie from their dinner andnothing else, and I feel like a
horrible parent.
I feel like I'm doing wrong bymy child.
And these beliefs and thisnarrative often stem from this
myth that allowing our childrento have sweets is wrong and that
we don't care about ourchildren and we don't care about
their health.
And it implies this kind oflazy, careless approach to how
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we feed and care for ourchildren.
And this is such a damagingmessage on so many levels again,
because it often feels like apersonal attack on parents or
the people who are taking careof children.
So that is why I wanted tobring it up and nip it in the
bud.
And just a little personal storyI will never forget with my
oldest daughter.
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When she was about to, we hadtaken her to a birthday party
and it was one of her earlierexperiences of having birthday
cake.
She definitely had birthdaycake at her first birthday and,
I'm sure, at other times, but Iremember that this particular
time that we went to thisbirthday party was one of the
times that she started to havemore awareness about the other
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foods that were available,including the birthday cake, and
I just remember that she took abig interest in the birthday
cake, like it was like a wholenew experience for her, even
though she had had it before.
That increased awareness madeit a whole new experience.
And I remember we gave her afull size slice of cake and she
ate the whole thing and wantedmore, saying I want more, more,
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more.
And that is when I started torealize that those embedded
rules or how my own history andexperiences with food and sweets
were kind of creeping in and Iremember feeling anxious.
But I also remember justfeeling a little bit self
conscious, like there were somany other parents around,
family members, people whocomment all the time, and I just
(21:52):
remember feeling like all theseeyes were on me as my kid is
sitting here in her chairscreaming for more cake and
against everything in my body.
I gave her another full sliceof cake.
I just told myself in thatmoment I need to trust my
daughter and sure enough, I gaveher another slice.
She took one big bite and thenshe was like I'm done and she
(22:15):
wanted to peace out, ran awayfrom the table, was back into
playing with other kids and itwas just so interesting for me
in that moment.
But I definitely got someunsolicited advice and feedback
from the people around me whowere like, wow, that sure is a
lot of sugar to give a two yearold?
Or aren't you supposed to waituntil they're a little bit older
, until you give them sugar?
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And just those comments that weget.
I know I'm not unique in thissituation.
I know you probably haveexperienced the same thing where
people have commented on yourchild's body or how your child
eats.
And again, this idea that givingour kids sweets is a negative
reflection of us as a parent isso damaging and so harmful.
And we receive it from peoplearound us.
(22:57):
We receive it from providers.
Oftentimes, if you're going inand taking your child into a
well check, that's one of thequestions that they'll ask are
you giving your child a lot ofsweets?
Are you making sure to keeptheir sugar and takedown?
So what does that imply?
It implies that it's a badthing and that if you're not
carefully monitoring andmicromanaging every morsel that
goes into their mouth, then youmust be a bad parent.
(23:20):
And I just want to speak truthinto your life today Because,
again, nothing could be sofurther from the truth.
And this is where we need tozoom back and see the big
picture here.
We have been told this messagethat we, if we gatekeep what our
children eat, then that is whatbeing a good parent is.
If we don't let them eat sugar,if we don't let them have
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sweets, if we keep all the candyout of our home, that is what
is being a good parent.
That is what keeps your childhealthy.
But this is a problematicperspective because we will just
not always be that gatekeeperin our child's life.
We hope that our children willgrow up and become independent
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and be able to make thosedecisions for themselves.
When we're not there, or whenyour child goes to school, or
maybe it goes to a birthdayparty or goes to a friend's
house, and all of a sudden theymight start to become obsessive
about all the foods that are outthere that they realize that
they haven't been getting accessto in our own homes.
And I have seen some of thedirect consequences of this
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mentality where we can justcontrol everything that our kids
eat.
Oftentimes that is a triggerfor preoccupation with sweets
and obsessiveness with sweets,and it can create much more
damaging issues down the roadthan literally anything our kids
can eat.
And that is what I think isimportant to remember that
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sweets and access to sweets arepart of our children building a
healthy relationship with foodand being healthy overall.
Sweets need to be part of theequation.
They need to be able to haveexperiences and opportunities to
learn how to self-regulate.
And you being intentional aboutincorporating that makes you an
amazing parent.
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You are a wonderful parentbecause you care so much.
You care about the longevity ofyour child's health, their
mental well-being and theiroverall relationship with food.
And I'm telling you that havinga child who's obsessive about
sweets or who's so preoccupiedwith having sweets that they
literally cannot focus onanything else is not a sign of
(25:29):
health or wellness.
The other thing here tounderstand and we see this
supported by literature is thatchildren are in better health
when they have regular andconsistent access to sweets
versus intermittent access.
So intermittent means justevery once in a while, and the
reason for that is because whena child has consistent access to
sweets, they're better able toself-regulate, they're less
(25:52):
likely to binge, they're lesslikely to overeat, versus a
child who only has intermittentaccess.
It's hard for them to trustthat sweets are a regular part
of their lives and that createsthat feast or famine type of
mentality where they feel like Ihave to eat sweets, and as much
of it as I can, whenever theopportunity strikes, because I
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don't know when I'm going tohave it again.
So that's something to considertoo that a child's intake of
sugar over their lifetime isactually going to be probably
less when they have that regularaccess to it, versus the
intermittent, or every once in awhile, or only on certain days,
or once a week or whatever thatmight look like.
So that's something that wewant to consider too when we're
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thinking about the big pictureof our child's health.
But I don't want you for onesecond to feel like a bad parent
or like a failure because youhave sweets in your home or you
have processed foods or you'resending cookies in your child's
lunch.
This is part of helping themhave a positive relationship
with food and being able tolisten to and trust their bodies
and not allowing sweets to havepower over them, and that is an
(26:58):
incredible thing, and I justwant to encourage you to
continue on because itultimately will be helpful in
creating those long-term healthyoutcomes for them physically,
mentally and emotionally.
Okay, I am going to run throughour last myth here as concisely
as I can, because there's somuch to say about all of these.
But the last myth I wanted toaddress for today's show is this
(27:21):
idea that allowing our kids toeat sweets is what causes
disease or makes them moresusceptible to disease,
particularly things likediabetes, and this is a thing
that is commonly circulated,where, if your child eats too
much sugar, they may becomediabetic.
The danger about this is thatit makes food the sole culprit
(27:45):
of disease, which we know is notthe case.
There are so many multitude offactors that influence disease
states, and food is a very, verysmall part of that.
One of the most influencingdeterminants of disease is
actually genetics and stress,and these are things that we
(28:08):
don't talk about because it's somuch easier to blame food and
that is a huge Money-maker forthe multi-billion dollar
industry that diet culture is.
It's so much easier to sellthat idea to consumers than to
talk about the impact of stresson our lives, or genetics, or
Understanding our environment orfamily history.
(28:29):
These are all things that havethe majority of influence in our
Lives, especially when it comesto risk of disease.
So, yeah, this is a reallyinteresting topic to explore and
talk about, because sugar isoften blamed as the culprit of
most diseases and ailments today, which, of course, makes it out
to be like poison in the bodyright.
(28:50):
Go back to myth number one, andHealth professionals and policy
makers have been sounding thealarm on children and diabetes,
while conveniently ignoring thedamaging effects of fear
mongering around sugar orrestricting sugar.
I wanted to read to you anexcerpt from the book body
Respect what conventional healthbooks get wrong, leave out and
(29:13):
just plain fail to understandabout weight.
And it goes on to say that achild is 242 times more likely
to have an eating disorder thantype 2 Diabetes.
Get which of these gets moremedia attention and Consider
this.
It is not a coincidence thateating disorders are so high in
(29:33):
a climate of fat fear mongering.
End quote.
So, wow, super powerful, right.
And it really puts it intoperspective and this is
something that I often talk tomy clients about when we're
looking at the big picture,stress itself is such a higher
risk factor for disease and ifyou are feeling stressed while
you're eating or about whatyou're eating, the stress of
(29:55):
that is Actually more harmfulfor your body than literally
anything you could eat.
And the same goes for our kidsand sweets and the effect on
their body If they're feelingstressed or anxious because
we're projecting that onto themor there's a lot of food rules
going on or Micromanaging themand there's power struggles over
it.
The stress that they're feelingabout having those foods is
(30:18):
more harmful for their overallhealth then literally eating
sweets, and we cannot overstatethe impact of Restricting sweets
and how that often is a triggerfor disordered eating in our
children.
And it's so easy to gloss overthese things and just blame food
as the problem for all ourdiseases.
(30:39):
Another thing that I often hearin this realm as well has to do
with sugar consumption andNeurodiversity in kids, and I've
heard this said in manydifferent forms and ways and it
just makes my blood boil alittle bit.
But people saying that lettingyour kids eat sugar causes ADHD
or causes autism and, oh my word, that is not true.
(31:02):
We have to remember thatNeurodivergence, like ADHD or
autism, is a neuro developmentalcondition, often present from
birth, and so Blaming food orwhat we're feeding our kids or
what our kids are eating as theculprit for how their brain
functions is wrong and createsStigma around neurodivergent
(31:26):
families and their children, andwe don't want to perpetuate
that.
That just creates more fear,mongering around food and more
stress, which is again thebiggest culprit for disease
states in our present day.
Always a lot more to say rightand again, these are very
nuanced topics, so I will makesure to include the links to
some blog posts for you ifyou're interested in taking a
(31:48):
deeper dive as well as Seeingwhat some of the scientific
literature today has to sayabout some of these topics as
well.
So that will be linked for you.
If you have any questions, Iwould love to answer those for
you.
Or if you would like me toaddress any of these in more
detail, or if you have aSugar-related topic requests
that you would like me to coveron the podcast, I would love to
(32:10):
hear from you.
So please don't hesitate toreach out.
Connect with me through email.
Hello at crystal cargiscom.
That will be in the show notesfor you as well.
Thank you so much for Hangingout with me and listening to
this and tuning into thisconversation.
I know it can be heated andcontroversial topic to address,
(32:30):
but I'm grateful that you'rewilling to dive into these with
me and we're all about liftingthe shame here so that you can
enjoy More freedom with food asa family.
So thank you, and I can't waitto see you next week as we
continue this mini sugar series.
Thank you for listening to thisweek's episode of the lift the
shame podcast.
For more tips and guidance onyour mother her journey.
(32:50):
Come connect with me onInstagram at crystal cargis.
Until next week, mama, I'll becheering you on.
Bye for now.
Hey there, mama, you're listening to the Lift the
Shame podcast.
I'm your host, crystal, mama ofFive and your family's
intuitive eating dietitian, hereto help you cut through the
diet culture clutter so you canenjoy freedom with food as a
family.
I'm on a mission to help youend the generational legacy of
diet culture in your home so youcan experience motherhood free
(00:22):
from food guilt and body shame.
Listen in weekly for guidanceon how you can ditch diet
culture, heal your relationshipwith food in your body and
confidently raise intuitiveeaters.
Let's dive in and lift theshame together.
Hey, mama, welcome back to theshow.
I'm so glad that you're hereand we are embarking on a new
(00:43):
little mini-series here on theshow, and that is because
Halloween is on the horizon,which means a higher influx of
sweets and treats and all thethings, and I know for many
parents, this can bring up a lotof angst and stress, and so I
am hoping to just give you somemore resources and support
during this month so that youfeel more empowered and
(01:06):
confident in how you're helpingyour children learn how to have
a healthy relationship withsweets, because this is an
important part of raising anintuitive eater.
And you might be wondering whysweets?
Why talk about sweets?
A big issue that I see is thatthere is so much fear mongering
around sweets and sugar and kids, and it can really make for a
(01:27):
lot of confusion when it comesto how to approach this or
navigate this with our children,and I think that conflicting
information combined with maybeyour own history around food or
your own experiences with sweetsand sugar, can make for
sometimes a challengingcombination in terms of
understanding.
How do I talk to my kids, howdo I support them?
(01:49):
And I know, at the end of theday, that you just want your
children to be able toself-regulate all foods and to
enjoy things and move on and notfeel like sweets are something
that they're preoccupied with orthat they're hyper-focused on
or obsessed with, and so I amhopeful that, just through the
different conversations that wehave around sweets, that you can
(02:11):
feel empowered with some ofthose strategies that you can
implement in your own home, nomatter what your relationship
with sweets has looked like.
And, just on a more personalnote, I am super passionate
about helping parents likeyourself diffuse any of the
tension or stress that you mightbe feeling when it comes to
sweets or watching your childreneat sweets or feeling confused
(02:33):
about how do I approach this.
Do I keep them in the home?
Do I not keep them in the home?
I know it can be really toughand it can be difficult to focus
on connecting and building atrusting feeding relationship
with our children when we'reconstantly under the stress of
the lies and confusion aboutsweets.
And I know for myself from myown personal experience and my
(02:56):
history with my eating disorderthat sweets were a big part of
that or not having access tosweets definitely was a trigger
for a more chaotic relationshipwith sweets.
And growing up I remember Ihave distinct memories of
sneaking sweets that were hiddenin different parts of the house
or feeling out of control orobsessive around sweets at
(03:17):
birthday parties or holidayslike Halloween, when sweets were
in abundance, and that chaoticcycle of almost learning to
binge on sweets when they wereavailable became a big part of
my eating disorder.
And on the other side of that,learning how to allow myself
permission and access to thefoods that I actually loved and
enjoyed was such an importantexperience to shape how I
(03:40):
approach this today with my ownkids and with families that I
work with that diffusing thefear mongering around it and
being able to incorporate itinto your home in a more
seamless way can really helpprevent the chaos from
developing, but, moreimportantly, to help your
children have a long-termhealthy relationship with food
and I know that is your goal andthat does need to include
(04:04):
sweets as part of that picture,and this idea is so counter
cultural from everything thatwe're hearing today and all the
messages that are being promotedto us as parents about what it
means to raise a healthy kid.
Essentially, what we're beingtold is that we shouldn't be
giving our kids sweets no sweetsbefore two or three.
(04:24):
I mean all these differentrules, or so many different
rules out there when it comes toapproaching sweets, and it can
be easy to think that we aredoing right by our kids by not
letting them have access tothese foods, but in reality, we
live in a world where all thesefoods exist and we want our
children to be able to learn howto regulate what feels best in
(04:45):
their bodies, and in order to dothat, we need to be including
sweets as part of this equation,and we're going to be talking
more in the upcoming weeks justin terms of strategies, and
especially for Halloween, ifthis is traditionally a holiday
that just brings a lot of inksto you.
I will be definitely giving yousome strategies and scripts and
(05:05):
things that can hopefully helpyou make this a little bit
easier, but I just want you toexamine and just step back and
look at the big picture and justto ask yourself why does this
feel stressful to you?
If it does, if you are worriedabout your child's sugar intake,
if you are feeling stressedabout it, if watching your child
eat sweets brings up thingswithin your own self, these are
(05:27):
important clues to examine andyou know, here on the show we're
all about examining our ownreactions and our own triggers
and understanding the thingsthat are coming up for us,
because these are big clues interms of the things that we may
have needed ourselves or didn'thave growing up, and so it can
be hard or challenging to beable to emulate or model some of
(05:48):
these things to our childrenwhen we never experienced it for
ourselves.
Sometimes we have a strongreaction to our children around
certain foods, like sweets,because it is an alarm in our
brain from trauma we may haveexperienced ourselves growing up
, especially around food.
So if sweets were restricted orused as stipulation or as a
means of control.
(06:08):
This can be challenging tonavigate with your own child
because of your own history withit, and certainly there is just
the backdrop of misinformationthat can be very
anxiety-provoking andoverwhelming Like we are
saturated with so muchmisinformation when it comes to
approaching sweets and sugarwith our kids, and I'm hoping
that today we can clear up someof that, just to help clear up
(06:30):
that clutter for you so that youcan focus on these
candy-settered holidays assomething that is a means of
connecting with your child andmaking meaningful memories, not
something that is hindered bystress or power struggles or
these types of things that canmake it harder for your child to
build a positive relationshipwith food.
(06:51):
So today I wanted to start justby talking about some of the
common myths that I hearfrequently being circulated
about kids and sugar, and as Iwas just preparing for today's
show, I had such a long list ofmyths I mean, there's so much
misinformation out there it wasreally hard to narrow it down
for today's episode.
So if there are certain thingsthat you hear and you're
(07:13):
wondering like, hey, is thistrue or are there some facts
behind this that can help clearthis up for me?
Or is there some science-basedevidence that can help me feel a
little more confident in howwe're approaching this?
Feel free to reach out and letme know.
Unfortunately, I won't be ableto cover the many different
myths that are out therecirculating around kids and
sugar.
I'm only going to be able tocover three today, but I'd love
(07:35):
to just open that door andextend that invitation to you.
What's on your mind?
Feel free to connect with meand let me know so I can help
you understand the truth behindsome of these myths.
So let's jump in and getstarted.
One of the first myths that Iwanted to address is just this
idea that sugar is toxic, andthis is something that creates
so much confusion for parents.
(07:56):
And when we hear these messages, I mean, what parent wants to
give their child something thatis portrayed as toxic?
Of course not right.
You want the best for yourchild.
You have your child's bestinterest in mind.
So when we hear these ideas orwe hear sugar being portrayed in
the sense of it's toxic, it'spoison, it's hurting your
(08:16):
child's body and their brainfunction, that can make it very
challenging to feel okay aboutallowing your child to have
these foods or buying them orincorporating them in your home,
and for good reason.
Again, it's our job as parentsto keep our kids alive and well
and thriving, and we would neverwant to present something to
(08:37):
our children that we're hearingportrayed as poison to their
bodies.
So this is the first one that Iwanted to start with, because I
think it can be such a root ofso much fear mongering, and when
we are approaching how we feedour children from a place of
fear or anxiety, we have tounderstand that that is having
an impact on how they feel aboutfood and how they feel about
(08:59):
their own bodies, and this issomething that I see come up a
lot with parents and theirinteractions with children.
When it comes to feeding orallowing sweets, it's like, okay
, I'm not going to say anything,I'm going to let my child eat
this or that or have that cookieor eat that cupcake.
But maybe when your child getson the second or third or fourth
cookie or is unwrapping thatfifth piece of candy from their
(09:21):
Halloween stash, you might findyourself feel uneasy or feeling
uncomfortable or starting toproject some of that distress
onto your child.
And we want to be aware of thatbecause our children are so
attuned to our emotional stateand that is affecting how they
feel about those foods and theirbodies and also forming a
narrative in their minds aboutthose foods, whether it be
(09:42):
sweets, or their ability to eatthose foods or how we feel about
them eating those foods.
So it's a big picture thing ofwhat's happening here and it
really comes back to you again,this idea of what do we believe
about sweets.
Why are we okay with ourchildren having several helpings
of vegetables, let's say, butnot with having multiple
(10:05):
servings of sweets?
This is an important questionto ask and reflect on, because
it shows how we treat differentfoods differently and how we may
have ingrained rules aroundcertain foods over others.
And this hierarchy it may beinvisible, it may not be
something that you're verballystating to your child, but a
(10:25):
hierarchy in terms of differentways that we approach food does
create dissonance in our child'sminds, where they may start to
pick up on this idea that somefoods are permitted more than
others and that can start tocreate confusing messages for
them.
So, before we even get intothis myth about sugar being
toxic, I just want to presentsome of those reflection
(10:48):
questions to you and, of course,always from a place of love and
compassion, especially foryourself, as you're reflecting
on some of these things, becausewhen we have awareness about
how we're coming into thefeeding relationship that we
have with our children, it canbe very eye-opening as to what
we want to work on or how wewant to approach things
differently in order to bettersupport our children in learning
(11:11):
to trust their bodies and notdevelop these embedded rules
about food that are dictatinghow they eat or what they should
eat, because, remember, foodrules are external things that
can potentially disconnect themfrom their internal, intuitive
eating abilities.
So, with all that said, let'sgo back to this idea that sugar
(11:31):
is toxic.
One thing that I think can besuper helpful in this particular
situation is to go back to thevery basics about our body and
the biochemical nature of thenutrients that our body needs in
order to function and liveoptimally.
So sugar is a very interestingword because I think sometimes
(11:54):
people are using that word torefer to certain types of foods,
but we have to remember thatour body's basic unit of energy
is actually glucose, which issugar, and our bodies are well
equipped to metabolize andutilize sugar from various
different forms, and we want toremember that our body is
(12:18):
utilizing sugar from manydifferent types of foods too.
So things like fruit and grainsand dairy and sweets, or things
like cookies or ice cream candy.
Our body is able to utilize thesugar molecules ingested in
these foods and break it down tothe simplest component that our
body uses, the preferred sourceof energy, which is glucose.
(12:41):
The interesting thing here thatI always think is so easily
forgotten when we're hearingthese messages like sugar is
poison, sugar is toxic is thatwhen glucose hits our
bloodstream after the wholedigestive process I know we're
kind of going into a littlebiology lesson here, but once
that glucose is hitting ourbloodstream, our body doesn't
(13:04):
know if these glucose moleculesare coming from, let's say, an
apple versus, let's say, acookie.
And no, I am not saying thatthose two foods are
nutritionally equal, butessentially they are breaking
down into the same macronutrient, the carbohydrates that are in
both of those foods.
(13:24):
The apple and the cookie areessentially going to break down
into the simplest unit of energy, which is glucose, and once it
goes through the digestiveprocess, it's going to be
carried through the bloodstreamand delivered to the various
parts of our body so that we canfunction.
This is important to rememberbecause there are not superior
forms of glucose Because, again,once the glucose is hitting our
(13:49):
bloodstream, it's all the sameand wherever it came from and
again, it's not to say that anapple is nutritionally equal to
a cookie there's going to bedifferent things in both of
those foods.
However, our body is fullycapable of utilizing the
nutrients from both of thosefoods, including the
carbohydrates that break downinto glucose, which is
(14:11):
essentially sugar.
Our bodies need glucose as ourprimary source of energy and
fuel.
When we go back to the basicsof biology and how our bodies
function, it can really helpnormalize these foods and really
validate this idea that allfoods are good and that all
foods can help our body in someshape or form and really the
(14:34):
best guide of what we need asourselves or our children.
And this is such a beautifulthing to witness in our kids
when they're able to regularlyand eat a variety of different
things.
And going back to my examplewith the apple and the cookie
some of the basic foundations ofnutrition and how our body
utilizes nutrients from food thesugar that comes from an apple
(14:55):
is not superior to sugar thatcomes from cookies or any other
sweets.
Biochemically they are the same.
Glucose is the same.
It's the same molecule whenit's broken down into its
simplest form.
There's not a difference in thechemical composition of this
basic unit of energy, no matterwhere it comes from.
Your body is capable ofbreaking it down.
(15:16):
Your children's bodies arecapable of breaking them down
and using the differentnutrients that it needs from the
foods that you provide.
The danger is when we start tocategorize food and create
polarizing ideas about food,where we elevate some foods over
others, and this now willcreate emotional imbalance for a
(15:37):
child in particular, where, ifwe elevate sweets on a pedestal
by limiting them or onlyoffering them at certain times
or under certain stipulations,that is going to make it harder
for them to listen to theirbodies and eat in a manner that
feels conducive to what theirbodies need, especially if they
feel deprived or restricted inany way with sweets.
(16:00):
And that is where it makes itharder for a child to learn how
to eat these things intuitively,whereas if we create an
emotionally equal playing fieldfor all foods and just present
them as emotionally equal, we'renot giving power to one over
the other.
It creates an environment thatbetter supports our children's
ability to self-regulate whatthey need, and sometimes that
(16:22):
looks like more carbs or sweetsor fruit, whatever it might be,
and we will see variances ofthat over time, and that is
normal.
And again, I just want tostress here that I'm not somehow
trying to say that all foodsare nutritionally equal, because
all foods offer differentthings and there's not one
particular food that offerseverything that our body needs.
(16:44):
We get what we need throughmany different foods.
What I think is important tounderstand here is that our
bodies are capable of utilizingsugar.
Not only are they capable, butwe need sugar.
It's a basic unit of energythat our body needs to function,
and our body gets sugar frommany different foods, and the
key thing here to remember isthat there's not superior forms
(17:07):
of glucose.
So whether your child has anapple or a cookie, your child is
fully capable of utilizing thenutrients that come from both of
those foods.
Those are just the ones I usefor sake of an example, but I
hope you understand what I meanhere.
Another thing that can behelpful to remember is just what
is a baby's first food?
It's milk, whether breast milkor formula, the primary nutrient
(17:32):
is carbohydrates, which breaksdown into glucose, and that is
what our babies primarily needto grow and thrive and function,
and they're not incapable ofutilizing those nutrients.
And if you think about it too,breast milk and formula are
naturally sweeter because wehave that predisposition towards
(17:52):
sweeter foods.
It's what keeps us alive,especially starting out as an
infant, and it's so interestinghow twisted diet culture has
turned these basic foundationsof biology and how our bodies
work to mean something that'stotally not what it is.
And the fear-mongering aroundsugar and this idea that eating
(18:13):
sugar is equivalent to eatingrat poison I mean, those ideas
are so far from the truth and itcan be helpful to remember some
of these basic things in orderto diffuse some of the fear that
you might be holding onto whenit comes to sweets in your home.
I know this can be a hot topicand there's definitely a lot of
(18:33):
nuance, so if you're interestedin reading more, I will include
in the show notes a couple linksfor you to blog posts that I've
written on this topic,including the topic of is sugar
addictive?
That's a big topic ofdiscussion as well, so I will
include those links for you ifyou're interested in going
through that and reading in moredepth and I have a lot of
(18:55):
different studies that arelinked in the blog post if
you're interested in seeing whatour scientific literature and
data says about this topic too,ok, so the second myth I've
wanted to address on today'sshow is this idea that if you
give your kids sweets or allowthem to have sweets, then you
don't care about their health.
This can be such a tough onebecause it feels like a personal
(19:17):
attack and sometimes we justcan't help but internalize what
other people say or think aboutthe way that we parent our
children, and it's very clearthat many of these approaches to
feeding kids and supportingthem and having a good
relationship with food andraising intuitive eaters is a
very counter cultural.
I know I've already alluded tothat, but this can be really
(19:40):
hard because often the way thatwe feed our kids or how our
children eats often feels like adirect reflection of us as
parents.
And I know this to be truebecause I've often heard it from
so many moms that I've workedwith or parents that I've worked
with who tell me I just feellike such a failure because all
my kid wants to eat our sweets,or they're only eating the
(20:01):
cookie from their dinner andnothing else, and I feel like a
horrible parent.
I feel like I'm doing wrong bymy child.
And these beliefs and thisnarrative often stem from this
myth that allowing our childrento have sweets is wrong and that
we don't care about ourchildren and we don't care about
their health.
And it implies this kind oflazy, careless approach to how
(20:25):
we feed and care for ourchildren.
And this is such a damagingmessage on so many levels again,
because it often feels like apersonal attack on parents or
the people who are taking careof children.
So that is why I wanted tobring it up and nip it in the
bud.
And just a little personal storyI will never forget with my
oldest daughter.
(20:45):
When she was about to, we hadtaken her to a birthday party
and it was one of her earlierexperiences of having birthday
cake.
She definitely had birthdaycake at her first birthday and,
I'm sure, at other times, but Iremember that this particular
time that we went to thisbirthday party was one of the
times that she started to havemore awareness about the other
(21:08):
foods that were available,including the birthday cake, and
I just remember that she took abig interest in the birthday
cake, like it was like a wholenew experience for her, even
though she had had it before.
That increased awareness madeit a whole new experience.
And I remember we gave her afull size slice of cake and she
ate the whole thing and wantedmore, saying I want more, more,
(21:31):
more.
And that is when I started torealize that those embedded
rules or how my own history andexperiences with food and sweets
were kind of creeping in and Iremember feeling anxious.
But I also remember justfeeling a little bit self
conscious, like there were somany other parents around,
family members, people whocomment all the time, and I just
(21:52):
remember feeling like all theseeyes were on me as my kid is
sitting here in her chairscreaming for more cake and
against everything in my body.
I gave her another full sliceof cake.
I just told myself in thatmoment I need to trust my
daughter and sure enough, I gaveher another slice.
She took one big bite and thenshe was like I'm done and she
(22:15):
wanted to peace out, ran awayfrom the table, was back into
playing with other kids and itwas just so interesting for me
in that moment.
But I definitely got someunsolicited advice and feedback
from the people around me whowere like, wow, that sure is a
lot of sugar to give a two yearold?
Or aren't you supposed to waituntil they're a little bit older
, until you give them sugar?
(22:36):
And just those comments that weget.
I know I'm not unique in thissituation.
I know you probably haveexperienced the same thing where
people have commented on yourchild's body or how your child
eats.
And again, this idea that givingour kids sweets is a negative
reflection of us as a parent isso damaging and so harmful.
And we receive it from peoplearound us.
(22:57):
We receive it from providers.
Oftentimes, if you're going inand taking your child into a
well check, that's one of thequestions that they'll ask are
you giving your child a lot ofsweets?
Are you making sure to keeptheir sugar and takedown?
So what does that imply?
It implies that it's a badthing and that if you're not
carefully monitoring andmicromanaging every morsel that
goes into their mouth, then youmust be a bad parent.
(23:20):
And I just want to speak truthinto your life today Because,
again, nothing could be sofurther from the truth.
And this is where we need tozoom back and see the big
picture here.
We have been told this messagethat we, if we gatekeep what our
children eat, then that is whatbeing a good parent is.
If we don't let them eat sugar,if we don't let them have
(23:42):
sweets, if we keep all the candyout of our home, that is what
is being a good parent.
That is what keeps your childhealthy.
But this is a problematicperspective because we will just
not always be that gatekeeperin our child's life.
We hope that our children willgrow up and become independent
(24:02):
and be able to make thosedecisions for themselves.
When we're not there, or whenyour child goes to school, or
maybe it goes to a birthdayparty or goes to a friend's
house, and all of a sudden theymight start to become obsessive
about all the foods that are outthere that they realize that
they haven't been getting accessto in our own homes.
And I have seen some of thedirect consequences of this
(24:27):
mentality where we can justcontrol everything that our kids
eat.
Oftentimes that is a triggerfor preoccupation with sweets
and obsessiveness with sweets,and it can create much more
damaging issues down the roadthan literally anything our kids
can eat.
And that is what I think isimportant to remember that
(24:47):
sweets and access to sweets arepart of our children building a
healthy relationship with foodand being healthy overall.
Sweets need to be part of theequation.
They need to be able to haveexperiences and opportunities to
learn how to self-regulate.
And you being intentional aboutincorporating that makes you an
amazing parent.
(25:08):
You are a wonderful parentbecause you care so much.
You care about the longevity ofyour child's health, their
mental well-being and theiroverall relationship with food.
And I'm telling you that havinga child who's obsessive about
sweets or who's so preoccupiedwith having sweets that they
literally cannot focus onanything else is not a sign of
(25:29):
health or wellness.
The other thing here tounderstand and we see this
supported by literature is thatchildren are in better health
when they have regular andconsistent access to sweets
versus intermittent access.
So intermittent means justevery once in a while, and the
reason for that is because whena child has consistent access to
sweets, they're better able toself-regulate, they're less
(25:52):
likely to binge, they're lesslikely to overeat, versus a
child who only has intermittentaccess.
It's hard for them to trustthat sweets are a regular part
of their lives and that createsthat feast or famine type of
mentality where they feel like Ihave to eat sweets, and as much
of it as I can, whenever theopportunity strikes, because I
(26:13):
don't know when I'm going tohave it again.
So that's something to considertoo that a child's intake of
sugar over their lifetime isactually going to be probably
less when they have that regularaccess to it, versus the
intermittent, or every once in awhile, or only on certain days,
or once a week or whatever thatmight look like.
So that's something that wewant to consider too when we're
(26:34):
thinking about the big pictureof our child's health.
But I don't want you for onesecond to feel like a bad parent
or like a failure because youhave sweets in your home or you
have processed foods or you'resending cookies in your child's
lunch.
This is part of helping themhave a positive relationship
with food and being able tolisten to and trust their bodies
and not allowing sweets to havepower over them, and that is an
(26:58):
incredible thing, and I justwant to encourage you to
continue on because itultimately will be helpful in
creating those long-term healthyoutcomes for them physically,
mentally and emotionally.
Okay, I am going to run throughour last myth here as concisely
as I can, because there's somuch to say about all of these.
But the last myth I wanted toaddress for today's show is this
(27:21):
idea that allowing our kids toeat sweets is what causes
disease or makes them moresusceptible to disease,
particularly things likediabetes, and this is a thing
that is commonly circulated,where, if your child eats too
much sugar, they may becomediabetic.
The danger about this is thatit makes food the sole culprit
(27:45):
of disease, which we know is notthe case.
There are so many multitude offactors that influence disease
states, and food is a very, verysmall part of that.
One of the most influencingdeterminants of disease is
actually genetics and stress,and these are things that we
(28:08):
don't talk about because it's somuch easier to blame food and
that is a huge Money-maker forthe multi-billion dollar
industry that diet culture is.
It's so much easier to sellthat idea to consumers than to
talk about the impact of stresson our lives, or genetics, or
Understanding our environment orfamily history.
(28:29):
These are all things that havethe majority of influence in our
Lives, especially when it comesto risk of disease.
So, yeah, this is a reallyinteresting topic to explore and
talk about, because sugar isoften blamed as the culprit of
most diseases and ailments today, which, of course, makes it out
to be like poison in the bodyright.
(28:50):
Go back to myth number one, andHealth professionals and policy
makers have been sounding thealarm on children and diabetes,
while conveniently ignoring thedamaging effects of fear
mongering around sugar orrestricting sugar.
I wanted to read to you anexcerpt from the book body
Respect what conventional healthbooks get wrong, leave out and
(29:13):
just plain fail to understandabout weight.
And it goes on to say that achild is 242 times more likely
to have an eating disorder thantype 2 Diabetes.
Get which of these gets moremedia attention and Consider
this.
It is not a coincidence thateating disorders are so high in
(29:33):
a climate of fat fear mongering.
End quote.
So, wow, super powerful, right.
And it really puts it intoperspective and this is
something that I often talk tomy clients about when we're
looking at the big picture,stress itself is such a higher
risk factor for disease and ifyou are feeling stressed while
you're eating or about whatyou're eating, the stress of
(29:55):
that is Actually more harmfulfor your body than literally
anything you could eat.
And the same goes for our kidsand sweets and the effect on
their body If they're feelingstressed or anxious because
we're projecting that onto themor there's a lot of food rules
going on or Micromanaging themand there's power struggles over
it.
The stress that they're feelingabout having those foods is
(30:18):
more harmful for their overallhealth then literally eating
sweets, and we cannot overstatethe impact of Restricting sweets
and how that often is a triggerfor disordered eating in our
children.
And it's so easy to gloss overthese things and just blame food
as the problem for all ourdiseases.
(30:39):
Another thing that I often hearin this realm as well has to do
with sugar consumption andNeurodiversity in kids, and I've
heard this said in manydifferent forms and ways and it
just makes my blood boil alittle bit.
But people saying that lettingyour kids eat sugar causes ADHD
or causes autism and, oh my word, that is not true.
(31:02):
We have to remember thatNeurodivergence, like ADHD or
autism, is a neuro developmentalcondition, often present from
birth, and so Blaming food orwhat we're feeding our kids or
what our kids are eating as theculprit for how their brain
functions is wrong and createsStigma around neurodivergent
(31:26):
families and their children, andwe don't want to perpetuate
that.
That just creates more fear,mongering around food and more
stress, which is again thebiggest culprit for disease
states in our present day.
Always a lot more to say rightand again, these are very
nuanced topics, so I will makesure to include the links to
some blog posts for you ifyou're interested in taking a
(31:48):
deeper dive as well as Seeingwhat some of the scientific
literature today has to sayabout some of these topics as
well.
So that will be linked for you.
If you have any questions, Iwould love to answer those for
you.
Or if you would like me toaddress any of these in more
detail, or if you have aSugar-related topic requests
that you would like me to coveron the podcast, I would love to
(32:10):
hear from you.
So please don't hesitate toreach out.
Connect with me through email.
Hello at crystal cargiscom.
That will be in the show notesfor you as well.
Thank you so much for Hangingout with me and listening to
this and tuning into thisconversation.
I know it can be heated andcontroversial topic to address,
(32:30):
but I'm grateful that you'rewilling to dive into these with
me and we're all about liftingthe shame here so that you can
enjoy More freedom with food asa family.
So thank you, and I can't waitto see you next week as we
continue this mini sugar series.
Thank you for listening to thisweek's episode of the lift the
shame podcast.
For more tips and guidance onyour mother her journey.
(32:50):
Come connect with me onInstagram at crystal cargis.
Until next week, mama, I'll becheering you on.
Bye for now.
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